Short-Term Consultant- Development of Agroecology Pathway Strategy - Soil Values - Office of Programs - Africa

Current Job Openings --> Full Time --> Full Time Africa

Abuja

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ID: 20121518

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Full-Time/Regular

About IFDC

IFDC is a public international organization active in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, and America. IFDC uniquely approaches the global issues of food security and poverty by bridging the gap between research and impact, combining science-based innovations, holistic market systems, enabling policy environments, and strategic partnerships that assist farmers and countries to identify and bring to scale sustainable agricultural solutions, including improved nutrient use efficiency. The approaches are needed to boost soil health, its productivity as well as enhancing crop productivity while reducing the environmental impact of fertilizer use. IFDC translates research into action by using locally driven, environmentally sound, and impact-oriented solutions. With our partners, we seek to close the yield gap, eradicate global hunger, and safeguard the soil on which our lives depend. These are done alongside building the economic resilience of farming households and the countries in which they live.

Responsibilities

Design an Agroecology Pathway that operationalizes the three strategic intervention areas: Bundling, Integrating, and Brokering, while providing a coherent framework to scale up interventions from the farm to the landscape level;

Leverage strategic partnerships, supportive policies, and innovative financing mechanisms to foster wide adoption and ensure long-term sustainability of agroecological practices;

Adapt lessons and best practices from comparable initiatives (e.g., CASCAPE, REFOOTURE, Dutch- and IKEA Foundation-funded projects) to the specific biophysical, socio-economic, and institutional contexts of the Sahelian and Guinea Savanna zones (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Northern Nigeria);

Ensure solutions are locally relevant and participatory, building strong ownership and capacity among smallholder farmers, with a particular focus on women and youth;

Link farm-level interventions to broader landscape and watershed-scale impacts, ensuring ecological sustainability and socio-economic wellbeing beyond the program’s lifespan;

Showcase evidence-based approaches by leveraging insights from successful projects (such as CASCAPE) and adapting them to the Soil Values intervention areas;

Conduct desk studies, literature reviews, and interviews to gather evidence and inform the strategy design;

Contribute to Soil Values program meetings and align the consultancy outputs with the overall program objectives.

Specific objectives

The specific objectives encompass answers to the sets of questions below:

How can the three strategic intervention areas Bundling, Integrating, and Brokering be effectively operationalized within the Agroecology Pathway?

What specific activities or packages should be bundled to address farm-level soil fertility and production challenges?

How can technical and socio-economic interventions be integrated to create a holistic approach?

Which brokering mechanisms (e.g., platforms, networks, market linkages) can facilitate scaling-up and coordination among stakeholders?

What key elements should be included in the framework to ensure effective scaling from farm to landscape level?

What criteria define readiness for scaling agroecological practices at watershed or landscape level?

How can local contexts (ecological, socio-economic, cultural) be considered in the scaling process?

Which monitoring and evaluation indicators will best measure progress at both levels?

Which partnerships, policies, and financing mechanisms can be leveraged to support adoption and sustainability?

What existing policies or programs align with the Agroecology Pathway can be built upon?

Which public-private partnerships (PPPs) or community-based organizations can act as key drivers?

How can innovative financing mechanisms (e.g., blended finance, green funds, microfinance) enhance sustainability?

What barriers currently hinder the adoption and scaling of agroecological practices, and how can they be addressed?

Are there institutional, financial, or knowledge-related constraints at the farmer or policy level?

How can the pathway create incentives or reduce risks for early adopters?

How can inclusiveness be ensured in the Agroecology Pathway?

What measures should be taken to ensure the active participation of women, youth, and vulnerable groups?

How can capacity-building initiatives be tailored to different stakeholder groups?

Requirements

The consultant must have:

Advanced degree in agroecology, agronomy, natural resource management, environmental sciences, or related field;

At least 10 years’ experience in sustainable agriculture, agroecology, or rural development;

Proven expertise in farm-to-landscape interventions, financial mechanism design, and multi-stakeholder facilitation;

Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred;

Excellent communication and writing skills.

Deliverables

The deliverables expected from this consultancy are:

Methodology, persons/institutions to be contacted, timetable after 4 days;

Final report with actionable recommendations after 20 days.

Duration

This consultancy requires a total of 25 days including travel.

Reporting and Work Relationships

In close collaboration with the Soil Values Program team, the consultant will undertake the following services:

Participate in a Inception meeting with the Extended Program Management Team of Soil Values;

Deliver a Planning to access information relevant to the questions mentioned in Specific Objectives (literature search, resource person interviews inside and outside Soil Values);

Attend the Strategy meeting of Soil Values in West Africa (early October), share progress and deal with comments and suggestions.

Report to Deputy Program Director Technical on a monthly basis.

Mode of payment

30%- after submission and approval of technical proposal

70%- after completing and approval of all deliverables

About Program/Project

Soil Values Program is implemented by a consortium led by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) in partnership with Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and SNV, and in collaboration with AGRA, CIFOR-ICRAF, IITA, ISRIC, and IWMI. The program promotes sustainable soil and land management through innovation, farmer-centered approaches, and multi-stakeholder partnerships. More concretely, in terms of impact, after 10 years of implementation, Soil Values will ensure that sustainable management of soil fertility is a pillar of agricultural systems in the Sudano-Sahelian savannah, by improving fertility and productive capacity of 2 million hectares of agricultural land in the Sahel, as well as the resilience and well-being of 1.5 million smallholder farmers, particularly women, in Burkina Faso, Mali , in Niger and Northern Nigeria.

Soil Values Program seeks to adopt a community-based approach at the watershed level as a cornerstone for scaling up evidence-based best practices in Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM). By engaging local communities, producer groups, and relevant stakeholders in participatory planning and decision-making, the program will ensure that interventions are tailored to the specific biophysical and socio-economic conditions of each watershed. This approach will not only strengthen local ownership and capacity to maintain soil health but will also facilitate the collective management of shared natural resources. In parallel, the program seeks to promote the sustainable financial viability of business models linked to ISFM by fostering market-oriented solutions, strengthening value chains, and brokering access to long-term financing mechanisms. Through this dual focus on participatory watershed governance and economic sustainability, Soil Values aims to achieve lasting improvements in productivity, resilience, and environmental stewardship.

To ensure lasting transformation, the program emphasizes three strategic intervention areas:

Bundling: bringing together both technical and socio-economic interventions into combined packages to address farm-level soil fertility

Integrating interventions at the landscape and watershed levels to optimize water management, to introduce nature-based solutions for the greening of the landscape, and to create broad community participatory and co-designed plans

Brokering financial instruments that aim at long-term investments in soil fertility management, along with the identification of payment mechanisms for small-scale food producers, including farmers and livestock holders;

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