SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Background

Alliance with local and international partners is implementing a technical assistance project to apply cutting edge climate risk and adaptation analytics to increase private investment in agriculture adaptation through an accelerator and incubator program. Firstly, it will provide the tools and approaches to screen and prioritize investments based on their potential impact in adaptation, mitigation, and productivity. Secondly, it will develop technical assistance program to enhance agribusinesses capacity to sustainably receive the investments and produce the expected impact and returns. Thirdly, it aims to design a robust knowledge sharing infrastructure to collect data, to screen, manage and monitor impacts of these investments over time.

About the position

Based in Kigali, Rwanda, and reporting to a Project Lead, the Senior Research Associate will be responsible for coordinating CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF) projects, ensuring deliverables are met timely, and working directly with the project owner to facilitate the day-to-day implementation of the project.

Key duties & responsibilities

• Coordinate the implementation of CGIAR technical assistance in complex investment focused projects with private investors in close coordination with project managers (at various stages of investment cycle, pipeline development/project origination, pre & post investment technical assistance).
  
• Engage directly with partners to ensure the delivery of our technical assistance according to expectations and ImpactSF's standards.
  
• Develop a partner engagement monitoring system.
  
• Set up effective internal monitoring systems for project delivery and engage with team members to monitor implementation.
  
• Develop communication content on projects development in cooperation with communication professionals.
  
• Consolidate and synthesize technical outputs from various matter experts in the team & literature into a high-quality narrative and deliverables for clients' reporting.
  
• Support with designing and organizing strategic high-level meetings, capacity development workshops etc.
  
• Act as focal point with different partners and stakeholders for the implementation of project activities
  
• Represent Alliance at events workshops meetings taking place in Rwanda.
  
• Provide regular reports to the Project Manager about implementation status, action points from meetings workshops and any implementation challenges.
  
• Coordinate the exchange of information and data between Alliance and the selected Agri-SMEs
  
• Establish relationships with key local stakeholders including government, investors, and private sector.
  
• Manage and oversee logistics of Alliance international staff visiting Rwanda.
  
• Coordinate the development of new proposals targeting investors, working closely with CGIAR subject matter experts.
  
  

  Requirements

  • Master's degree in agricultural or biological sciences, international development, business administration or related fields.
    
  • Minimum 4 years of relevant experience providing technical support to Scientists (including on proposal development).
    
  • Excellent time management and coordination skills.
    
  • Well-versed in delivering effective communications, and experienced active player in research teams on specific projects or proposal efforts.
    
  • Native English speaker, or fluent with idiomatic command of English, and demonstrably high verbal and written English skills.
    
  • Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work effectively with other national and cultural backgrounds.
    
  • Experience working on investment design for adaptation, resilience, agriculture risk management projects.
    
  • Superior analysis and insight generation capacity.
    
  • Strong client service orientation.
    
  • Excellent eye for detail, critical thinking, high standards of excellence, personal organization, prioritization and time management skills, flexibility, and the ability to deliver on agreed deadlines.
    
  • Ability to work with a considerable amount of autonomy.