Koh e Baba Consultancy Services (KCS) is an Afghan registered consultancy provider of consulting, Agriculture development, engineering, and technical services within Afghanistan. Our reputation rests on the technical expertise and dedication of our employees—our team working together across disciplines and time zones to provide smart, sustainable solutions for challenging projects. We are proud to be home to leading technical experts in water, agriculture, environment, infrastructure, facilities, resource management, energy, and international development. KCS combines the resources of a global, multinational company with over 30+years of international development experience, we offer competitive compensation and benefits and are searching for innovative people to join our teams.

Background:

DAI Global, LLC (DAI) is implementing a new USAID-funded agriculture program which aims to reinvigorate agricultural livelihoods and catalyze private sector engagement to address food insecurity, income gaps, target populations’ empowerment, and communities’ resilience to climate change. The activity actively facilitates implementation with and through local systems actors (such as anchor firms, business development and advisory service (BDAS) providers, education and financial institutions, and local communities). This approach centers on a competitive, performance-based Partnership Facility (PF) to design interventions incorporating local Afghan knowledge, engaging target populations, and leveraging resources to ensure local ownership and sustainability. Utilizing performance-based grants, DAI will partner with stakeholders to achieve the three objectives below.

Using a private sector-led market systems development (MSD) approach, the activity is aimed at driving change in local system actor behavior. In doing so, the activity endeavors to meaningfully improve Afghan lives and agriculture sector performance through the following objectives: 

Objective 1: Food Security Improved Through Increased and Inclusive Resilience, Productivity, Diversification, and Stability of Agricultural Value Chains;

Objective 2: Enhanced Communities’ Resilience to Climate Change-Induced Shocks, Specifically Water Stress; and

Objective 3: Target Population Economic Empowerment Strengthened.

As lead Technical Partner, Prime Consulting International Ltd will be providing input and team members to assist with the implementation of Objectives 1 and 2, working in partnership to achieve whole of project goals.

Role’s Purpose:

The Climate Change Specialist will lead the Program’s climate change activities and be responsible for supporting the Progam’s technical team in delivering the Program’s significant climate change portfolio to local systems actors. Specifically, they will lead the Program’s efforts to: 1) mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on livestock and food crop value chain actors; 2) build the resiliency of communities—particularly among rural poor and farm families—to deal with environmental shocks; and 3) integrate adaptation activities that will allow for climate-smart agriculture, a holistic approach to environment and agriculture, when and where possible.

Objectives and Duties

• Actively engage with the Program’s technical team and regional teams to lead, design, and execute the Program’s delivery of climate change-related interventions in identified value chains;
• Act as the conduit between the Program and local systems actors regarding the provision of technology, knowledge, and expertise relating to climate change adaptation and mitigation;
• Take initiatives and provide inputs to incorporate climate change and climate smart-related interventions at the firm and upstream levels in developing required project artifacts;
• Carry out various field visits to collect data on climate change at the national level and provide recommendations based on the findings to project technical staff to design the adaptation activities that reduce the negative impacts of changes in the environment;
• Identify opportunities to support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and minimize negative impacts on the environment by using environmentally friendly goods/packaging materials and exploring energy management solutions for partner firms to transition to renewable energy sources;
• Assist in the development of in-house climate-smart tools, community-level adaptation plans in coordination with supported firms/farms, early warning systems and data sets/geographic information system (GIS) tools on environmental shocks (drought, floods), and a national resource for climate-related information services;
• Engage with a broad range of Project primary and secondary stakeholders to represent the project on climate change-related interventions and, if needed, provide the technical support where necessary to continue their recommended activities;
• Actively contribute to project activities, planning, reports, and deliverables; and
• Other tasks as assigned.

Skills and Experience

• Solid familiarity with climate science, including climate change adaptation, mitigation, and renewable energy solutions, is required.
• Previous experience developing and implementing strategic climate-resilient solutions in a development context.
• Previous experience working with similar programs such as agriculture private sector development, value chain facilitation, and institutional building of agribusinesses in value chains.
• Knowledge of relevant computer software, specifically GIS software, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Knowledge of developing training materials, data collection tools, and assessment studies, and offering training related to climate change.
• Proven experience working productively with program team members and local systems actors.
• Fluency in Dari, Pashto, and English (Writing, Reading, and Speaking).

Qualifications

• A master’s degree in agriculture, environmental sciences, agri-engineering, environmental engineering, natural resources management, or another relevant field.
• A minimum of 8 years of work experience in a climate change integration/adaption role.
• Climate change and/or spatial analysis certification is highly regarded.

Applicants meeting the above criteria are requested to submit their CV to Jobs@kohebaba.net  no later than October 26, 2024

Please write the Job Title or the Vacancy Number (KCS-0122) as the Subject of your e-mail when applying, otherwise your application will not be considered.

No supporting documents (e.g. diplomas, recommendation letters, identification card(s) etc.) are required at this stage.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further assessment.

Your CV should have at list three references from former employer to make able us to contact for further information, please provide the bellow information for your references.    

Name, Designation, Organization, Contact Information – Address; Phone; Email; etc.