Postdoctoral Fellow-inclusive Governance

**Background to the Asia Mega Deltas Initiative**

Home to 177 million people, the densely populated Asian Mega Deltas are biodiverse, fertile, and productive food baskets dominated by rice, fisheries and aquaculture that also support millions beyond the deltas. National governments in the Asian Mega Deltas (AMD) regions rely on the deltas to achieve national development goals for food security, nutrition, and poverty alleviation. The Delta food systems are however, fast reaching a tipping point[i], aggravated by inappropriate development pathways. The Asian Mega Deltas are also most likely to experience climate risks and impacts, including more frequent and more intense floods, salinization, water shortages. Climate extremes can erode national food security, slow down economic growth and trigger new poverty traps in these emerging climate hotspots.

CGIAR’s **_Securing _**_the Food Systems of the Asian Mega-Deltas for Climate and Livelihood Resilience (AMD)_** research initiative aims to support governments, NGOs, private sector and local communities in the Mekong, Ganges and Ayeyarwady deltas to transition to more diverse, resilient, and inclusive food systems. At its core, we recognize that Deltas are strongly interconnected systems, and AMD sees transdisciplinary approaches as key to the design of **t**ransformative food systems solutions. Our aim is to work collaboratively with strategic public, private and other stakeholders to co-design and implement actionable pathways out of poverty for millions in the five countries of focus - Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India.

Research, implementation, and investments under the AMD are grouped into five Work Packages (WPs). The initiative takes a systemic approach to: _support accelerated adaptation locally_ (WP1), _ensure that deltaic food systems can sustain and enhance nutrition security equitably_ (WP2), _explore financially viable and sustainable investments strategies_ (WP3), _emphasise the need for sustainable, inclusive governance of natural resources on which diverse food system depend_ (WP4), and provide regional foresight to advise of longer-term threats and opportunities (WP5).

**Purpose of Post**

The Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF)will work on achieving WPs 2 and 4. This will include the planning and design of complementary WP2 and 4 research through a transdisciplinary, gender transformative approach and methodology.

In a context of rapid change and multiple drivers, WP2 seeks to ensure that deltaic food systems sustain and enhance nutrition security equitably. The PDF will be responsible for the design and implementation of qualitative research in WP2 with respect to both food production and food consumption practices to understand socially differentiated (including by gender, age, and class) nutrition outcomes of food systems transformation in Deltas. This will include:

- _Evaluating socially differentiated nutrition outcomes of changes in deltaic agroecosystems and food production practices in response to multiple drivers_
- _Assessing changes in deltaic food consumption patterns_
- _With key stakeholders and partners, help facilitate the co-design of nutrition sensitive policies, and interventions to support equitable and sustainable consumption and production of nutritious foods in deltas in the face of rapid change_

WP4 identifies three key barriers to more inclusive, sustainable and climate resilient food systems governance: policy disconnect, lack of institutional coordination and capacity of various natural resources (NR) and food systems sectors, and lack of capacity and agency of grassroots actors, particularly marginalized communities in NR-water-agriculture governance. The PDF will design and implement WP4 research to:

- _Identify gaps and disconnect between contemporary, strategic natural resources (water, land, environment) and agriculture, food-systems policies, programs, and strategies_
- _Undertake case study analyses of program interventions to understand and compare differences in approach, implementation, and outcomes of more integrated and siloed approaches to food systems governance - with a specific focus on gender and social inclusion_
- _Facilitate dialogue between public, private and civil society actors and enable the co-design of more inclusive, sustainable and climate resilient food systems_
- _Along with senior researchers, identify ways to strengthen capacity of national and local implementing partners, including NARES, NGOs and private sector _
- _Identify and work with grassroots actors to to strengthen capacity and agency of local communities, particularly marginalized women, and youth._

The PDF will conduct primary research in Bangladesh and India; and will also coordinate WP2 and 4 research in different AMD research locations to ensure uniformity in conceptual framework, research approach, methodologies and in the analysis of comparative data-sets. S/He will have a key coordination role, ensur