THE ROLE

Job title: Crop Health Advisor, South Asia
Reporting to: Program Coordinator DCE
HAY BAND: HAY 5
Salary Range: 900,000-1,200,000 (Annual-INR)
Contract Duration: 3 Years

Key peer group: Project Scientists at CABI SA and Crop Health team at CABI Worldwide

Location: CABI in India

Purpose of the role:

The purpose of the role is to provide technical support to CABI in India for the implementation of on going projects as well as to develop project concepts/proposals for business continuity in the areas of crop health and in particular integrated crop management (ICM). The crop health adviser will provide active inputs and lead specific ongoing activities through technical support to ensure smooth project implementation. The job holder will advise CABI SA on ICM as a sustainable agricultural approach, for farmers, governmental and non-governmental agricultural bodies and agricultural businesses in manufacturing, marketing and services.

He/She would assist in the design and conduct capacity building programmes for implementation of economically and environmentally viable ICM approaches at different levels in the plant health system (agri-input, advisory services, policy, research and education) supporting smallholder farmers.

Key Accountabilities

• Support the Regional Director and South Asia team in delivering the Crop Health subtheme as per CABI member country engagement strategy & CABI’s Medium Term Strategy (MTS);

• Support business development activities in ICM including integrated pest management, integrated soil fertility management, etc related to value chain development in accordance to donor requirements;

• Implement projects in ICM or related fields within South Asia and conduct/ visit international projects upon request (initially together with CABI colleagues), deliver agreed Terms of Reference (ToRs) and provide subsequent feedback to all relevant project stakeholders via timely submission of technical reports;

• Assist development of best practice guidelines and capacity building programmes to support regional or national ICM implementation, crop health, etc. Work closely with local, regional and relevant regional level offices to build capacity and ensure inclusive implementation of ICM activities;

• Support integrating gender, youth, agri-business, and climate-smart technology in all value chain activities;

• Support partners with project planning (i.e. logical frameworks), as well as project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation;

• Support implementation and coordination of applied research on ICM practices in collaboration with key staff of national partners;

• Provide support to write advisory leaflets, farmer manuals, technical notes and press releases;

• Undertake administrative duties (compilation of progress, annual and final reports) and support project management according to predefined yearly plans of operation to satisfy customer expectations.

• Adhere to CABI policies and procedures at the Centre, including in areas such as HRM, Health and Safety, Financial and Project Management, and IPR.

Additional Expectations:

• Play an active part of CABI global team on Crop Health as well as the Regional Centres in Asia to jointly develop the work packages, prepare and coordinate the development of project proposals and bidding documents.

• When necessary, the candidate will be expected to work extra hours to successfully produce high quality and timely deliverables in alignment with project requirements and deadlines;

• Tap into funding opportunities from various donors such as ADB, World Bank, etc. to South Asian countries.

• Support development of new projects and programmes under high time pressure in response to international or national donor calls, as well as private partner requirements; and

• Provide capacity to successfully work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams to ensure adoption of approaches that deliver high-impact results in response to donor expectations.

Qualifications

• PhD/Master’s degree in agriculture/horticulture with specialization in agronomy/crop production systems/integrated crop management, etc.

• Fluent spoken and written English and spoken Hindi is essential; knowledge of other major Indian languages would be advantageous.

Experience and skills

• At least 5 years of field experience in the areas of designing and implementing production systems for Agriculture/Horticulture crops, ICM, IPM, integrated soil fertility management, etc.

• Overall development of commodity crops/horticulture crops with crop health focus.

• Developing, costing, securing and managing externally-funded research, training and development projects as well as implementation;

Additional Experiences:

• Has previous experiences working in SA countries especially in the private sector (including NGOs, iNGOs);

• Involvement in project management (e.g. needs analysis, concept development, project design and implementation), preferably in a development cooperation context; and

• Project administration and basic monitoring and evaluation.

• Proven & hands-on experience in ICM, IPM, INM, etc. including working with regional forums in South Asia and national bodies responsible for the same.

• Experience working in crop health aspects of specific value chains such as horticulture, spices, and major field and commodity crops.

Personal characteristics

• Strong team player, with excellent technical, management and communication skills.

• Self-motivated;

• Capable of handling a demanding and varied workload;

• Willing to travel to remote and challenging locations in developing countries;

• Strong personal organisation skills;

• Effective information management skills;

• Comfortable working on one’s own initiative as well as following advice;

• Willing to acquire new knowledge and skills;

• Flexible and creative in planning and problem solving;

• Strong coaching, mentoring and writing skills;

HOW TO APPLY

• If you meet the criteria set out above, to apply please submit to following to our online recruitment portal at www.cabi.org/careers

• CV and Cover letter which needs to include details of the expertise and eligibility for the position closing Date: 31-08-2022.

• This is re-advertisement and those who applied earlier not need to apply again.

To apply for this job please visit cabi.ciphr-irecruit.com.