Programme Lead – Sustainable Food Systems (Political Economy)

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About the Organization

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water is one of Asia’s leading not-for-profit policy research institutions. CEEW uses data, integrated analysis, and strategic outreach to explain – and change – the use, reuse, and misuse of resources.

Job Description

India grapples with a critical juncture in its agricultural sector. Ensuring universal nutritional security amidst climate change demands a paradigm shift away from unsustainable practices. The current system, characterised by groundwater depletion, excessive fertiliser use, neglect of rainfed regions, and a monoculture-driven approach, undermines both environmental sustainability and farmers' livelihoods.

Transitioning to a more sustainable agricultural paradigm, prioritising crop diversification (pulses, millets, fruits, and vegetables) and agroecology, and addressing the population's nutritional needs, will inevitably disrupt existing power dynamics. This transition will create both winners and losers, leading to resistance from stakeholders who benefit from the current system. Therefore, a successful transition requires a multifaceted approach, not just solving the 'What' solutions need to be scaled up, but also 'how’ they can be scaled up.

Even when the problems are well accepted, and potential solutions exist, they are not being implemented or scaled up due to lock-ins of interests, influence, and risk perceptions of different actors. These are what we refer to as 'political economy' problems. We seek to hire a Programme Lead to conceptualise, strategise, design, lead, and expand Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme’s expanding work in the field of Political Economy Transformation. This will require mapping and unpacking the dominant narratives anchoring the status quo (diagnosing how dominant framings gain legitimacy and emotional resonance, particularly among policymakers and institutional actors), understanding what/who sustains those narratives (and why/how?), and identifying/designing counter-narratives which, if disseminated effectively, may hold the power to move the political economy towards a sustainable food system.

With their supervisor’s support, the individual would build on The Council’s existing work in this field and develop it into a full-fledged programme. He/She would identify our niche and strengths and would create and maintain our thought leadership in those areas.  While building and leading a team, she/he would advance our research, policy engagement, and impact in one or more of the above-listed four fields, in addition to other on-going project areas.

Job Responsibilities

Strategy

• Develop an overall strategy for The Council’s Sustainable Food Systems programme by building on existing in-house thinking, assessment of the work programme of other institutions in the sector, our skillset niche, evolving sectoral narrative, and emerging government priorities. The PL must work closely with the team to bring in alignment within the team on the strategy.
• Build a network of donors and partners to achieve indications of support further the work programme. Fundraise and ensure programme expansion.

Research

• Lead research in the programme area as a principal investigator. Guide and provide relevant inputs to the research.
• Assess and improve (and/or add to) existing methodologies and frameworks, and build institutional capacity
• Where required, develop and lead the work on narrative analysis, actor mapping and profiling (interest and influence drivers), and framing, testing and prioritising counter-narratives.
• Develop and lead primary surveys and questionnaires to collect and collate counter-narrative-relevant data and analyse responses using different statistical and econometric approaches to generate intel relevant for potential counter-narratives
• Develop a robust monitoring and evaluation protocol to assess the quality and efficiency of programme interventions
• Keep a tab on policy and technological developments in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Leadership and Mentoring

• Take end-to-end ownership of the programme. Ideate new research concepts with team members, develop project proposals and budgets, build relationships with donors that align with the institution’s interests, secure resources for building and expanding the work programme, deliver high-quality, timely outputs, engage with the sectoral stakeholders, strive for impact, and develop CEEW’s thought leadership.
• Build and lead your team. Hone the team members to the best of their abilities. Stretch and strive and set leadership by example.
• Lead the strategic outreach of the programme. Lead external meetings, conferences, seminars and be the face of CEEW in your programme area, while also creating platforms for your team for public engagement. Strategise communication and outreach of research outputs along with the outreach team. Ensure implementation of developed strategic outreach plans. Build strong relationships based on trust and credibility with key policymakers and sector stakeholders.

Education Qualification/Required Skills & Experience

• PhD or Master's degree in development studies, sociology, critical agrarian studies, political economy, public policy, anthropology or a related interdisciplinary field.
• Research Experience: Strong foundation in qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, case studies, thematic analysis) and social science theories. Rigour in analysing and synthesising insights to communicate. Over and above this, Candidates with experience in designing and executing primary surveys, and experience in analysing survey responses using different statistical and econometric approaches will be given a strong preference:

Professional experience

• Relevant experience of 8+years in this domain and sector.
• Experience working with or within government agencies, civil society organisations interested in large-scale change, large corporations and /or international development institutions that give one a broad and deep exposure to India’s food system and political economy, is highly desirable.
• General Consideration: While the listed qualifications provide a guideline, if you have significant demonstrated experience and relevant expertise in the areas outlined in these Terms of Reference, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet all the specific educational or years of experience criteria.
• Strong track record of team management and project management including timely delivery of outputs
• Experience in dealing with public and private institutions and building relationships with collaborators and government stakeholders
• Experience in designing and leading interdisciplinary and inter-programmatic work
• Have demonstrated thought leadership in the areas relevant to the ToR.

Key skills

• Systems Thinking and Political Economy Frameworks: Demonstrated ability to apply systems thinking frameworks to analyse complex socio-ecological systems. Strong grounding in political economy principles and their application to food systems.
• Critical thinking and foresight
• Data and Narrative Integration: Ability to make sense of data from various sources, integrate data into compelling narratives, and craft evidence-based arguments with a critical eye to understand nuances.
• Qualitative and/or qualitative research expertise: Demonstrated expertise in qualitative methods such as narrative and thematic analysis; experience with mixed methods is a plus. Another plus is experience in designing and executing primary surveys, and experience in analysing survey responses using different statistical and econometric approaches will be given a strong preference
• Communication Excellence: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the capacity to convert complex insights into clear, actionable recommendations for diverse audiences.
• Project Management: Strategic thinking with the ability to manage complex projects, timelines, and deliverables effectively. Ability to contribute to proposal development.
• Contextual Understanding of Indian political institutions, reforms, and bureaucratic culture is expected.
• Strong interpersonal skills, and confidence to engage with political and business leaders
• Strong interest and ability to lead teams, to empathise with younger researcher, and to guide them

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