Soil Scientist/Soil Health Expert - Short-term Consultancy at Kantar

POSITION OVERVIEW

Kantar, Public Division is preparing a proposal for an evaluation of a Soil Health Programme in five countries in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana and Burkina Faso). The programme was launched to increase incomes, improve food security and reduce household poverty by promoting the use and adoption of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) practices among smallholder farmers and creating an enabling environment for farmers to adopt the practices in an efficient, equitable and sustainable manner across sub Saharan Africa.

We are looking for a soil scientist/ soil heath expert who will be part of a team of experts to conduct an end of program evaluation to determine the impacts of the Soil Health Program. The evaluation will focus on outcomes and medium-term impacts of the program interventions.

Kantar is the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. We understand more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than anyone else. Combining our expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies, Kantar’s 30,000 people help the world’s leading organizations succeed and grow.

Our public colleagues provide the evidence needed for successful decision-making in government and the public sector. They have expertise in public policy formulation and evaluation, public opinion and voting intention studies, national statistics and longitudinal studies, plus consulting and advisory services in behavior change, public communications and policy design.

KEY OUTCOMES

• Evaluate the Integrated Soil Fertility Management technologies developed by the programme and scaled up by the grantees.
• Evaluate the Fertilizer Supply and Policy framework to improve scaling up of quality fertilizer production, delivery and usage by smallholder farmers.
• Evaluate capacity building initiatives in training of soil scientists by the programme.
• Participate in client communications and represent the evaluation team at routine project meetings.
• Work closely with the Evaluation team to design the evaluation approach, develop evaluation instruments and implement the evaluation activities.
• Proactively collaborate with other team members to ensure quality delivery of tasks.  
• Document lessons learnt and best practices and propose recommendations among varied stakeholders.

CAPABILITIES

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience
• A PhD in Soil Science, Agronomy, Agricultural Sciences, or related field
• Experience on policy analysis and evaluation particularly on fertilizer and Integrated Soil Fertility Management policies
• Experience in post-graduate training of soil scientists and agronomists and capacity building.
• A solid background and experience in agricultural development in Africa including in soil health, the entire input systems and extension systems in Africa;
• Proven and demonstrated ability to conduct impact studies and provide strong strategic thinking on future direction.
• Demonstrable analytical skills for analysing issues and formulating concrete recommendations to a wide range of stakeholders;
• Ability to communicate in French will be an added advantage.
• The position will be home-based with possibilities of travel to field areas.