Policy and Advocacy Specialist

Job Description

• The Specialist will provide technical assistance supporting country teams advocacy activities in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan; promoting HarvestPlus Asia regional policy agenda; and coordinating supporting outreach to regional bodies.
• The position is based at the HarvestPlus office in New Delhi, India.
• The Specialist will report to HarvestPlus Country Manager, India and will work in close collaboration with the Multilateral and Policy Advisor, based in Washington, DC.
• The successful candidate will be expected to engage national and regional policymakers and other stakeholders to integrate biofortification into relevant policies, strategies, plans, and programs.
• They will support others within HarvestPlus who engage in advocacy.
• This role will be based in India, with 70% time dedicated to policy and advocacy activities in India; 30% time dedicated to national and regional activities in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

Essential Duties:

The Specialist will build a network of support across several countries and regional bodies to accelerate the adoption of biofortification. Overall objectives will be to: map the policy landscape; identify and develop relationships with key stakeholders in the region; secure the inclusion of biofortification in relevant regional and national policies, programs, and budgets.

Specific Duties Include but are not limited to:

• Lead the implementation of HarvestPlus advocacy and policy activities in Asia to expand the inclusion of biofortification into additional regional and national governments and key partners policies, strategic documents, programs, and budgets.
• Coordinate regional policy impact strategy development and implementation (including workplans and lessons learned) with country teams in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia, in close collaboration with Multilateral and Policy Advisor.
• Map the policy landscape, identify key policy reform areas, and develop a stakeholder list for each priority country (including government ministries, multilaterals, regional organizations, donors, NGO partners, farmer organizations, research and academia, etc.).
• Support the Multilateral and Policy Advisor on international finance institution (IFI) engagement, including building relationships with national governments and IFIs, organizing and participating in national and regional meetings, and representing HarvestPlus at key IFI meetings.
• Work closely with regional teams of major IFIs and multilateral organizations (i.e., World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IFAD, etc.) on matters relating to biofortification policy and national programs.
• Identify and manage relationships with key regional stakeholders, policy networks, and multilateral partners in South Asia (for example, with the World Bankled SAFANSI program).
• In India: identify, facilitate funding for, and help launch 2 pilots with national government programs (such as ICDS and school feeding) in partnership with provincial/national government, HarvestPlus Country Manager, and project leads.
• In coordination with the Multilateral and Policy Advisor, develop advocacy materials for meetings with relevant government officials and other stakeholders.
• Will contribute as needed to new business development, proposal writing and scaling activities of the HarvestPlus program.

Requirements:

• Master s degree in a relevant field, plus 5 years of professional experience in developing and implementing a wide variety of related advocacy and policy initiatives in India or Bachelor s degree in a relevant field, plus 7- years government and/or relevant experience as described above
• Background experience in agriculture and nutrition with international experience, especially in India and Southeast Asia.
• Demonstrated experience interacting with stakeholders at various levels of government, including Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Education, etc. as well as with non-government organizations, including donors, private sector, and research organizations.
• Successful experience engaging national and regional policymaking and funding institutions (e.g. Asian Development Bank, World Bank, etc.)
• Self-motivated, ability to work independently and comfortably in a global team, including working well with team members located in multiple time zones and countries.
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent English written and oral communication skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel with global team members and partners (approximately 4-6 international trips per year).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent Hindi written and oral communication skills.

Appointment Duration:

• This position is a 2-year appointment and is renewable contingent upon continued satisfactory performance and program funding.

Keyskills :
oral communicationproposal writingstrategy developmentanalytical skillspublic healthinternational financeregional policymapsouth asiastrong analytical skillspolicy reformgovernment programsnew business developmenttechnical assistancereform