Job Description:
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is looking for a highly motivated national researcher to support projects related to renewable energy, water, food and climate change at its office in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead the Nepal component of the Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience in South Asia (SoLAR-SA) project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), in delivering high-quality research and implementation outputs, and achieving the desired development outcomes.
- Coordinate with the government and development partners, the Country Project Management Committee (C-PMC), stakeholders, and the SoLAR-SA project teams in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
- Coordinate and manage the design and delivery of technical training for solar technicians, and organize workshops with the aim of transferring knowledge to and building the capacity of local technicians, farmers (considering GESI), and national and international partners.
- Prepare research reports, journal articles, and other scientific manuscripts (e.g., policy guidelines, technical papers, policy briefs, blogs, etc.) for dissemination and uptake of research results.
- Ensure that project-specific deliverables and deadlines are met.
- Manage project budgets and work closely with the Country Representative – Nepal, relevant Research Group Leaders, project leaders, internal and external research teams, and partners to ensure timely delivery of outputs.
- Initiate, develop and sustain collaboration with research partners, governments, development partners, and other CGIAR centers for developing project proposals related to the water-energy-climate nexus.
- Support the Nepal office in implementing its country-specific strategic roadmap aligning priorities and plans of the Government of Nepal and one CGIAR.
- Present research findings on local, national, regional, and global platforms.
- Represent IWMI in policy, science, and development-related knowledge forums and meetings in Nepal.
Requirements
Qualifications and Experience:
An MSc in Electrical Engineering, Agricultural Science, Irrigation Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Civil Engineering, or a related discipline with 5-7 years of proven research-for-development (R4D) experience, and technical competence in designing, monitoring, and analyzing renewable energy, including solar irrigation technology, interventions in Nepal.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Technical knowledge of designing and implementing solar-based irrigation projects and pilots in Nepal.
- On-the-ground experience in working on SIPs, micro-grid connection to SIPs or water management solutions with farmers and water users (considering GESI).
- A good track record of relevant research publications, and experience in working on a diverse range of irrigation scales, and approaches, techniques and tools appropriate to each scale.
- Experience in managing consultants and staff, and leading interdisciplinary and multicultural teams for projects/programs in the renewable energy sector.
- Ability to be a great team player while also being able to independently design and conduct action research, and the overall ability to work in data-scarce environments, generating new datasets.
- Excellent knowledge of project management with strong teamwork skills and performance, and the ability to mentor and engage early career researchers in the research projects of IWMI and partners.
- Ability to establish and maintain partnerships and working relationships with the government, development partners, civil society organizations, private sector, and research and similar institutions.
- Familiarity with gender inequality, social exclusion, poverty and equity issues in Nepal, in general, and the irrigation and natural resource management sectors, in particular, and the ability to think and act on solar irrigation technologies and service interventions differently.
- Familiarity with federalism in Nepal, and the ability to plan and implement research-for-development (R4D) missions under the federal system of governance.
- Excellent oral and written English language skills.
Application:
Application closes on April 16th, 2021. Click here to apply.
Benefits:
This is a nationally recruited position and all applicants must be eligible to work in Nepal. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a transport allowance, medical insurance for self and eligible dependents, as well as life, AD&D and long-term disability insurance.
The duration of the initial contract will be for 30 months with the potential for annual extensions, dependent upon continued funding and institute requirements.
Your application must include a copy of your curriculum vitae, cover letter which addresses IWMI’s requirements stated above, and contact information of three professional referees, who will be contacted if you are short-listed for the position, and must be uploaded as one document.
IWMI believes that diversity powers our innovation contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. We offer a multi-cultural, multi-color, multi-generational, and multi-disciplinary working environment. We are consciously creating an inclusive organization that reflects our global character and our commitment to gender equity. We, therefore, encourage applicants from all cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientations, and gender identities.