Job vacancy: Country Programme Analyst @International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Ethiopia

Applicants for vacancies in the National Professional Officer (NPO) category should be nationals of the country in which the position is located.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and  advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

The Department for Country Operations (DCO) oversees the origination, design and management of IFAD investments, including sovereign and non-sovereign operations, as well as the design and implementation of non-lending activities within country programmes, including policy engagement and SSTC. DCO is the department that primarily interfaces with governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver IFAD’s programme of work and to provide oversight to ensure quality of the portfolio.

DCO is led by an Associate Vice-President and is composed of five (5) regional divisions: Asia and the Pacific Division (APR), East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), Latin America and Caribbean Division (LAC), Near East, North Africa and Europe Division (NEN) and West and Central Africa Division (WCA), the Private Sector Operations Division (PSD), and two (2) units:  the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Unit (SSTC) and the fragility unit (FRU).

The Regional Division ESA is led by a Divisional Director, based in the IFAD Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya. The Division leads on the design and delivery of IFAD country and regional programmes in ESA. The precise country coverage of the division varies across replenishment periods.

The Country Programme Analyst is responsible for established programme/project coordination. The incumbent is expected to perform functions related to IFAD’s mandate of improving rural foods security and nutrition and enabling poor rural men and women to overcome their poverty and to overall efforts by IFAD within the UN Common System to increase capacity-building and sustainable development in developing countries.

1. COUNTRY OFFICE SUPPORT: The Country Programme Analyst is accountable for day-to-day support to administration and reporting in support of the CD. The incumbent provides analysis of and inputs to budget preparation, monitors expenditures and grant portfolios providing support as requested.

2. COUNTRY PROGRAMME SUPPORT: The Country Programme Analyst collects and analyzes data to acquire a basic understanding of international practices and HQ procedures to complement their knowledge of national practices in support of programme / project activities. The incumbent enhances the technical quality of IFAD country activities by supporting programme (COSOP) and project (grants and loans) design, supervision, and implementation and completion (PCR) activities. The Analyst specifically provides substantive contributions to monitoring and evaluation (RIMS) and reporting (PSR). The Country Programme Analyst participates in capacity building activities including support to the identification, analysis, documentation, harmonization and dissemination of both national and local issues as well as conditions, best practices and lessons learned among partner development agencies.

3. SUPPORT TO PARTNERSHIP BUILDING: As a country team member, the Country Programme Analyst supports the CO’s relationships through the identification of potential partners, development initiatives and best practices. The incumbent analyzes findings in comparison with the assigned Fund strategies, identifying potential opportunities. The Analyst maintains counterpart contacts needed to promote programme and project implementation. Activities encompass tracking project/programme documentation through the project cycle, including completion.

4. SUPPORT TO POLICY DEVELOPMENT/KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: As a country team member, the Country Programme Analyst participates in relevant policy meetings and events of interest to IFAD’s target groups, which involve the government, donors, and civil society, including NGOs, in order to analyze and draft reports on innovations and developments for knowledge sharing. From a national perspective and in-depth knowledge of government structure, development environment and local culture, the incumbent gathers evidenced based data from projects in support of linking the realities on the ground and the voices of the poor with the policies and programmes of the government.

5. REPORTING: The Country Programme Analyst is accountable for supporting communications with headquarters as well as the drafting regular and periodic reports and documents. Reports may include project, country office, thematic or country portfolio reports. The incumbent compiles data for and drafts the country office half-yearly and annual reports including lessons learned from design and implementation support experience as well as occasional reports and specific information and documents per request.

6. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The Country Programme Analyst is accountable for IFAD core values and code of conduct, including integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of IFAD resources.

• The incumbent will be the monitoring and evaluation focal point for the MCO, which will include performing data analytics from for portfolio performance analytics and liaising with the portfolio advisory team in the regional office.
• The Analyst will monitor the contract monitoring tool, ensuring that it is up-to-date and and liaising with the Senior Regional Procurement Officer to identify capacity development needs for monitoring. The incumbent may be required to participate in implementation support and supervision missions.
• Collaboration with sector and partners on monitoring and evaluation including Rural Economic Development and Food Security Working group (REDFS), United nations Country Team (UNCT, and others as they develop from time to time.

Position specific:

1. The CPA will serve as the portfolio intelligence focal point for the Addis MCO, consolidating and analysing portfolio data across Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan, including developing and maintaining dashboards integrating project performance ratings, disbursement, procurement, and implementation data as defined for the ESA division and DCO.
2. The CPA will produce monthly and quarterly analytical briefs and scorecards highlighting performance trends, risks, and priority management actions to enable informed, risk-aware decision-making across the MCO.
3. The CPA will monitor portfolio risk dynamics, including identifying NAR/PPP/APP transitions and emerging implementation risks, and will analyse early warning signals such as delays in procurement, disbursement, and AWPB execution, contributing to programme delivery risk reporting.
4. The CPA will serve as the M&E lead for the Addis MCO, ensuring logical framework quality and alignment with COSOP results, and will lead portfolio-level results analysis and contribute to corporate reporting including RIDE and RMF.
5. The CPA will provide analytical support across all supervision and implementation missions – from preparation through to post-mission follow-up – including quality assurance of Supervision Mission Reports to ensure ratings are evidence-based, and will track the implementation of Agreed Actions with respective project leads.
6. The CPA will lead preparation of Addis MCO portfolio-level reports, including quarterly reviews and inputs to regional and corporate stocktakes, ensuring these include trend analysis, constraint identification, and actionable recommendations.
7. The CPA will ensure Addis MCO data integrity across corporate systems including ORMS, OPEN, ICP and GRIPS, and will support the development and use of structured templates, dashboards, and digital tools for portfolio monitoring.
8. The CPA will, in coordination with respective project leads, engage with PMUs to improve reporting quality, data consistency, and implementation tracking, providing targeted analytical support particularly where PMU capacity is constrained.
9. The CPA will document lessons learned and best practices from supervision and implementation, support the development of portfolio-level knowledge products and learning loops, and ensure alignment with regional and corporate analytics, results measurement frameworks, and programme delivery risk monitoring.

Technical analysis and synthesis of information and data, including database management, creates the foundation for IFAD’s decision-making and quality of policy and programme advice provided to regional staff and/or the government. Analytical documents and linked monitoring frameworks (programme logframes that support IFAD Results-Based Country Strategic Opportunities Programme [RB-COSOP] objectives and results framework) are used in the development and evaluation of IFAD’s country programme. Thus, the Country Programme Analyst indirectly supports the country office’s reputation for capacity and for programme delivery and enhances its recognition as a reliable development partner.

In the context of programme development and delivery, the Country Programme Analyst ensures the exchange of technical information as well as builds and maintains collaborative working relationships with counterparts and other partners to enhance consistency and reliability in the provision of development assistance to the government. In work relationships with counterparts the incumbent establishes and maintains relationships and projects the image of IFAD as a credible/reliable partner striving for harmonization of development activities. The incumbent facilitates programme/project logistics and administration with local authorities as required.

Organizational Competencies:

Level 1:

• Building relationships and partnerships – Builds and maintains effective working relationships
• Communicating and negotiating – Communicates effectively; creates understanding between self and others
• Demonstrating leadership – Personal leadership and attitude to change
• Focusing on clients – Focuses on clients
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating – Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge & innovates
• Managing performance and developing staff
• Managing time, resources and information – Manages own time, information and resources effectively
• Problem-solving and decision-making – Demonstrates sound problem-solving and decision-making ability
• Strategic thinking and organizational development – Personal influence
• Team working – Contributes effectively to the team

Education:

• Level – Advanced university degree
• Areas – rural development, agriculture, economics, rural finance, development policy or other job related fields.

Degree must be an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php.

(*) Note:  For internal candidates, this requirement will be assessed in line with the provisions set forth in IFAD’s Human Resources Implementing Procedures.

Experience:

• At least two (2) years’ progressively responsible professional experience in development institutions and/or government service.
• Must be a national of, or hold a valid working permit for, the country of assignment.
• Qualifying work experience in country programme analysis or loan/grant administration with International financial institutions, development cooperation agencies, etc., would be an asset.

Languages:

• Required: English (4 – Excellent)
• Desirable: French, Spanish, or Arabic
• Excellent command of the local official language(s)

Skills:

• Budgeting, resource management: Know-how in budget administration and accounting, resource allocation and planning at divisional level
• Advocacy: Know-how in advocacy, to maintain and promote constructive dialogue around IFAD’s vision to external actors
• Data management: Data collection, cleaning, transformation and consolidation; data-base architecture & development; data presentation
• Risk management (e.g. reputational): Identification and assessment of potential liabilities and risks in IFAD’s activities, particularly vis-à-vis third parties; ability to handle risks via contingency and mitigation strategies
• Stakeholder management: Strong alignment capabilities and consultation skills, building on effective interactions and relationships with different stakeholders (e.g. for the co-creation of communication material with member states) and ability to build and maintain a strong network (e.g. with journalists, media outlets, etc.)
• Ethics & Compliance: Expertise in managing and overseeing the ethics and compliance functions, advising management and staff on ethical issues, reviewing allegations of violation of the Code of conduct, managing the mandatory ethics training programme on harassment including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, the whistleblowing protection procedures and the financial disclosure programme
• Adaptability: Adaptability and flexibility when facing new or unexpected situations, and to specific constraints and circumstances and managing complex processes
• Basic ICT & digital fluency: High level of digital literacy and ability to quickly get familiar with new digital tools (e.g. ability to carry out EPR data entry and extraction when budgeting; monitoring security systems, uploading content to inter/intra-net websites, etc.)
• Political acumen: Ability to conduct sound political analysis and understand complex environments, providing options and advice
• Problem solving: Strong systemic and structured thinking, ability to identify and dissect problems into components and formulate a comprehensive set of creative viable and sustainable solutions and strategies
• Written communication: Clear, succinct and convincing written communication in the language needed for specific role; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language (e.g. for drafting of position papers, briefings, etc.)
• Loans & grants: Know-how in designing loan and grant operations and managing loan and grant preparation process
• Programme/Project development, management: Know-how in Programme/Project development, implementation, management

Applicants for vacancies in the National Professional Officer (NPO) category should be nationals of the country in which the position is located.

IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD’s Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.

IFAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnic, social or political background, colour, nationality, religion, age, gender, disability, marital status, family size or sexual orientation in line with its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy and the Policy to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Please be aware of fraudulent job offers. IFAD does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Official communication from IFAD will always come from e-mails ending in @ifad.org

In accordance with IFAD’s provisions, all new staff members will normally be placed at the first step in the grade level for which they have been selected. For information on IFAD’s remuneration package, please visit IFAD’s compensation and benefits page on our website. Applicants are invited to use the ICSC compensation calculator to estimate the salary and benefit entitlements.

Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.

In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.
Applicants are required to complete the Personal History Form (PHF) in full, as this is the official document considered in the selection process. Incomplete PHFs may lead to disqualification. (Please note that CVs will not be reviewed). However, supporting documents such as certifications and covering letter may be attached.

CEFR English Level C or FAO/UN English Level C (required).

How to Apply

Please visit: >> IFAD Careers to Apply.