Research Associate Restoration Policy Accelerator at World Resources Institute (WRI)

The position will report to WRI Africa’s AFR100 Manager for day-to-day tasks and work closely with WRI’s Senior Associate leading the Policy Accelerator program. This position will also work closely with WRI Africa’s Director of Vital Landscapes and with WRI’s Food and Land Use Coalition team.

What you will do:

Policy & Engagement (50%)

• Support the planning and implementation of national and regional Policy Accelerators in Africa (in-person and virtual workshops)
• Work with WRI country leads to engage with government officials to understand their policy challenges and systemic constraints impeding changes; build their capacity to design, capitalize, and implement good restoration policies
• Support the identification of restoration policy bottlenecks in collaboration with government officials and policymakers
• Nurture and grow a network of policymakers to support implementation of landscape restoration policies
• Coordinate Policy Accelerator efforts in Africa with other regions (e.g., Latin America and India)
• Facilitate exchanges of experience on policy instruments for landscape restoration among policymakers participating in the program
• Support cross-institutional collaboration with participants from each country; unite them towards a common goal and bottleneck to be addressed in the Policy Accelerator program
• Engage with Policy Accelerator participants to maximize peer-to-peer learning and support.

Research & Knowledge (50%)

• Conduct research and analysis on existing restoration policies and incentives (through the interaction with the Global Restoration Initiative) and regionally (by working directly with the AFR100 team), particularly as they relate to agriculture and food security
• Integrate the latest research on addressing food security in Africa into the AFR100 Initiative strategy and workplan
• Work with WRI’s monitoring leads to identify potential uses of WRI's existing landscape restoration monitoring tools in policy analysis
• Present complex information in a clear and concise manner and communicate research findings to research and non-research-focused audiences such as governments and the private sector
• Support the drafting of reports and peer-review manuscripts, case studies, outreach materials, presentations, and blogs
• Provide strategic advice to inform and develop team strategy Other duties may be assigned.

What you will need:

Education:

• Master’s degree in Environmental Policy, Agriculture, Forestry or related field

Experience:

• 6+ years of relevant full-time work experience
• Familiarity with environmental policy analysis and social impact measurements
• Previous experience managing research projects and contributing to peer-reviewed publications
• Experience facilitating communication within a team and external stakeholders
• Past experience managing multiple projects with varying deadlines
• Ability to work within an internationally dispersed team.