Research Associate at IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Ref: IITA-HR-NRS2018-0015
Locations: Jigawa & Yobe
Recruitment Type: National (1-year renewable contract)

The WINNN program

• WINNN is an eight-year (September 2011—March 2019) program funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to improve maternal and child nutrition in five states of northern Nigeria namely Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, and Yobe.
• WINNN is designed to support the piloting of a set of evidence-based nutrition-specific interventions; micro-nutrient supplementation, community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM), infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counselling, and to support institutionalization of the interventions within routine healthcare.

The Project

• The overall goal of this orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) led garden product project is to improve food and nutrition security and livelihoods for women and children, especially improved diet diversity in two of the five WINNN states implementing during the cost extension period.
• The project seeks to catalyze broad support for OFSP and its use in strategic initiatives including Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) program (first cohort), mothers/care givers of recovered Severe and Acute Malnourished (SAM) clients in small scale food processing, school feeding, and wheat import substitution in commercial food processing in this region.

Duties
Successful candidate will among other things perform the following duties:

• Facilitate increased adoption and diffusion of OFSP among the WINNN project beneficiaries;
• Develop OFSP seed system and establish kitchen gardens;
• Facilitate capacity development of the key direct beneficiaries of the project;
• Empower the WINNN project IYCF support group members and recovered SAM mothers/care givers to use OFSP and other selected nutritious crops to process bioavailable nutritious foods for improved nutrition and livelihoods;
• Create awareness, sensitize, and educate communities and the beneficiary groups on OFSP and nutritious foods in the two selected states;
• Create demand, identify and link markets for OFSP in the two selected states for improved livelihoods of the beneficiaries;
• Promote Triple S and Double S technologies for own-seed conservation and root conservation;
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications

• MSc in Agronomy or related field with minimum of five (5) years’ experience in crop knowledge.

Competencies:

• Sound in report writing in English.
• High level of computer literacy, accuracy and attention to detail.
• At least five years of experience in project management in rural areas with a good understanding of planning and budgeting of activities.
• Excellent organizational, presentation and communication skills, (with a good command of English, both oral and written).
• Experience in or willingness to learn and conduct community-level nutrition trainings, in addition to agriculture work.
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, with the ability to effectively communicate with a range of individuals through e-mails and in person
• Fluent in Hausa language.
• Highly proactive and consistently approaches work with energy and a positive constructive attitude.

Remuneration
We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.