Research Specialist – Climate Finance Policy Expert

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

About the position

The Research Specialist – Climate Finance Policy Expert will play a critical role within the organization by conducting high-quality literature reviews and contributing to the research and policy integration in the agribusiness, startup, and climate finance sectors. Main responsibilities include managing project components, fostering collaborations, publishing peer-reviewed articles, and supporting climate change research initiatives. This position is essential for enhancing the organization’s impact on the climate finance landscape and ensuring alignment with policy processes.

The primary focus of the Climate Finance Policy Expert role is to drive evidence-based research and facilitate its application in policy frameworks related to climate finance and agribusiness. The role encompasses significant depth in research methodology, stakeholder engagement, and project management across various initiatives. Geographically, the position will primarily engage within the African climate finance ecosystem, contributing to both regional and global discourse on sustainable development and climate resilience.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Contributes to the design, planning and execution of work plans in a research project.
• Conduct literature reviews on academic quality in agribusiness, startups, and climate finance.
• Support the integration of climate change and finance research into policy processes.
• Assist in managing various project dimensions, including proposal development, funding, stakeholder management, resource planning, and execution, to ensure successful project completion.
• Collect feedback from project stakeholders and provide regular updates on project efficiency and implementation.
• Manage relationships with key collaborators, such as Briter Bridges and Agribusiness Partners, and ensure effective collaboration.
• Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to support project management and implementation.
• Assist in managing project components, including planning activities with major stakeholders like the World Bank, USAID, GIZ, and GCA.
• Propose and manage project budgets, ensuring workflows align with both CGIAR- and Alliance-level frameworks.
• Monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of research interventions to maintain project quality.
• Provide regular reports on the engagement status and outputs of initiatives.
• Offer feedback and follow up on work plans for research projects.
• Contribute to the preparation of research proposals and fundraising efforts.
• Oversee the day-to-day management of project activities, ensuring timelines for deliverables and reports are met.

Required qualifications and experience

• Master’s degree in any business or social science discipline, with ongoing or intended doctoral-level research.
• Experience in large scale development project management.
• Experience engaging companies and researchers, including on Key Informant Interviews and other outreach.
• Understanding of African climate finance ecosystem and experience working directly with policy makers.
• Understanding of climate finance and impact measurement related to DFI, IFI, and other sources of climate finance.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to communicate complex concepts effectively to diverse audiences.
• Ability to quickly understand and adapt to new contextual situations.
• Ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations and other groups with the Alliance and CGIAR more broadly.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal and networking skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams, Interest and experience working in a fast-paced team within a large research institution.
• Analyzed and provided recommendations on climate finance for national governments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Terms of employment

This position is an internationally recruited based in Nairobi, Kenya. The initial contract will be for two years subject to a probation period of six months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

This position is graded at BG08 level, with a minimum basic salary of USD44,248 per annum, on a scale of BG01 to BG14 (BG14 being the highest level according to the Alliance job classification framework policy). We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits including but not limited to insurance, retirement plan, staff training and development, paid time off and flexible working arrangements.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.