Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, September 07, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) a CGIAR Research Center is seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates for a short-term assignment under the project titled “Resilient Aquatic Food Systems for Healthy People and Planet”.

Project Background
IWMI in collaboration with the WorldFish, on behalf of the OneCGIAR, are implementing the Project “Resilient Aquatic Food Systems for Healthy People and Planet (AqFS)” in several countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The goal of the AqFS is to catalyze scaling of transformative innovations and evidence-based policies that will enhance the resilience of the aquatic food system and realize their full potential in delivering a triple win for nature, people and the economy. Globally, aquatic foods are an important and growing component of the global food system and provide multiple benefits cutting across all the five CGIAR Impact Areas of:
1. Nutrition, Health, and Food Security;
2. Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs;
3. Environmental Health and Biodiversity;
4. Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion and;
5. Climate Adaptation and Mitigation;
In Zambia aquatic foods are of significant socio-economic and environmental importance. About one million people depend both directly and indirectly on aquatic foods and the sector contributes approximately 3.2% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has potential for job creation. It plays an important role in household food and nutrition security and household income generation. It is supplies between 20 – 40% of animal source proteins and, delivers high quality micronutrients and omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for human growth especially in the first 1000 days of life.
These realized and potential benefits are, however, threatened by multiple constraints and stressors that reflect policy, institutional and funding inadequacies. At a global scale the key stressors include overharvesting of wild fish stocks; poor governance of the aquatic commons resulting in increased marginalization of traditional and indigenous fishers; inequities in supply-chains, situation that has now been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic; vulnerabilities of fisheries communities and aquatic ecosystems to climate change and, degradation and destabilization of aquatic ecosystem thereby compromising its productivity, biodiversity and carbon-sequestering functions. The key drivers of most of these stressors are land use change, and competition for water, space and other resources in major fisheries areas. The situation is being exacerbated by natural hazards and political and economic instabilities and underinvestment in breeding aquatic animals for improved growth, feed conversion efficiency and climate resilience, and the emergence of aquatic animal diseases that destabilize production – and antimicrobial resistance.
The delivery of Project is organized in 5 work packages as shown in figure 1 below. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is leading Work Package 3 also known as Aqua Plans. The objective of this Work Package is to strengthen inclusion of aquatic foods in multifunctional landscapes. In Zambia, this will be implemented on the Kafue flats where The ONE CGIAR plans to help the Government of the Republic of Zambia and other stakeholders to respond to the vulnerability of the foodscapes to multiple stressors by assessing those risks and vulnerability using participative scenario planning. The Kafue flats is a multiple land use area with major land uses comprising conservation, fisheries, crop and livestock production. The area comprises communal and private lands and, protected areas.

Objective of the Assignment
The objective of the assignment “Development of a Multi-Stakeholder Platform and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy for Resilient Aquatic Food Systems” is expected to contribute towards the outcome: Co-implement sustainable and integrated development scenarios. The specific objectives of the assignment are:
1. develop a stakeholder map for the aquatic food systems for the Kafue flats;
2. develop a Multi-Stakeholder Platform for the area, which will be a vehicle for enhancing stakeholder engagement and participation in creating resilient aquatic food systems in the landscape; and
3. develop a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy for the aquatic food systems.
The consultant is therefore expected to support the Zambia component of Work Package 3. The consultant’s specific activities will include but not limited to:
1. Synthesizing existing evidence through a desk review on stakeholder mapping for the study area of Kafue. (The desk review will address aspects such as who, what interests, which resources, access and ownership, which decision making, who can be champions for food security, gender and social inclusion).
2. Review lessons learnt from past and ongoing initiatives on the Kafue flats and how they may inform the Resilient Aquatic Food Systems activities inter alia resource governance including access and benefit sharing mechanism, financing and investments, and institutional support services, especially by public sector agencies.
3. Conduct key informant interviews to further enrich the desk review.
4. Recommend how a Multistakeholder Platform may be set up for the Resilient Aquatic Food Systems initiative. The stakeholders are to comprise diverse actors including public sector, local communities and community-based organizations (CBOs), private sector, civil society organizations that have a stake on the Kafue Flats, describing:
o The form of its legal persona;
o Its objectives and functions;
o Its governing structure and,
o Its resourcing strategy,
o Its Stakeholder Engagement Plan aimed at improving stakeholder involvement in creating Resilient Aquatic Food Systems and,
o A Communications and Marketing Plan whose aim will be to promote Resilient Aquatic Food Systems in the landscape
5. Provide support in organizing the findings workshop.

Expected Outputs
1. Synthesis report on stakeholder mapping for the proposed study site of Kafue in Zambia. The report will also have a section on lessons learnt from past and ongoing initiatives in the Kafue.
2. Recommendations on Multi-Dialogue Stakeholder establishment for the Kafue.
3. Inception meeting report.
Duration: Approximately 05 months from September 2022 to February 2023
Your application must include a copy of your curriculum vitae, a cover letter that addresses IWMI’s requirements stated above, and contact information of three professional referees who may be contacted if you are short-listed for the position.
Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Requirements
The successful candidate will possess the following:
• At least an MSc in fisheries/aquaculture, water, gender studies, sociology, rural sociology, anthropology, development studies, economics, agricultural economics, geography, public policy, institutions/governance or another closely related field.
• Experience in research for development (R4D), specifically on issues relating to water, fisheries and development in Zambia, with field research experience.
• Must have undertaken similar assignments in the last 3 – 5 years within the southern African region
• Familiarity with the key stakeholders in Kafue region and the broader water and fisheries sectors in Zambia.
• Transdisciplinary methodological approach towards resilient aquatic food systems.
• Good publications track record, preferably in internationally peer-reviewed journals.
• Ability and willingness to travel to conduct research and facilitate consultative discussions.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and capacity to work in a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional and multicultural environment.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English and the ability to explain complex issues to diverse audiences, including at local, national and regional levels.

Benefits
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.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 36

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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