Back TAAT Country Engagement Officer-East Africa Regional Coordinator

Closing Date:- 4 February 2026 Location: Nairobi, Kenya

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa\u2019s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of the One CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food-secure future. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA. The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), is a major continent-wide program designed to boost agricultural productivity across the continent by rapidly delivering proven technologies to millions of farmers. The overall goal of TAAT is to double crop, livestock, and fish productivity by expanding access to productivity-increasing technologies to more than 40 million smallholder farmers across Africa. TAAT aims to generate an additional 120 million metric tons (MT) of food while lifting 130 million people out of poverty. Getting certified seeds of the most modern varieties into the hands of tens of millions of farmers is the primary objective of TAAT. The program supports the Feed Africa Initiative of the AfDB by providing the needed, proven agricultural and food processing technologies and implementation strategies for inclusion within the Bank\u2019s loans to Regional Member Countries (RMCs). It is implemented by the Regional Technology Delivery Infrastructure (RTDI) made up of the Commodity Technology Delivery Compacts (CTDCs); the TAAT Clearinghouse (CH); the Program Management Unit (PMU), and a Program Steering Committee (PSC). The CTDC is currently composed of eleven CGIAR centers, three Advanced regional R&D African centers, National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) institutions, private sector partners and NGOs. IITA is the executing agency of TAAT. The Clearinghouse is co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and AfDB and is responsible for linking TAAT Compact activities with country-level programs, positioning these countries\u2019 governments as TAAT\u2019s Primary Scaling Partners. This is achieved through the provision of technical assistance in regional and country project design, ensuring the inclusion of proven technologies and robust partnership arrangements within the resulting projects. The program is looking for a highly qualified individual to fill the vacant position of TAAT Country Engagement Officer \u2013 East Africa Regional Coordinator. Position Responsibilities The tasks of the TAAT Country Engagement Officer-East Africa Regional Coordinator will include: Main Responsibilities \uf0b7 Lead the Clearinghouse brokerage in countries of the East African region by effectively engaging with national and regional decision-makers in the public sector and especially governments to include TAAT-vetted technologies and catalyse their scaling by integrating them in new large-scale agricultural investment programs, restructured and under-performing projects \uf0b7 Participate in and contribute to AfDB-supported projects\u2019 annual reviews, supervision and midterm evaluations, enabling the integration of TAAT-vetted technologies. \uf0b7 Effectively engage and collaborate closely with AfDB, CGIAR centres, regional organizations, development partners, NARES, NGOs, private sector and aligned institutions in the East African region so as to achieve TAAT goals and objectives and catalyse the scaling of TAAT technologies across the RMCs. \uf0b7 Provide technical assistance for developing robust Seed Systems in RMCs to deliver certified seed of climate-resilient varieties or planting material of vegetatively propagated crops (VPC) in sufficient quantity and quality to farmers using market-based models. \uf0b7 Build strategic partnerships with public and private sector institutions in the East African region and enhance their capacities to increase the production and delivery of EGS and certified seed/ planting material of VPC-improved varieties in RMCs. Specific Responsibilities \uf0b7 Participate in AfDB country missions in the East African region and provide technical inputs to recommend the inclusion of the most appropriate TAAT-vetted technologies into project appraisal reports (PARs) \uf0b7 Mobilize and engage with TAAT Compacts and CGIAR experts to participate in the design and restructuring of agricultural investment projects, which involve AfDB, and regional and national decision-makers and governments, with the aim of integrating TAAT vetted technologies into Bank-supported large-scale country agricultural investment projects. \uf0b7 Ensure the participation of the National Agriculture Research and Extension System (NARES), TAAT Compacts and CGIAR experts in discussions with the Ministries of Agriculture on TAAT\u2019s technical assistance to RMCs for the successful implementation of larger AfDB-funded investment projects. \uf0b7 Provide technical assistance to RMCs implementing AfDB-supported loan projects for building a robust and functional national seed system to ensure the production and delivery of certified seed of TAAT-vetted climate-resilient varieties sustainably. \uf0b7 Gain an in-depth understanding of agriculture policies and priorities regarding the agricultural development landscapes of RMCs in the East African region to inform the Clearinghouse brokerage. \uf0b7 Draft specific MoUs with national and development partners to promote collaboration for the inclusion and adoption of TAAT-vetted technologies in national and regional investment projects in the East African region \uf0b7 Build strong partnerships and networking with the CGIAR, COMESA, ASARECA, private sector, RMCs, AfDB, other regional and national development partners, and aligned institutions in the East African region to promote the scaling and widespread adoption of TAAT-vetted technologies \uf0b7 Engage TAAT Compacts and provide technical support to governments and seed sector stakeholders for developing a functional national seed system to ensure sustainable production and delivery of certified seed or planting material of TAAT-promoted varieties to farmers in RMCs of the East African region \uf0b7 Support Compacts to strengthen the capacity of NARES in early generation seed production; engage the private sector to enhance their skills and technical knowhow in the production and delivery of high-quality certified seed or planting material of TAAT vetted improved varieties \uf0b7 Participate in resource mobilization to attract funding from potential donors and development partners to catalyse the scaling of TAAT-promoted technologies for agricultural transformation in RMCs of the East African region. \uf0b7 Actively contribute to the Clearinghouse (CH) reporting and progress updates. \uf0b7 Work in close collaboration with AfDB Task Managers, Country Representatives, Regional Sector Managers of the East African region; Compacts, and TAAT Project Management Unit to build effective coordination and partnership. \uf0b7 Undertake any other duties as may be assigned by the Head of the Clearinghouse.

Requirements

Core Competencies

Educational Qualifications and Experience

Benefits