POST-DOC POSITION AT ZEF (CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH), BONN, GERMANY
Job title:
Social water management in Afghanistan: governance, livelihoods and technology in five irrigation systems in the Kunduz region.
Description:
ZEF is looking for a dynamic and ambitious postdoc researcher to conduct research on social water management in the Kunduz region in North Afghanistan. The research is a component of the European Union funded project ‘Social Management of Water in Afghanistan. (Kunduz River Basin Programme)’ coordinated by the Deutsche Welt Hunger Hillfe/German Agro Action. The project
“aims at building sustainable social and technical water management capacities in the Kunduz River Basin (KRB) of North Afghanistan. Local communities in rural areas are strengthened in (re-) building their capacity of effectively managing their water resources while integrating all sections of the population in the process. The target group consists of approximately 250.000 rural people living in five irrigation areas of Kunduz and Takhar Provinces, who shall benefit as water users from the project. The proposed project will focus the erosion of traditional knowledge and social managing skills of local communities on their water resources and distribution mechanisms. Activities will comprise a) in-depth study of existing managing systems, b) the involvement of all water user groups in the planning and organisation of priority water management projects, c) an improvement of farm and household water management, and d) the linkages of communities to efficiently manage their water resources in collaboration with neighbouring villages and local administrative institutions.” (from project document)
ZEF will implement the research component in co-operation with the Afghan university in Mazar-í Sharif. For conducting field research ZEF will select 5 expatriate master students, who will work together with students from the Afghan University in Mazar-i Sharif. A research supervisor (ZEF postdoc) guides and coordinates the field studies along with additional own contributions and a synthesis report. The postdoc and two experienced senior research fellows from ZEF will provide further consultancy during the implementation phase to ensure the knowledge produced can be used in project implementation.
It is foreseen that three field studies in all selected five canal schemes are carried out in the first year of the project duration. In the second year two additional studies will be conducted in order to confirm the previous findings and to clarify open questions of the first year research. Meanwhile two hydrological cycles can be observed.
The field research will analyse the functioning of five irrigation systems and practical options for improving their management. It is organized around the following three components.
1) The physical system that captures, conveys and distributes water;
2) The households involved in irrigation and their livelihood strategies:
3) The institutions and organizations for the governance and management of the systems.
All the research results of the master students and postdoc will be shared in workshops to the respective authorities and stakeholders.
Tasks of the postdoc researcher
- Conduct research on social water management in the selected case study irrigation systems within the framework of the project.
- Supervise Master student field research in the selected case study systems
- Act as ZEF liaison person with the other parts of the project, and participate in local and regional meetings, workshops and conferences
- Publish on the social water management research component (minimum of one consolidated report and two journal articles in refereed journals)
Start and duration:
From 1 January 2006 for 22 months, trial period of 6 months
Duty station:
- Kunduz, Afghanistan, for 8-9 months per year
- Bonn, Germany for 3-4 months per year
Requirements:
- PhD in a relevant topic
- Experience in interdisciplinary study of water management, with a focus on issues like water rights, organisation of water distribution, socio-technical analysis of infrastructure, local governance arrangements, livelihoods aspects of irrigated agriculture; visible in publications
- Research experience in the Afghanistan region or irrigation in mountainous regions preferred
- Experience with (Master) student field research supervision
- Experience with research in development intervention settings is a recommendation
- Excellent writing skills in English
- Good team member and network builder
- Speaking one or more of the local languages is a recommendation
Salary:
Dependent on experience and background of the candidate.
More information:
More information on ZEF can be found at www.zef.de. Background information on the project can be requested from Sonja Wagener (s.wagener@uni-bonn.de).
ZEF research coordinators are:
Dr Peter P. Mollinga and Dr Conrad Schetter
ZEF Dept. of Political and Cultural Change
Walter Flex Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
pmollinga@uni-bonn.de, c.schetter@uni-bonn.de
Phone: 00-49-228-734918 and 00-49-228-731970
Applications should be sent before 20 October 2005 to:
Professor Solvay Gerke
Director
Department of Political and Cultural Change
ZEF
Walter Flex Str. 3,
53113 Bonn
Germany
Email: solvay.gerke@uni-bonn.de