Policy Research and Analytics Lead 40 views

Project Background

The seven-year (2019 – 2026) Feed the Future Policy LINK project will strengthen the capacity of local actors and institutions to lead and manage the agricultural transformation process and contribute effectively and collectively to improved, broad-based food security policy outcomes.

Specifically, the program aims to strengthen food security policy systems by investing in and reinforcing productive human and social capital and developing strategic partnerships that help bring these innovations and capacity investments to scale in order to achieve a critical mass of local actors with the ability and opportunity to effect positive policy change through collective action.

Policy LINK’s general approach is grounded in facilitative leadership and collaborative governance, which emphasize engaging stakeholders from civil society and public and private sectors in consensus-oriented decision making, collaborative problem solving, and adaptive learning.

Policy LINK in Ethiopia

USAID/C4FS is a five-year activity with the overall objective of supporting Ethiopian policy system actors in their aspiration to develop an inclusive policy development process. Specifically, the activity will facilitate the transition towards a policy development paradigm driven by multiple stakeholders.

This approach to policymaking will strengthen the capacities of Ethiopia’s main agricultural policy system actors and institutions and support them to engage stakeholders traditionally excluded from decision-making, including academia, financial institutions, the judiciary, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private sector representatives from the national, regional, and local levels.

This approach is underpinned by Policy LINK’s overarching theory of change focused on increasing human and social capital, engaging policy system actors in collaborative processes, and developing mechanisms for collaborative governance and dynamic learning systems and platforms to sustain collective action.

Policy Evidence Strengthening Activity

Policy LINK works to strengthen systems for evidence-informed policymaking by involving policy system actors such as research institutions-both local and international, and academia. Our focus is on strengthening networks, platforms, and systems that enable diverse stakeholders to interact and collaborate to leverage and apply research, analytics, and knowledge management for evidence- informed decision-making. Policy LINK supports establishment of new/strengthening of existing

platforms and forums that bring together researchers and policymakers, coalitions among advocacy organizations, and knowledge producers, etc. These include multi-stakeholder policy analysis groups, national-level advocacy platforms, and local networks that represent relevant constituencies for policy change.

By investing in and promoting networks that enable knowledge sharing across regions, technical challenges, or cohorts, Policy LINK will help to catalyze working partnerships; gather, analyze, and disseminate policy-relevant data and information; and mobilize the resources required for transformational change.

Position Objectives

The postholder will oversee the development and implementation of activities designed to facilitate generation and use of evidence to promote evidence-based policymaking process in the agriculture and food system sectors in Ethiopia. This position will have technical leadership and project management responsibilities for all the activities that relate to evidence platform strengthening including policy research and analysis and multi-stakeholder dialogues. Policy LINK intends to catalyze and facilitate the generation of evidence through targeted, demand-driven policy research and analysis support which are managed under the multi-stakeholder platform/network.

The post holder will continually reinforce Policy LINK’s agreed-upon core purpose and principles, and ensure all decision-making is rooted in those purpose and principles. S/he will contribute to foster a learning environment in which personal and team growth is supported, with a shared understanding that the “team” always comes before the “individual.”

Responsibilities

The Policy Research and Analytics Lead will be responsible for the following anticipated tasks, though others may be added as appropriate:

• Lead the design and implementation of policy evidence platform strengthening related activities.

• Lead the development of workplans, and activity implementation monitoring checklists.

• Ensure the functioning and effectiveness of the newly established national level multi-stakeholder policy research and analysis network through joint planning and progress monitoring activities by closely working with relevant sectors/stakeholders.

• Lead and follow up regularly on updates on the status of agriculture and food system policies, and strategies for higher level policy engagement and decision making.

• Facilitate establishment/strengthening of regional level policy evidence platforms and knowledge management systems by closely working with MEL Lead and Regional Program Managers.

• Lead and manage regular meetings of the multi-stakeholder network.

• Closely working with the steering committees and other working groups, manage all communication related to the multistakeholder evidence platform/network.

• Lead the development of developing concept notes, terms of references, and call for proposals, and follow up on checklists in collaboration with Policy LINK team and members of the policy and evidence platform/network.

• Provide technical and managerial support in the selection, prioritization, and execution of national and regional level policy research/analysis activities.

• In collaboration with relevant stakeholder groups (such as Steering Committee and Working groups), conduct continuous follow up of the on-going policy research grants to ensure quality and timeliness of the research activities.