Senior Research Associate, Nourishing Food Pathways

Position description

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Senior Research Associate, Nourishing Food Pathways to support the Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) research work. This role will be offered on a 3 years’ fixed term contract, subject to availability of funding. You will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Reporting to the Research Advisor and Project Manager, you will provide technical input on and have substantive involvement in the research. This will include supporting the development of research methods, supporting data collection and analysis, and supporting interpretation and communication of the results.

The postholder will also support project management and implementation of research activities through coordinating research with partners (e.g., local think tanks and data collection firms), supporting logistics and meetings related to the work, and contributing to project management tasks (e.g., budgeting and forecasting, work planning, and contracting.)

Key Responsibilities include

• Supporting the implementation of high-quality, technically sound research activities in alignment with GAIN and other relevant research good practice guidelines, including refining research questions and methodology, developing research plans, and interacting with partners and contractors as needed to carry out the activities
• Carrying out literature reviews, stakeholder consultations, evidence synthesis, and other desk activities from development of the approach through to implementation, report writing, and publication/dissemination
• Supporting in-country field implementation of research, evaluation, learning, and knowledge management activities, including visiting study sites and interacting with project partners (e.g., implementing partners, consultants, contractors) to ensure timely and quality progress
• Contributing to or leading the development of project reports and other knowledge products, including research articles, briefings, presentations, and associated tables/figures
• Communicating technical topics to colleagues and external partners by preparing and presenting reports, and blog posts, organizing and delivering presentations, and facilitating events as needed
• Managing and organising processes such as procurement of goods and services, budgeting and forecasting, and contracting as related to the NFP research work, particularly in country office.
• Serving as the main contact point with local partner organizations, such as data collection firms, and overseeing their work in both technical and logistical aspects
• Supporting the Project Manager in preparing donors’ reports in collaboration with project teams, technical teams, funding team and support teams.
• Proactively identifying and reporting any issues with implementing the project, addressing them where feasible, and proactively seeking support where issues require wider attention and resolution.
 

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in critical analysis skills to support with evidence generation and reporting. You will have experience in research using both quantitative and qualitive methodologies in policy analysis, political economy, food/nutrition or related fields. You will have hands-on experience doing programmatically relevant research in Kenya, independently, and in collaboration with local research counterparts.

Candidates with experience in other countries, particularly in East Africa and demonstrable understanding of nutrition and food systems, the policy process or of environmental sustainability or gender issues related to food systems would be an asset.

The postholder should have strong communication and presentation skills and willing to work with diverse groups/individuals. You will be proficiency in written and spoken English, candidates will knowledge in French would be an advantage. In addition, you should be highly flexible and able to travel domestically regularly and international occasionally.

A Master’s degree in nutrition, agriculture, sustainable development, economics, development studies, policy/political economy or related field. You will have skills with data analysis software, such as R, Stata, SAS, or SPSS; or nVivo or ATLAS.ti and formal training in research methods.

The ideal candidate will also have knowledge on both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, including analysis of survey data, in nutrition, agriculture, or closely related field. Candidates with ability to create high quality and innovative data visualizations (for communication of findings to expert and non-expert audiences) would be an advantage.

About our Offer

The starting salary on offer for this role is from KES 3,125,820 – KES 3,576,108 per annum (gross salary), depending on experience.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance.

We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Application instructions

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