Position Announcement

EcoAgriculture Partners

Food Security and Climate Resilience Consultant

Posted December 15, 2011

EcoAgriculture Partners seeks to hire a half-time Consultant for 5-6 months, to contribute to an exciting project developing landscape scale strategies for “climate smart” agriculture that improve livelihood security and resilience of farmers and their communities while concurrently protecting and restoring ecosystem services. The Consultant will be a member of the professional team that will implement the project. The work will begin in January, 2012. The Consultant may be based in the Washington, DC area or near Ithaca, New York and Cornell University, or possibly elsewhere.

Primarily, the Consultant will prepare a paper on approaches to achieving food security and ecological resilience for at-risk households and communities engaged in agriculture and natural resource management in the face of climate change. The paper will be based principally on a comprehensive review of scholarly and grey literatures related to linkages between food security/poverty alleviation and agroecosystem/ecosystem management. The Consultant will explore economic, sociological and policy literatures as well as literatures linked to international development programs concerned with food relief, food security and poverty alleviation through agriculture and natural resource management in the context of climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation goals. The paper will suggest ways that programs and projects might be designed and implemented to deliver food security and ecosystems benefits through integrated investments and management systems.

The paper will be organized around a framework for analyzing potential interfaces between ecosystem management at farm, community and landscape scales, and food security and resilience in the face of threats from drought and natural resource degradation. Through research for the paper and interaction with other team members the consultant will help to elaborate the framework. The Consultant also will conduct interviews with strategically selected informants to inform the paper. The paper will be distributed at “Rio+20” in June 2012, and submitted to an appropriate journal for publication. A draft of the paper, in written or power point format (to be determined) will be presented for feedback and input at the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Forum in Nairobi, in March 2011. http://landscapes.ecoagriculture.org/

Required skills and experience:

• Masters degree in natural resources, agriculture, development economics, regional planning, international development, policy, development sociology or a related field;

• Experience working on food security, disaster management and/or ecosystem resilience issues and analysis;

• Excellent analysis and writing skills;

• High level of organization and self-direction; and

• English fluency.

Desirable:

• Field work in developing countries

• Spanish and French language.

Compensation:

• $2,000 - $3,225/month for half-time work depending on experience

To apply:

Please email your curriculum vitae; a cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for this position; a sample of your scholarly/academic writing on a topic related to this position; and, names and contact information for two references, with subject line Consultant – [your name] to Courtney Wallace, cwallace@ecoagriculture.org. Review of applications will commence as they are received and continue until this position is filled.

EcoAgriculture Partners is a non-profit organization that works to facilitate sustainable food production, rural livelihoods, and environmental conservation through integrated approaches to rural landscape management. The organization does so by providing training, research, policy solutions, and support to farmers, communities, and organizations at the local, national and international levels. To learn more about EcoAgriculture Partners, visit our website at www.ecoagriculture.org.