Scientific Officer – Analyst (Digital Monitoring & Evaluation) At CGIAR

ICRISAT seeks application for the position of Scientific Officer – Analyst (Digital Monitoring & Evaluation). This position is based at ICRISAT- Patancheru, Telangana and reports to Senior Manager – Digital Agriculture (M&E and Tools)

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. ICRISAT and its partners help empower those living in the semi-arid tropics, especially smallholder farmers, to overcome poverty, hunger, malnutrition and a degraded environment through more efficient and profitable agriculture.

ICRISAT is headquartered in Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and five country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT, established in 1972, is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. For more details, see www.icrisat.org.

ICRISAT’s Digital Agriculture theme is leading the modernization of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). The DAY theme co-developed mobile-web based platforms to collect real-time, geo-tagged data about farmers, farmland, livestock and other on-field interventions and other key indicators of agriculture research and extension. The platforms are currently being used for M&E in multiple projects and programs within and outside ICRISAT. The platforms are constantly being improvised to employ big data analytics and machine learning methods to uncover deeper and real-time insights for the benefit of project teams and management.

To support the modernization process and coordinate with various project teams, ICRISAT’s DAY team is looking for an innovative, dynamic and results-oriented professional. This position offers a unique opportunity to work as part of a dynamic and future looking thematic area (digital agriculture). The incumbent would play a crucial role in defining the product roadmaps and enable ICRISAT in its zet to build a culture of data-driven decision-making.

The incumbent will have a diverse set of responsibilities including: data systems design and applying metadata standards, devising process flows, integrating data types, and developing deep insights into multivariate datasets using a range of data mining approaches.

Responsibilities:

• Support M&E focal points and project manage the digitization of M&E functions
• Understand the M&E requirements of various projects and programs, and work very closely with the technology developers to translate the same into specifications for the platforms
• Liaise with various project teams to ensure quality data is collected in a timely manner
• Identify critical open and large data sources across the globe that relates to agriculture, nutrition and environment
• Critically analyze and integrate the key data points into the platforms
• Use different analytical methods to provide actionable insights from the data collected across the projects
• Build capacities of the users in using the and mobile-based data collection platforms
• Should positively influence the culture of digital M&E system amongst the project teams
• Contribute to and support the development of other tools with the DAY team
• Carry out research on digitalization process for M&E

Essential criteria:

• Master’s degree in Agriculture Economics or Data Science or related field with about two-four years of experience.
• Master’s degree in Business Administration with background in technology development and agriculture can also apply.
• Background knowledge in implementation of agriculture research for development projects and its monitoring and evaluation.
• Ability to analyze, summarize and visualize complex data and metrics.
• Intermediate to advanced experience in using data analytical tools like R, Tableau, PowerBI and able to handle Excel spreadsheets with ease.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English.

Desirable:

• Project and process management.
• Practical knowledge of and experience with data capture/entry, particularly with a digital application like ODK.
• Understanding of database design and structures will be an asset.
• Ability to follow deadlines, accuracy and attention to detail.
• Experience in writing project success stories, lessons learned and best practices
• Ability to work under tight timelines with multidisciplinary teams
• Should be able to travel frequently to project locations within India and Africa
• Candidates with working knowledge in French are preferred

General:

This is a Locally Recruited Staff position for two years’ renewable based on the performance of the incumbent and the institute’s continuing need for the position.

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 31 March 2021, with a response to the selection criteria, their latest resume and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged, however only short- listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer