Background
AGRA is a not-for-profit organization working with African governments, other donors, NGOs, the private sector, and farmers to improve the productivity and incomes of resource-poor smallholder farmers in Africa. AGRA aims to catalyze an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa by increasing incomes and improving food security for millions of smallholder farmers in Africa. For more information about AGRA, please visit www.agra.org.
About AGRA 3.0 Strategy
AGRA has embarked on its 5-year strategy, 2023-2028, with the mission “To catalyze the growth of sustainable food systems across Africa by influencing and leveraging partners to build a robust enabling environment where private sector thrives, and smallholder farmers are empowered to produce sufficient, healthy food.” The institution is working to deliver this mission through four strategic business lines: seed systems, sustainable farming, inclusive markets and trade, and policy and state capability.
The strategy is being implemented across the 15 countries that AGRA is working in and aims to achieve the following high-level targets:
Core to delivery across each of these is a Partnership delivery modality that not only creates scale through leverage but also sustainability of each of these efforts
The Challenges of Climate Change in Africa
Climate change has become one of the greatest challenges of food security and livelihoods, with Africa suffering disproportionately. Food systems, which is prone to extreme climate events, sit at the center of 70% of Africa’s livelihoods. Much of Africa has already warmed up by more than 1 °C since 1901, with an increase in heatwaves, hot days and recurrent extreme events. Extensive areas of Africa will exceed 2 °C of warming above pre-industrial levels with a reduction in precipitation by the last two decades of this century under the medium emission scenario. Per capita agricultural productivity in Africa has declined by 34% since 1961 due to climate change, more than any other region. In this regard, Africa is projected to experience increased frequency and intensity of agricultural and ecological droughts with medium to high confidence with potentially negative effect on the national economy of African countries. The heavy reliance on natural resources and rain-fed systems means that climate change adaptation is a top priority for Africa.
Climate change threatens agrifood systems by altering temperature and precipitation patterns, impacting crop and livestock productivity, biodiversity, ecosystem services and food and nutrition security of vulnerable people and communities at large. Smallholder Agriculture in Africa remains mainly rainfall-dependent with 90% of staple food production coming from rain-fed farming systems, which is vulnerable to inter-seasonal and intra-seasonal rainfall variability, frequent seasonal droughts, floods, new pests and diseases, disrupting traditional farming operations. These extreme events not only erode the benefits emerging from technology adoption and use but also the response capacity of communities to other stressors. Crop failures and livestock deaths induced by climate variability and extreme events are causing greater economic losses and are undermining food security in Africa, aggravated by market failures and weak response capacity of communities and countries. Given the high vulnerability of food systems to climate change in Africa, building climate adaptation and resilience is crucial to help countries meet the growing demand for healthy and safe diets while achieving socio-economic and sustainable development goals. Africa may not be able to grow its food crops in the future unless it ensures that farmers adapt to the current and upcoming extreme events.
AGRA, in its Strategy 3.0, seeks to concomitantly address increasing productivity, reducing climate risks and enhancing resilience of farmers and their landscapes. Its strategy is designed to improve technology and market access and build institutional capacity to enhance climate change adaptation and resilience. AGRA and its partners are also very much aware that climate change may impose external penalties on the food security of millions of people and the economy of countries. For instance, the variability and unpredictability of rainfall is a major challenge and poses a greater risk that can critically restrict farming options, increase risks and aggravate rural poverty of millions of small-scale farmers in SSA. Extreme events have not only eroded the early gains enabled by AGRA and its partners’ investments in technology adoption and use but have also reduced the response capacity of landscapes and communities to stressors. Traditional risk management mechanisms are rarely sufficient for adapting and coping with these stressors. The climatic risks are also exacerbated by non-climate drivers (e.g., land degradation, deforestation, soil nutrient mining, etc.).
About AGRA’S approach to climate action
AGRA, through its CASAR unit, is implementing a project titled “Strengthening Institutional Response Capacity to Climate Change” with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The project aims to integrate climate vulnerability mapping and risk analysis into national and community-level decision-making processes in five African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
The major outcomes of the project are:
1. Enhanced institutional capacity of countries to use vulnerability maps and climate risk analysis outputs for evidence-based decision making and targeted investment responding to current and emerging climate related extreme events at farm, community, country and region levels,
2. Improved awareness and preparedness for managing climate risks in target countries at all levels, and enhanced targeting and response capacity of countries in managing climate variability and extremes,
3. Private and public investments tailored to use dynamic content informed by vulnerability maps and climate information to provide climate smart extension advisories.
AGRA’s Strategy 3.0 recognizes that gender-responsive climate action is critical for sustainable agricultural transformation. As climate risks disproportionately affect women, our 2022-2027 Gender and Inclusion Strategy allows AGRA to integrate gender considerations into our climate adaptation and resilience programs by promoting women’s access to climate information, resources, and decision-making platforms. AGRA supports the development of gender-sensitive adaptation strategies by building national and local institutions’ capacity to recognize women’s distinct roles, vulnerabilities, and capacities in climate-affected farming systems. By embedding gender equality into its climate resilience framework, AGRA ensures that both men and women contribute to and benefit from climate action, enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of its interventions. In Kenya, the gender dimensions of climate change are critical. Women and marginalized groups often face the greatest risks yet have the least access to resources, data, and decision-making spaces. This consultancy will focus on integrating gender-responsive approaches into the dissemination and uptake of climate vulnerability and risk mapping outputs.
Adaptation to climate change could be effectively implemented by countries and local communities if it addresses their current and potential livelihoods challenges. Therefore, to adapt to current and future climate challenges, decision-makers should reduce the negative consequences of climate change through (i) understanding the magnitude of climate variability and change at different scales, (ii) assessing how the potential impacts will be distributed across different agro-ecological zones or farming systems, (iii) determining the direct and indirect impacts of these changes, (iv) identifying and promoting appropriate adaptation responses to the impacts based on sound evidence and (v) understanding the gender dimensions and differential impacts of climate change.
In view of these pressing challenges, AGRA has successfully identified vulnerable areas and developed climate vulnerability maps and associated solutions. The next critical step is to integrate these outputs into policy and planning processes by disseminating them at both the national and sub-national levels. This will enable targeted climate action and inform investment decisions that address the root causes of vulnerability and build resilience in the most affected regions and communities. Context specific vulnerability maps and associated climate solutions are expected to be key analytical and decision-making tools to guide climate investment and policy action.
Rationale for the assignment
Despite growing awareness of the impacts of climate change on African agriculture, the translation of climate vulnerability assessments and risk analyses into actionable public policies and investment strategies remains limited. While technical outputs such as climate vulnerability maps offer critical insights into exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, their uptake by decision-makers is often constrained by weak institutional capacity, lack of alignment with national planning instruments, and fragmented policy environments.
In Kenya and other AGRA focus countries, policymakers face the dual challenge of responding to immediate food security needs while planning for long-term climate resilience. The absence of integrated policy tools that align climate analytics with national development frameworks—such as National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs), and climate-smart agriculture strategies—limits the ability of governments to prioritize climate adaptation investments effectively. This assignment responds to that gap by deploying a Climate Policy Expert to support the integration, domestication, and institutional uptake of AGRA’s climate vulnerability mapping and risk analysis outputs. By aligning these outputs with Kenya’s existing policy and planning systems, the expert will help bridge the divide between data generation and policy application. The consultant will also support evidence-based prioritization of adaptation investments, development of technical briefs and decision-support tools, and facilitation of high-level policy dialogues.
The assignment is a critical component of the broader BMGF-funded initiative, “Strengthening Institutional Response Capacity to Climate Change,” and is aligned with AGRA’s Strategy 3.0 goal of enhancing institutional capacity for resilience planning. It will support national efforts to reduce climate risks, build adaptive capacity in the agriculture sector, and enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations, including women, youth, and smallholder farmers.
Objectives
General Objective
To support the effective dissemination, domestication, and integration of climate vulnerability mapping and climate change risk analysis outputs in Kenya that ensures inclusive climate adaptation planning and investment prioritization.
Specific Objectives
1. Preparing country-level policy syntheses, technical briefs, and climate-smart investment recommendations based on AGRA’s climate vulnerability assessments and ensure alignment of dissemination efforts with national priorities and planning frameworks, including NAPs, CSA strategies, and climate-related budget allocations.
2. To support AGRA’s broader goal of strengthening institutional capacity for climate policy and resilience planning through targeted engagements and cross-country learning and present the spatial and temporal explicit high resolution climate risk and vulnerability maps to national stakeholders that inform climate adaptation policies and investment strategies.
3. To support the development of tailored policy briefs, brochures, and local communication materials that effectively translate climate risk data into actionable policy insights.
4. To organize and conduct national and sub-national policy workshops and stakeholder dialogues that facilitate the domestication and use of climate vulnerability outputs in public planning processes.
5. To co-develop and deliver customized training and engagement modules for national and sub-national actors to facilitate understanding and use of climate vulnerability data in planning and resilience programming/ coordinate and facilitate capacity-building for public and private stakeholders, including extension officers, CSOs, and development partners, on the use of climate analytics in decision-making.
6. To establish or strengthen climate risk management working groups in Kenya and support gender responsive climate resilience policy platforms that mainstream gender dimensions into climate policy processes and decision-making forums for multi-stakeholder collaboration in validating and applying climate vulnerability findings.
7. To contribute to the development of a gender-responsive National Adaptation Plan (NAP) framework, integrating differentiated adaptation needs and capacities of men and women
Duration
The consultancy is expected to be completed within 60 working days over a six-month period
Qualifications and Experience
The individual consultant should possess the following qualifications, expertise, and experience to successfully deliver the assignment:
1. Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Climate Policy, Environmental Science, Agricultural Economics, Public Policy, Development Studies, or a related field.
2. Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in climate policy, vulnerability assessments, climate adaptation, or related areas, preferably in the agriculture and food systems sector in Africa.
3. Proven experience in translating climate data and vulnerability mapping into policy instruments and actionable recommendations.
4. Demonstrated ability to develop policy briefs, technical notes, and communication materials targeted at government and development stakeholders.
5. Experience in facilitating multi-stakeholder workshops and training sessions, including government, civil society, and private sector actors. Experience working with government institutions, development partners, and civil society organizations.
6. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of high-quality technical report writing. Strong analytical and communication skills, both oral and written.
7. Familiarity with Kenya’s climate policy environment, planning frameworks, and institutional structures is an added advantage.
8. Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with AGRA teams and external stakeholders.
9. Fluency in English; proficiency in Kiswahili is an added advantage.
10. Ability to work independently and manage multi-stakeholder coordination
11. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, data analysis software, and report writing tools.
