Chemonics seeks an agricultural economist for the ongoign USAID FEWS NET project. The project relies on a broadly defined Markets and Trade Knowledge Base, which includes market context documents (Market Fundamentals Reports), special reports, and databases of historical market information (including production, food balance sheets, and prices). Most recently, FEWS NET has been tasked with also providing USAID with market response decision support, including but not limited to assessing the impact of potential food assistance programs on a given country’s local economy. This is a short-term (up to 3 months) international consultancy that will support the development of the project’s Market Fundamentals Reports . We are looking for people who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.
Responsibilities include:
- Review existing guidance and methodologies used to assess market structure, conduct, and performance
- Review and analyze all existing secondary data (including price data, agricultural production and trade statistics, and other market data) and reports (including existing market studies) on selected commodity markets and country (or countries) of interest
- Compile available data on any food aid deliveries in the past five years
- Assure that local consultants obtain relevant data (including price data, agricultural production and trade statistics, and other market data) and reports (including existing market studies) from government and non-government offices for use in research by the team in a timely fashion.
- Identify remaining information gaps and develop field assessment plan to fill those gaps through interviews with key informants and focus groups
- Conduct in-depth meetings with key informants about the current state of the commodity markets of interest. This will include but will not be limited to facilitating 2-3 day workshops with groups of key informants of specific geographic or thematic expertise related to the commodity markets of interest to USAID
- Draft sections of the Market Fundamentals report, with guidance from the Home Office Technical team
Qualifications:
- Master’s Degree in Economics or a closely related field
- Extensive experience in agricultural market analysis and/or food security analysis
- Direct work experience with the implementation or research of local and regional procurement, cash, and voucher programming preferred
- Field experience in one of the five FEWS NET regions (Central America and the Caribbean, Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and Central Asia); experience in Central and South America, Asia, and the Middle East preferred
- Experience conducting external evaluations of food assistance programs preferred
- Experience with major donor organizations or research institutions involved in food assistance or food security analysis is highly preferred
- Experience facilitating technical workshops and/or focus group interviews
- Ability to work with international and multidisciplinary team members with minimal supervision
- Professional experience in the assessment focus country is highly desirable
- Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
- Proficiency in the assessment focus country official language and English is required
Application Instructions:
Send electronic submissions to https://fewsnet.formstack.com/forms/ag_economist by September 2, 2016. Please include “Agricultural economist” in the subject line. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted.
In addition, please download and complete Chemonics’ equal employment opportunity self-identification form and submit it separately to EEOselfidentify@chemonics.com with only “Agricultural economist – FEWS NET” in the subject line. If you prefer not to disclose your sex, race, or ethnicity, you may check “I do not wish to complete the information requested.” Thank you for completing the form and supporting our equal employment opportunity reporting requirements.
Chemonics is an equal opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, age, or other legally protected characteristics.
EmoticonEmoticon