Call for Interest - Consultant Roster ICT4D, Rome

Job Title : Call for Interest - Consultant Roster ICT4D

ID : 30969

Location : ROME

Date of issue : 09/16/2025

Close Date : (Midnight, Rome Time) 11/09/2025

Organizational Unit : IFAD

Full/Part Time : Full-Time

Regular/Temporary : Temporary

Assignment Duration : Grade : C-1

Organizational Setting

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

The Office of Technical Delivery is responsible for providing expert technical guidance to IFAD teams engaged in the design and implementation of projects and programmes to deliver the high technical quality investments that facilitate rural transformation, and which comply with IFAD's mandate and operational policies. The Office ensures IFAD applies and disseminates state of the art expertise in its investments and evidence on strategic themes and encourages the innovative application of global insights and evidence in IFAD investments. This helps countries tackle complex development challenges in fostering inclusive and sustainable rural transformation including mainstreaming areas.

The Office of Technical Delivery works in close coordination with other departments, offices and divisions in IFAD and the Managing Director, works under the direct supervision of the Vice-President of IFAD. The Office of Technical Delivery comprises the Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG) and the Sustainable Production, Markets and Institutions Division (PMI).

PMI provides technical support to IFAD Country Programs to ensure the proper application of corporate quality standards required for achieving development results and impact in key thematic areas, including food production systems (i.e., fisheries, livestock, and agronomy), land, natural resources management, water and rural infrastructure, financial services, rural markets and enterprises, ICT4D and rural institutions. It contributes to the generation of evidence and expertise on these themes and facilitates their use in IFAD projects and activities.

As a decentralized organization, it is crucial that IFAD has strong linkages between operations and country, regional and global activities. ECG takes the lead in mainstreaming cross-cutting themes of environment and climate, gender, nutrition, youth, and indigenous peoples into IFAD's portfolio; PMI provides technical support to IFAD Country Programs to ensure the proper application of corporate quality standards required for achieving development results and impact in key thematic areas.. ECG and PMI contribute to the generation and use of evidence on these themes leading to higher quality of IFAD's operations and programmes and greater visibility of IFAD to influence the global development community.

About ICT4D: Within PMI, the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) thematic unit recognizes the fundamental role that digital technologies play in making agricultural and food systems more sustainable and inclusive and therefore transforming societies. This is reflected in the 10-year (2020-2030) ICT4D strategy developed to provide IFAD with a framework to leverage Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to increase development impact and improve the economic and social conditions of rural people through increased agricultural productivity, greater benefits from market participation and strengthened household resilience. The strategy guides IFAD's programming and implementation efforts in the application of ICT to achieve development results through 4 key action areas that include:

• Action Area 1: Scalable uptake of ICT4D solutions
• Action Area 2: Strengthening ICT4D partnerships.
• Action Area 3: Enhancing ICT4D knowledge management and sharing.
• Action Area 4: Building internal ICT4D awareness, capacity and leadership.

Job Role

The ICT4D Consultant Roster

Purpose and Application Process:

The IFAD's ICT4D consultant roster will include qualified experts interested in working on IFAD consultancy assignments in this specific area of expertise. The roster will be used by IFAD staff, including from regional operational divisions and others seeking an ICT4D expert.

To create this Roster, IFAD is looking for qualified, experienced, and motivated ICT4D experts interested in providing consulting services to IFAD and the projects and programmes it finances and supports.

Please note your application does not imply automatic placement on the roster. Applicants to this call for interest will undergo a selection process that involves an initial screening to check minimum requirements and a more in-depth assessment and/or possible short interviews. Successfully going through these steps is required to be included in IFAD's consultants- roster. Inclusion in the roster does not guarantee any immediate assignment but is a pre-condition for being considered for future assignments for which a specific contracting process will be required.

Key Functions and Results

Note: It is important to note that IFAD is not seeking candidates with expertise in all thematic areas outlined below. Instead, differentiated profiles suited to various potential assignments will be assessed.

Main areas of experience/expertise required for the ICT4D consultants include:

General Areas of Experience:

• Experience in the field of ICTs at different levels, including the design and implementation of standalone and integrated ICT4D projects, programmes and policies to foster innovation and promote inclusive and sustainable digital transformation especially in rural areas.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and/or participating in field missions to design and/or support the implementation of projects integrating ICT4D in the agriculture sector.
• Proven experience in developing technical guidance for agricultural and/or rural development programmes, policy engagement and capacity-building mechanisms to support the integration and scale up of ICT4D.
• Demonstrated experience in additional thematic areas supported by PMI such as value chains, market access, rural finance, agronomy etc. which closely align to the application of digital technologies for agriculture.
• Experience in policy engagement, stakeholder consultations and development of key ICT4D strategies and policies
• Experience in various data analytics, reporting and visualisation tools

Specific Areas of Expertise: Technical Advice and Support:

• Support the integration of digital technologies in new designs and/or piloting and scale up of digital technologies in IFAD supported projects based on the pipeline.
• Support the development and review of country strategies integrating ICT4D based on review of existing technologies, partners, existing solutions and lessons from IFAD's investments and emerging priorities related to ICT in Agriculture in the country.
• Provide technical support for the evaluation of bids, implementation and closure and other related processes for Grants allocated for ICT4D projects.
• Provide support in project procurement processes that include cost/budget estimations, analysis and related activities.
• Experience in field missions and participating as a team lead/member in project design, supervision, mid-term review, and completion missions.
• Evaluate project/programme performance, identify best practices and lessons learnt.
• Provide recommendations to enhance stakeholder engagement on ICT4D project implementation and scale up.
• Conduct institutional analyses at project/programme design to enhance implementation mechanisms, identifying key institutions for delivery and potential partnerships/linkages on ICT4D.
• Develop and implement institutional strengthening and capacity-building initiatives on digital technologies.
• Develop Knowledge Management (KM) and Communication (COM) strategies and enhancing KM and M&E frameworks for ICT4D, based on experiences and case studies within rural development projects.
• Contribute to, support planning of and participate in multi-stakeholder platforms, forums or other partnerships to foster the integration and scale up of ICT4D solutions for smallholder farmers.
• Develop ICTs and digital solutions/innovations in different areas (production, climate information, market, finance and others) to support smallholder farmers.
• Design and develop dynamic reporting tools to ensure availability of reports on a regular basis to track progress/ status of project implementation and support data and evidence-based approaches.

Building and strengthening partnerships:

• Conduct a mapping/assessment of ICT4D projects with direct or indirect linkages to the agricultural sector across different countries.
• Based on the assessments undertaken and other relevant sources, identify key intervention areas using participatory and inclusive approaches and develop project components for effective and sustainable implementation of ICT4D projects.
• Provide support in the development and strengthening of business models, governance structures and economic viability assessments.
• Establish partnerships that IFAD can leverage to engage relevant stakeholders, policymakers and build capacity to support the integration of digital technologies and implementation of ICT4D projects.
• Collaborate with various partners to advocate for favourable policies, regulations, and institutional frameworks that support the use and adoption of digital technologies for smallholder farmers and advance rural development.
• Advanced university degree (master's or equivalent) from an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php in a job-related field (*).
• The advanced university degree may be substituted by a first university degree and at least four (4) additional years of relevant professional experience over and above the minimum number of years of experience as stipulated below.

(*) Areas of study:

Information and Communication Technology (ICT):

• Engineering.
• Information Technology.
• Computer Science.
• Software development.

Development and Social Sciences:

• International Development.
• Development Studies
• Rural/Community Development.
• Rural Sociology.

Agricultural and Environmental Studies:

• Agricultural Engineering.
• Agribusiness Management.
• Agricultural Sciences.
• Environmental Sciences.
• Sustainable Development.

Management and Organizational Studies:

• Project Management.
• Institutional Development.
• Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Knowledge Management.
• Information Management

Economics and Business Studies:

• Economics.
• Business Administration.
• Finance.
• Institutional Economics.
• Public Administration.
• Public Policy.

Experience:

• IFAD is looking for consultants with various levels of expertise/experience as described below:
• Lead level expert - over 12 years of relevant professional experience (P-5).
• Senior level expert - over 8 years of relevant professional experience (P-4).
• Mid-level expert - over 5 years- experience (P-3).
• Entry level expert - over 2 years-experience.
• Lead, senior and mid-level candidates should have a strong background of regional contexts and demonstrated regional experience of targeted areas.

Language Skills: Fluency in English is mandatory. Additionally, fluency in French, Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese may be required depending on the geographic area where the assignments of the consultants will be focused.

Other Information

IFAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnic, social or political background, colour, nationality, religion, age, gender, disability, marital status, family size or sexual orientation.

Please be aware of fraudulent job offers. IFAD does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Official communication from IFAD will always come from e-mails ending in @ifad.org. In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview.

Consultancies play a critical role in the execution of IFAD's mandate and our impact on the ground. Please note your application does not imply automatic placement on the roster. Applicants to this call for interest will undergo a selection process: (i) initial screening to check minimum requirements, (ii) a more in-depth assessment and/or possible short interviews. Successfully going through these steps is required to be included in IFAD's consultants- roster. Inclusion in the roster does not guarantee any immediate assignment but is a pre-condition for being considered for future assignments for which a specific contracting process will be required.

Consultants are not considered IFAD staff. A consultancy assignment does not carry any expectation of employment, extension or conversion to another type of contract with the Fund. Remuneration will be in line with the standards set for UN consultants. Given the diverse technical nature of the assignments, IFAD is looking for consultants of varying ability above the minimum threshold stated.

Consultants can be recruited for a maximum of 240 days in 1 calendar year and 960 days in 5 calendar years. For any questions or further clarification needed about the terms of reference for the consultant roster, please feel free to contact [digital_advisory@ifad.org]