Regional Researcher

**Duties AND Responsibilities**:

- Provide research support in thematic areas related to agricultural water management, through key research tasks such as conducting fieldwork, contributing to land and irrigation suitability mapping, irrigation design and management, processing and analysis of data, and report writing.
- Lead data collection and contribute to the situational analyses to identify status of farming systems and feasibility assessments for informing context-specific and fit-for-purpose agriculture water management solutions.
- Play a key role in leading project activities in different case study sites for implementing agricultural water management solutions and be the contact for engagement with project partners.
- Collaborate with and/or provide support to the project partners in collecting primary and secondary (qualitative and quantitative) data.
- Work closely with local partner organizations and be the key communicator and coordinator between partners for implementing agricultural water management solutions_._
- Assist in planning, conducting, analysing and reporting on qualitative and quantitative household survey data collected from the selected study sites.
- Lead in planning, organizing and facilitating capacity building, training and interaction in the project sites, when necessary.
- Conduct systematic reviews and meta-analysis and synthesis of outputs to produce peer-reviewed publications according to project timelines.
- Provide support to preparing project-specific communication materials.
- Take the initiative and undertake outreach, including publication of research findings
- Arrange the logistics for research site visits by IWMI and other project partners.

**Requirements**:
**MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE**:
Essential:

- PhD in agriculture (agronomy or crop science), agricultural engineering, agrometeorology, water resources management, soil and water conservation, soil management or a related field.
- Extensive experience in conducting field research in farming and cropping systems and/or agricultural water management.
- Contribute to and lead project reports and publications.
- A minimum of 2 years’ experience in development and/or research project management in the field of agricultural water management.
- Experience working in the field of rural development and/or research.
- Verbal and written communication skills in English, and one or more other languages spoken in Southern Africa.

**KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES**:

- Knowledge of rural livelihoods, farming/agricultural systems, rural transformation, feminization of agriculture, multiple use/multiple values water services (including small-scale irrigation and water supply and other ecosystem services),
- Knowledge of modelling (including crop modelling, SWAT, Hydrus) and GIS and remote sensing in developing agricultural water management solutions
- Familiarity with both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the areas of water/climate change/food security; crop modelling; water resources and/or natural resources; agricultural water management; and irrigation performance assessment.
- Familiarity with solar-powered irrigation.
- Familiarity with technologies for improving water productivity across scales.
- Knowledge of critical social, economic, and environmental issues faced by the agriculture sector in Southern Africa.

**Benefits**

**What we are offering**:
This is a regionally recruited position with a competitive salary commensurate with experience, an attractive retirement plan, comprehensive international health insurance, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, long-term disability insurance coverage and a transportation allowance.

The duration of the contract will initially be for a three-year period with possible extension.
- IWMI believes that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. We offer a multi-cultural, multi-color, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary working environment. We are consciously creating an inclusive organization that reflects our global character and our commitment to gender equity. We, therefore, encourage applicants from all cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientations, and gender identities_