Position Name :Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) on Gender
Internationally Recruited Staff
Reports to: Director Social, Economic and Policy Research Program, ICARDA
Location: Cairo, Egypt Closing date: February 12, 2015
Main purpose of the position
Determine the roles of masculinity and femininity in the design and implementation of water and agricultural innovations in Egypt, in order to remove gender inequalities and empower women through innovation processes. More broadly, the PDF will contribute to the CGIAR Gender Network’s research, particularly to the Global Study on Gender Norms and Agency in Agricultural Innovation, and to the Gender and Empowerment Intermediate Development Outcome (IDO).
About ICARDA
The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is an international autonomous, non-profit, research organization with global reach supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ICARDA is committed to the improvement of livelihoods of the resource-poor in dry areas by enhancing food security and alleviating poverty through agricultural research, and the equitable use of natural resources. For more details: www.icarda.org
ICARDA is currently leading the implementation of the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Dryland Systems (DS), which embodies a more integrated and ‘holistic’ approach to dryland agroecosystem’s research and aims to bring practical solutions for improved livelihoods and food security to rural communities living in the world’s dry areas. CRP DS is committed to implementing a DS Gender Strategy with an ultimate aim of promoting ‘gender-equity in access to and control of agricultural assets, technologies, services, products and income in dryland systems in order to enhance the food security, wellbeing and resilience of poor vulnerable households, especially women and children.’ For more details: www.drylandsystems.cgiar.org
Main responsibilities
The PDF will work with a team from the Dryland Systems (DS) and Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE) CGIAR Research Programs with current focus on analyzing women’s and their families’ responses to water and agricultural innovations. Besides contributing to this ongoing research, the PDF will initiate research to investigate the role of gender among technicians, professionals and policy makers in irrigated agriculture. In particular, the PDF is responsible for:
- Carrying out field work on the role of gender in the design and use of innovations in agricultural water management (technological and institutional) in Egypt, by working with women and their families, technicians and professionals in two regions which differ in gender norms, technological, and environmental dynamics
- Initiating a literature review and derive a suitable analytical framework for studying the dynamics of gender at different professional, institutional and policy levels
- Performing analytical research on the indicated themes and writing research papers on this basis, especially in ISI high impact journals
- Encourage inter-disciplinarity for engaging biophysical scientists and water management professionals with the research process with relevance for their professional work
- Reviewing policy documents and interviewing policy makers at the regional and national levels
- Presenting the work in relevant fora
- Engaging with the core themes on Gender, Poverty and Institutions of the co-hosting CRPs (WLE and DS) and the wider gender community and partners within WLE (Nile Focal Region)/DS and IWMI/ICARDA.
Education, qualifications and experience
- PhD with a strong focus on gender issues in cultural geography; water management; rural history; cultural anthropology; political ecology; gender studies or rural sociology
- Good understanding of gendered roles, relations, limitations, and opportunities in the Middle East (particularly Egypt), especially those related to land rights.
- Good understanding of policies, practices and innovations related to agriculture in the Middle East (particularly Egypt), especially those related to irrigated agriculture
- Proven ability to work with an interdisciplinary team (constituting of social and biophysical scientists)
- Proven skill with qualitative social science research methods is required and experience with quantitative methods and data analysis is an asset
- Excellent language skills in English and knowledge of Arabic is strongly desired
Terms of appointment, salary and benefits
The initial contract will be for two years, of which the six months will be probationary period. Subsequent employment is decided based on the merit and productivity of the staff member and availability of funds.
How to apply
Please apply online at www.icarda.org/iea/ by February 12, 2015
We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from women.
Applications will be acknowledged, but only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.