Senior Research Analyst, Sustainable Agriculture, Food, Land and Water Program, WRI India
Who we are and what we do?
WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being.
We are inspired by and associated with World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization. Currently over 250 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Program Overview for Food, Land and Water:
WRI India’s Food, Land and Water program aims to inform India’s transition towards sustainable and resilient food and land use systems focusing on developing interdisciplinary nature-based solutions like landscape restoration, sustainable agriculture to mitigate climate impacts, enhance jobs and livelihoods and improve nutritional security. To catalyze systems change with a focus on circular food systems in India, we also focus on developing equitable strategies to reduce food loss and food waste and mitigate climate impacts.
With broader systems change and food systems perspective, we work with diverse stakeholders like governments, businesses, civil society partners and farmer producer organizations to inform and develop land use strategies based on robust evidence and analysis to build the resilience of local communities to mitigate climate impacts, bridge capacity gaps, monitor progress, and inform a pathway to building a restoration economy for people, nature, and climate.
About your role:
The Food, Land and Water Program at WRI India is seeking a Senior Program Research Analyst to support the ongoing work on Landscape Restoration in India. Larger focus of the work is to unlock the potential of a restoration economy to improve rural jobs and livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, build regenerative agricultural systems, and mitigate climate change impacts by protecting and restoring natural ecosystems and biodiversity. Centering the focus on equity and inclusion, your role would be to conduct deep research on benefits of sustainable agricultural practices with an aim to inform private investments and policy decisions, reduce policy barriers and design incentives that can trigger widescale social, environmental, and economic impacts.
You will be someone who has an advanced degree in development studies, environmental governance, public policy, or related fields and minimum six years of full-time, relevant post-study work experience. Interdisciplinary research background in agriculture, environment studies. The position holder must be willing to travel to remote locations in the country.
How your day will unfold:
I. Research (70%)
· Develop evidence-based research on benefits sustainable agriculture. This would include undertaking research, developing research frameworks, and informed strategies to reduce barriers and increase incentives for a diverse partner to launch, scale, and pivot towards a regenerative restoration economy.
· Support the identification, stocktaking and analysis of important partners, policies and regulations, including barriers to their implementation for the regenerative restoration economy through research. This will include desk-based review of government data, published literature, and grey literature, and primary data collection from key stakeholders.
· Develop high-quality knowledge products (reports, policy briefs, working papers) that encapsulate research findings and communicate these to diverse audiences, to strengthen the enabling (policy) ecosystem and incentives for the regenerative restoration economy to flourish in India.
· Support the key government departments in organizing targeted ‘Restoration Dialogues’- a multi-stakeholder platform for fostering interdepartmental collaborative developing convergence of public funding for integrating ecosystem services in the policy incentives, implementing and scaling sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
II. Partnerships, engagement and communication (30%)
· Work closely with food, land and water team in WRI India to incorporate ecosystem services for transforming food systems including production systems and upscaling sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
· Develop networks with important partners including governments, research organizations and universities, civil society organizations, and corporate sector for implementing and upscaling sustainable and regenerative agriculture and building sustainable landscapes in India.
· Support with development of communication and outreach strategy and material like brochures, web content, op-eds, blogs with the communications team.
· Provide capacity-building support to programme partners in understanding frameworks and tools developed for assessing ecosystems services flowing from landscape level interventions around sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
· Support different activities of the programm including organizing roundtables, workshops, seminars, meetings etc. related to Restoration Dialogues.
· Support in identifying important mentors through the knowledge network
Qualifications and requirements we seek:
· Master's degree in agriculture, Development Studies, Environmental studies, Natural Resource Management, or similar fields.
· At least 4 to 7 years of experience in policy research relating to relating to ecosystem service valuation in food, agriculture, and natural resource management sector.
· Knowledge of agriculture, landscape restoration is essential.
· Knowledge of and experience with quantitative and qualitative tools for both primary and secondary research.
· Excellent/ Research, interpersonal/ written communication skills
· Ability to present complex information
· Ability to work calmly under high pressure and ability to think creatively.
· Demonstrated skills preparing program documents, reports, policy briefs etc. and team management.
· Communicate clearly and effectively in conversation and writing, including professional-quality writing for policy and communications products.
· Fluency in spoken and written English and Hindi is essential.
· Take the initiative, brainstorm, think creatively, juggle multiple priorities and work under pressure with tight deadlines. You must be willing to try new approaches and ideas.
· Flexible with capacity to multi-task and prioritize, having ability to manage the tasks with minimum guidance
· Proficiency in Microsoft Suite is a requirement.
Salary and Benefits: INR 11,00,000 to INR 13,00,000 CTC
Salary shall be commensurate with experience and skills. WRI offers a generous and comprehensive benefits package.
Location: New Delhi, India
Duration: The position is a one year position (extendable based on performance and project requirements). The start date is as soon as possible.
List of Documents to be attached:
Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview purpose.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) @WRI India
WRI India values and promotes diversity, equity and inclusion across all areas of our work and workforce. Integrating these values into our actions fosters a progressive and collaborative culture and can also enhance our impact. It is our responsibility to create a welcoming working environment for people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and experience to learn together. We are responsible for fostering a safe and inclusive workplace where questions, concerns and information about diversity, equity and inclusion are part of our ongoing dialogue and development.
Learn more about WRI India’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Click Here
People-centric to the core:
We keep our people at the centre of everything we do - from a welcoming work environment to benefits and a culture that encourages staff to stay healthy, happy, engaged, and growing.
Some of the non-monetary benefits that our staff get:
Health benefits: We cover health insurance for you and your loved ones for up to INR 8 lakhs
Term Insurance: Our term insurance policy covers life coverage of 50 lakhs per staff member
Employee Assistance program: Promoting mental well-being and supporting staff in achieving a satisfying work-life balance
Health & Nutrition: Personalized diet recommendation from a certified dietitian based on the physical health condition and lifestyle
Flexible work schedule: Alternative work arrangements for all who are eligible by nature of their job
Learning culture: Workshops and trainings to empower staff, encourage new learning opportunities
Rest and Recharge weeks: We encourage staff to take time off to rest, rejuvenate, upskill, and pursue their interests.
Our leave policy: Avail personal time off at 36 per year, along with public holidays, maternity, paternity, and adoption leaves.
Equal employment @WRI India
We believe in equal employment, it is our policy to recruit, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to caste, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, parental status, or disability.
