Regenerative Agriculture Specialist

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Title: Regenerative Agriculture Specialist

Contract Type: Special Service Agreement (SSA)

Duty station: Brasilia, Brazil

Duration: 11 months

Work Modality: Remote

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Background

At WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil, we are looking for a specialist in Regenerative Agriculture to join the Programme team working for the Global Innovation Hub for Regenerative School Meals Project in Brasilia. The specialist will provide technical leadership in designing and validating climate-resilient food production models and for bridging the gap between field-level regenerative practices and the creation of scalable knowledge products—such as implementation manuals and toolkits—to be used across the Hub’s partner countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

About the Global Innovation Hub for Regenerative School Meals

The Hub accelerates climate-resilient, nutrition-smart and locally inclusive school meal systems by combining field validation, agile technical assistance across multiple countries, and an open knowledge repository.

School meal programs represent one of the world's most extensive social safety nets, reaching approximately 466 million children globally. Governments are investing in school meals as multi-benefit public goods: safety nets, nutrition and learning, climate adaptation, and stimulus for local economies. Gaps persist in scaling validated regenerative practices, building technical capacity rapidly, and institutionalizing peer-to-peer learning. The Hub addresses these gaps by linking:

• Knowledge sharing of validated regenerative approaches.

• Technical capacity for climate-smart school meal implementation.

• South-South learning mechanisms and field-level validation.

• Gender-integrated food system transformation.

About the Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil

WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil is a global hub for South-South Cooperation and capacity development in the areas of school feeding, food security and nutrition. It is an innovation that seeks to respond government demands for technical support to strengthen their national capacities and knowledge on sustainable school feeding and other food security programme and to support them in the design and implementation of these programmes. For more information, visit https://centrodeexcelencia.org.br/en/.

Supervision: Under the general supervision of the Head of Programme, the Regenerative Agriculture Specialist reports to the Project Coordinator.

Accountabilities: Within delegated authority, the Specialist will be responsible for the following duties:

• Technical Methodology Design: Lead the development of 4 validated agroecology pilot methodologies in Brazil, ensuring they are documented as step-by-step implementation guides.

• Kenya Productive School Support: Provide technical inputs for the Productive School Implementation Manual, specifically focusing on the School Garden toolkit and Seed Bank Management protocols.

• Sourcing & Supply Chain Innovation: Design "Local Procurement Pathway Maps" to link smallholder regenerative farmers directly to the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE).

• Knowledge Product Development: Co-author a suite of at least 15 knowledge products, including technical roadmaps, regenerative agriculture toolkits, and policy briefs.

• Sustainability & Impact Measurement: Integrate impact measurement frameworks, carbon credit potential, and biodiversity monitoring into the Hub’s agricultural methodologies.

• Ecosystem Building: Foster technical partnerships with regenerative agriculture networks and innovative sourcing entities to strengthen the Hub's repository.

• Field Validation: Lead technical missions to pilot countries to perform rapid system scans and validate the technical feasibility of regenerative roadmaps.

• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum qualifications:

Education:         

• Degree in Administration, Agronomy or related areas and advanced Degree in Social Impact and Sustainability, Business Administration, or a related field focused on regenerative systems.

• Specialized Training in Carbon Footprinting, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), or Ecosystem Services are an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of general experience in Agroecology/Regenerative Agriculture.

• Regenerative Leadership: Proven track record in leading sourcing and sustainability, specifically focusing on regenerative agriculture value chains.

• Innovation: Experience on organizations dedicated to ecosystem building, impact measurement, and circular economy projects.

• Technical Advocacy: Experience as a counselor or board member for organizations promoting empathetic and improved industry practices is an asset.

Knowledge:

• Thematic Expertise: Deep knowledge of Regenerative Agriculture, Carbon & Biodiversity projects, and Sustainable Supply-Chain management.

• Communications: Strong background in strategic communications and advocacy to ensure high uptake of knowledge products by global stakeholders.

Language: Fluency in oral and written communication in Portuguese and English. Working Knowledge of French is an asset.

The candidate must have Brazilian Nationality or be legally authorized to work in the country.

Functional Capabilities

Capability Name                            

Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level

Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance - Demonstrates ability to identify key variables and contextual factors that affect food assistance problems and programmes throughout the lifecycle to inform quality programme design or re-design.

Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher) - Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development.

Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.) - Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring.

Strategic Policy Engagement w/ Government - Develops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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