Application deadline: 25 May 2018
RECOFTC–The Center for People and Forests is a not‐for‐profit international organization with its regional office in Bangkok, Thailand. The Center specializes in capacity building for community forestry and devolved forest management. RECOFTC engages in strategic networks and effective partnerships with governments, non-government organizations, civil society, the private sector, local people, and research and educational institutes throughout the Asia‐Pacific region and beyond. With 30 years of international experience and a dynamic approach to capacity building – involving research and analysis, demonstration sites, and training products – RECOFTC delivers innovative solutions for people and forests.
With support from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), through International Climate Initiative (IKI) grant mechanism, RECOFTC is expecting approval of a 51 months project. The project focuses on Production-driven forest landscape restoration under REDD+ through private sector – community partnerships as Asian regional learning exchange. The overall goal of the project is to “Enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation potential of forests in Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries through innovative and production-driven forest landscape restoration (FLR).” The project will be implemented in three countries – Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam and will have following impact areas:
Climate change mitigation: Private sector and local communities replace conventional cooking fuel (LPG and fossil fuel) with forest biomass-based pellets and increase carbon storage through permanent tree cover and solid bamboo and wood products value chain in forest landscapes.
Climate change adaptation: Local communities have improved capacity to adapt to climate change shocks through reduced forest fire and legitimately increased efficiency of forest resources harvesting and commercialization (timber and non-timber).
Sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity: Local governments develop innovative forest landscape restoration strategies for contiguity of conservation areas and biodiversity enhancement in GMS.
Contribution to sustainable development (co-benefits): Local communities increase income as supply/business partners in respective forest product value chains and gain access to financial institutions for resource-based collateral.
RECOFTC is now in the process of recruiting a Project Coordinator. S/he will report directly to the Manager, Program Coordination and Operations (PROCO) Unit, and work very closely with RECOFTC’s Thailand, Lao and Viet Nam Country Programs, besides working with partner organizations, as explained below. The successful candidate will be based at RECOFTC Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand.
Recruitment for this position is local. The successful candidate will be offered initially 2 years contract, with the possibility of extension.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES
The Coordinator will be responsible for overall coordination and successful implementation of project in three countries – Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The project will be implemented in partnership with national governments, private sectors, local civil society organizations, and international partners – International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), based in Beijing and Technical University, Dresden, Germany.
Specifically the Project Coordinator will:
- Coordinate with regional and national project teams and partner organizations to develop project implementation plan, budgeting and progress reporting to donor agency;
- Lead the organization of regional and national level inception workshops of the project;
- Facilitate capacity development needs assessment (CDNA) in coordination with field coordinators, country program teams and partner organizations in three countries, and work closely with regional technical team of RECOFTC to develop training package on forest management activities (i.e., thinning, pruning, harvesting etc.) to improve productivity of bamboo plantations;
- Using the results of CDNA, develop project baseline for different work packages and forest landscape restoration (FLR) pathways in all three countries;
- Provide technical and logistic support to field coordinators in three countries to organize participatory land use planning and resource assessment to document supply base for communities living in and around project site and identify most suitable FLR pathways in consultation with local communities, local governments and private sector partners;
- Support in identifying and screening private sector partners and conduct due diligence to identity most appropriate private sector partners to engage in FLR in three project countries;
- Support field coordinators and country program teams to coordinate with local governments to map local level forest landscape restoration initiatives and related policies and seek consent to develop restoration pathways through community-private sector models in selected pilot sites;
- Support Field Coordinators and country program focal person of the project to assess the market potential of pellet based commercial scale cook stoves to replace traditional energy devises such as LPG and fossil fuels as one of the restoration pathways, aiming to mitigate climate change impacts;
- Explore and create new/improve financing mechanism options for local communities and small and medium enterprises to improve the use of forest resources and tree plantations;
- Coordinate the documentation of project’s impacts and disseminating them using them different communication products and channels at national, regional and international level;
- Convene project taskforce meeting on a regular basis and project steering committee meeting on annual basis to keep all the partners updated about the progress of the project;
- Manage the contracts of consultants and other service providers in the project;
- Work closely with Monitoring and Evaluation team at regional office to develop baseline data, and conduct regular monitoring of project’s progress and its achievements;
- Work closely with other units in RECOFTC, including capacity development and technical services, Strategic Communication, and corporate services for efficient implementation of the project;
- Perform any other tasks that may be assigned by the PROCO Manager
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The Project Coordinator will have the following essential and desirable qualifications and experience:
Essential
- Master degree in natural resource management, forestry, climate change or related field from a recognized institution;
- More than 8 years’ experience in project management in natural resource management sector, preferably on forestry management;
- Very good understanding of forestry context and relevant issues, including issues linked with forest and climate change in the lower Mekong region countries;
- Good facilitation skills to organize training programs and consultations with various stakeholders and ability to work and communicate with a wide range of people – the public, government, corporate, community, donors and others;
- Experience in working with international non-profit organizations;
- Ability to prioritize, plan and organize work with minimum supervision;
- Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams and cross-cultural environments;
- Good personal skills, self-motivation and good team player qualities;
- Strong computer literacy, particularly with programs in Microsoft Office;
- Fluency in verbal and written English;
- Willingness to travel frequently to the project field sites in three countries
Desirable
- Work experience in Southeast Asia
- Knowledge of any other language of project focal countries
- Thai national
General
In addition to job specific skills and experience, the applicant should possess the following characteristics (including attitudes and skills):
- Strong interpersonal communication skills, individually and in-groups, with an ability to work as an active member of teams. This implies flexibility and open-mindedness.
- Initiative and ability to make informed independent judgments (which is not inconsistent with an overall team approach)
- Ability to work in a variety of cultural and institutional contexts.
Interested candidates are requested to submit CV and a cover letter indicating why they are suitable for this position along with salary requirements and current contact details of three referees, including recent supervisors to [email protected]. Please quote the position title in the subject line of the email. Only short-listed candidates will be notified. RECOFTC has a competitive compensation package. However, offers shall be based on salary history, relevant experience and qualifications of the selected candidate.
To learn more about RECOFTC, please visit our website www.recoftc.org
Women are strongly encouraged to apply. RECOFTC is an equal opportunity employer and the successful candidate will be selected based on merit.
RECOFTC retains the right to offer this position at a job grade relevant to the qualifications and experience of the selected candidate.