National University of Lesotho
Postdoctoral Fellow Positions (2)
Roma Campus
The National University of Lesotho (NUL) in Collaboration with ReNoka would like to appoint two full-time postdoctoral fellows under WaterNet Project – Human Capacity Development for Lesotho in Integrated Catchment Management (ICM): A Focus on the Tertiary Sector and Short Professional Courses.
Project Description
Natural resources of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region play a vital and important role in maintaining the rich diversity of the region’s natural ecosystems and in achieving sustainable economic and social development of the region. The SADC continues to explore avenues aimed at enhancing the sustainability and management of these natural resources. The SADC Regional Strategic Action Plan (RSAP), IV 2016 – 2020 highlights that capacity development forms a continuum from addressing knowledge gaps, skills and meta-competencies in support of the implementation of the RSAP IV. In order to achieve this aspiration, the region has to have world class professionals who will efficiently and competently plan, develop, implement, operate and maintain the natural resources in a visibly efficient and coordinated manner, to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. Suffice it to say that, human capacity development in natural resource management is of critical importance for the region.
Although Lesotho hosts the main sources of the Orange-Senqu River, one of the longest rivers in the region, the country has continued to suffer degradation of watersheds, loss of topsoil and destruction of water sources. Considering Lesotho’s geographical setting, the sustainable management of its catchments is of critical importance for water, energy and food security, not only in Lesotho itself, but in the entire Orange-Senqu Basin and Gauteng Province, Southern Africa’s economic centre. This infers that the destruction of Lesotho’s catchments threatens the sustainability and access to water in the entire Orange-Senqu Basin and beyond.
In order to curb this, the Government of Lesotho, with support of international partners, has embarked on an ambitious national programme for Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) under the brand name “ReNoka” which in Sesotho means – we are a river. The European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to support the Government of Lesotho in the implementation of ICM. The Action aims to implement ICM in line with climate change adaptation principles that will rehabilitate degraded watersheds across the country and to put in place prevention measures that halt further degradation of Lesotho’s catchment areas. At present, implementation has started in the six (6) priority subcatchments (PSC); Khubelu, Senqunyane, Makhalaneng, Likhetla, Hlotse and Maletsunyane PSC. Target areas of implementation include policy harmonization; institutional development; human capacity building and behavioural change communication; implementation of watershed rehabilitation measures; and support for data and monitoring.
To contribute to the ICM target area of human capacity building, WaterNet, which is a subsidiary institution of SADC Water Division that is tasked for human capacity development in IWRM in the region, has been contracted by GIZ to implement a project on Human Capacity Development for Lesotho in Integrated Catchment Management (ICM): A Focus on the Tertiary Sector and Short Professional Courses.
The overall goal of this project is
• To build the knowledge capacity in IWRM/ICM for Lesotho for the effective and sustainable natural resources management.
The project activities that drive towards this goal have been organised into four (4) work packages, as thus:
- Work Package 1: Assessment of capacity gaps in IWRM/ICM in tertiary education institutions (i.e. NUL, Lerotholi Polytechnic and the Lesotho Agricultural College) and among natural resources management professionals
- Work Package 2: Educational capacity building at graduate and postgraduate levels
- Sub-work package 2.1: Establishment and Strengthening of an Academic Coordinator for IWRM/ICM at NUL
- Sub-work package 2.2: Establishment of Introductory Courses in IWRM/ICM at Diploma and Undergraduate Levels.
- Sub-work package 2.3: Setting up and running of a Postgraduate programme, i.e. MSc in Integrated Water Resources Management/ Integrated Catchment Management at NUL
- Sub-Work Package 2.4: Provision of Post-Graduate Scholarships in Lesotho.
- Sub-work package 2.5: Internships for postgraduate students.
- Sub-work package 2.6: Post-doctoral programme.
- Work Package 3: Implementation of short professional courses for professionals from different sectors
- Working Package 4: Outreach and Dissemination
Scholarship Description
WaterNet seeks to provide financial support for two (2) Post-doc Fellows for a duration of six (6) months with a possibility of extension focusing on the following:
- Post graduate teaching
- Supervision of postgraduate students
- Development of proposals focusing on ICM topics, which are:
o Integrated Catchment and Water Resources Management for Climate Resilience
o Sustainable Water Governance in Integrated Catchment Systems
o Ecosystem Services and Integrated Catchment and Water Resources Management
This financial support will be:
- for full-time engagement based at the National University of Lesotho Water Institute, Roma Campus and in accordance with the Post-doc Policy of the University. The Proposed start date is July 2024.
Eligibility:
The successful candidates should be Basotho nationals (based in Lesotho) younger than 45 for women and younger than 40 for men at the time of taking up the fellowship and have completed a PhD in the past five years (i.e. 2019-2023). The applicants will be shortlisted and those short listed will be interviewed by an interdisciplinary panel from which the final selection of four candidates will be done. The candidates should have good interpersonal skills, inclusive and team-oriented, be able to set and meet his/her own deadlines, disciplined, contribute to a good work environment, be fluent in oral and written English.
General
The Post-Doctoral Fellows will be appointed at the National University of Lesotho Water Institute (NULWI), Roma Campus where they will sign contracts that stipulate clear deliverables. The terms of engagement will be in line with the rules of the NUL. Each fellow will have two supervisors; one will be an expert from WaterNet (network of universities that are members of WaterNet Trust) and another one will be from the NUL. The fellows will also be required to participate in teaching of some of the courses/modules at postgraduate level and to supervise MSc students. It is anticipated that the projects of some of the MSc students will contribute to the projects of the Postdoc fellows.
Depending on the research areas, the fellows will work closely will relevant stakeholders, be it in the community or national levels to develop and carry out research, write research reports and journal papers, and develop teaching and training materials. There may be opportunities to travel locally and internationally to participate in conferences to present the research outputs, including the annual WaterNet Symposia.
How to Apply for the Post Doctoral Position:
Interested eligible persons should submit an application letter that includes their area of expertise and research interests. The letter should further state the research area that the candidate is interested in, including a short description (0.5 pages) of the proposed research. The application letter should be accompanied by certified copies of certificates, academic transcripts and Identity Document (ID), a recommendation letter and a Curriculum Vitae (CV) highlighting publications. These should be sent no later than 30th June 2024. All applications should be e-mailed to dhr@nul.ls and addressed to: Director Human Resources National University of Lesotho – Roma 180 Lesotho. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed virtually.
If the position will not be filled after the selection, the call will remain open.
HOW TO APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIPS
Following an application for the Post Doctoral position at NUL, interested eligible applicants should submit the same application documents for a scholarship opportunity to the WaterNet Executive Manager at jmkileshye-onema@waternetonline.org with a copy to trainings@waternetonline.org These should be sent no later than 30th June 2024.
NB. ALL THE ATTACHMENTS (APPLICATION LETTER, CV, CERTIFICATES, & ID) SHOULD BE COMBINED AND EMAILED AS ONE PDF DOCUMENT