32-014 | Program Officer, Food Security and Rural Well-being

TITLE: Program Officer, Food Security and Rural Well-being

LOCATION: Nairobi, Kenya

TERM: Initial contract duration 1 year with possibility of extension

INTENSITY: 40 hours per week, 5 days per week

ANTICIPATED START DATE: As soon as possible

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 03 June 2024

WHO WE ARE

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization that works as a solutions broker to catalyze action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate resilient future. Adapting to impacts of climate change provides a “win-win” for health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. The work of the GCA elevates the visibility and political importance of climate adaptation and facilitates solutions, such as smarter investments, new technologies and better planning to become more resilient to climate-related threats. GCA is a rapidly growing organization with offices in Abidjan, Beijing, Dhaka, Groningen, and Rotterdam.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR

Profile

Join our team at the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) as a Program Officer in our Food Security & Rural Wellbeing Program.

Climate and weather patterns highly influence the food security, nutrition, and income of millions of people, especially women and resource-poor rural households, because most farm operations is heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture. One of the ways to respond to the challenges is to contribute to scaling up appropriate technologies from research (e.g., CGIAR, NARs) through engagement in upstream work on investment planning of MDBs. Under the AAAP Food Security Pillar, GCA’s goal under the Food Security Program is to influence agricultural investments projects of IFIs to build climate-smart agriculture and resilient food systems to support food security for millions of farmers and agropastorlists in African countries and beyond.

As a Program Officer, you will report directly to the Global Program Lead, work with team members in the Food Security & Rural Wellbeing Program, and collaborate with other colleagues across different programs in GCA. You will also closely collaborate with officials of multi-lateral development banks and financing institutions including African Development Bank, World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Islamic Development Bank among others) ;technical partner organizations (including the CGIAR, NARS), Think-Tanks and private sector players to mainstream climate adaptation solutions, specifically; upscaling climate-resilient seeds to promote resilience of smallholder farmers in the design and implementation of investment projects. Furthermore, you will play a key role in positioning the GCA as international organization specializing in climate change adaptation.

Responsibilities
Reporting to GCA’s Food Security Global Lead, you will carry out the following:

Programmatic Support

• Participate in the preliminary evaluation of project proposals to assess their feasibility for financial support and/or technical assistance by GCA, including initial screening of projects, carrying out desk reviews, preparing preliminary evaluation notes for presentation to the Global Program Lead
• Contribute to accelerate the transmission of science into practice by linking upstream climate science and the development of adaptation innovations with downstream investments financed by International Financing Institutions, governments, and the private sector.
• Contribute to the implementation of the GCA-TAAT-CGIAR’s partnership to scale up climate adaptation technologies in agricultural investment projects in Africa and beyond
• Strengthen the mainstreaming of digital climate advisory services into the design of agricultural investment projects
• Support the multi-stakeholder advocacy and policy dialogues for incentives and investments targeted to maintain support for resilient seeds and other adaptation solutions at various levels.
• Provide inputs for linkage with the work of other programs of GCA: infrastructure, water, finance, youth employment and climate finance

Events and Outreach Support

• Contribute to convening and hosting of forums and events (training sessions, workshops) to promote climate adaptation to policy makers and other stakeholder and build the resilience of farmers and the associated value chains;
• Contribute to position GCA as a key solutions broker on climate change adaptation for achieving food security in climatic uncertainties in Africa;
• Participate in sector-specific working groups and coordination meetings to ensure the program's alignment with national and international standards.

Perform additional tasks that may be assigned by the Global Program Lead and senior management of GCA.