The overall objective of this consultancy is to strengthen stakeholder engagement, policy influence and knowledge translation across the initiative, ensuring that technical outputs contribute to evidence-informed decision-making and support the implementation of national and continental soil health priorities.

Specifically, the consultant will:

• Strengthen stakeholder engagement across the initiative by designing, supporting and facilitating inclusive engagement processes that support the co-development of national soil health priorities, frameworks and use cases.
  
• Support policy engagement by strengthening collaboration with governments, the African Union Commission, CGIAR centres, development partners and other strategic stakeholders to ensure that project outputs contribute to national, regional and continental policy processes.
  
• Contribute to the translation of technical evidence into accessible knowledge products, including policy briefs, technical briefs, and guidance documents that support policy uptake and implementation.
  
• Increase the visibility and influence of the initiative by supporting engagement in regional and international policy processes and events, including the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH), CAADP, the Africa Food Systems Forum, UNCCD, UNFCCC, the UN Food Systems Summit and other relevant platforms.
  

Summary of responsibilities

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• The consultant will work across multiple technical workstreams within the initiative to strengthen the interface between science, policy and implementation.
  
• The role will support the planning and delivery of stakeholder engagement processes throughout the initiative, including stakeholder mapping, consultation design, workshop facilitation and multi-stakeholder dialogue. This will include organising and supporting workshops and consultations to identify and validate priority soil health challenges, policy gaps and opportunities for strengthening national soil health frameworks and soil data systems.
  
• Working closely with technical specialists, the consultant will contribute to the development, review and quality assurance of technical briefs, policy briefs, guidance documents, training materials and other strategic knowledge products. The consultant will provide oversight to ensure that technical outputs are clearly communicated, policy-relevant and tailored to the needs of decision-makers and implementing partners.
  
• Increase the initiative’s visibility and influence by supporting strategic engagement in regional and international policy processes, events, and platforms, including the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, CAADP, the Africa Food Systems Forum, UNCCD, UNFCCC, the UN Food Systems Summit, and other relevant fora.
  
• The consultancy will also strengthen partnerships across the initiative through regular engagement with AUDA-NEPAD, the African Union Commission, national governments, research organisations, development partners and other strategic stakeholders. This includes supporting the Soil Health Monitoring Task Force and other technical working groups to ensure strong coordination and alignment with continental priorities.