WRI seeks a full-time Africa Forests Associate to support Global Forest Watch (GFW) activities in East and West Africa.  The position will lead development of strategies and support on-the-ground implementation to apply GFW tools and information to improve land-use decision-making and forest resource monitoring in priority countries.  The Africa Forests Associate will be required to have a diverse skillset from which to draw from, ranging from conducting spatial research and analysis on forests to managing relationships with partners from the private, public and NGO sectors. 

The WRI Africa Forests Associate will be based in Washington, D.C., working as part of the Africa Forests team and in close collaboration with the Global Forests team and partners. The position will largely focus on supporting WRI’s engagement in countries outside of the Congo Basin, notably Liberia and Madagascar.  The Africa Forests Associate will report to the Africa Forests Manager. The post will require regular travel to Africa in support of project implementation.

GFW’s mission is to make high-quality information about forests universally accessible and useful for people worldwide, so as to empower them to manage forest landscapes sustainably and improve the livelihoods of local people. The GFW platform (www.globalforestwatch.org) unites satellite technology, open data, and human networks to provide free access to the most timely, reliable, and actionable information about forests around the world. The GFW initiative supports governments, civil society, and the private sector to apply this information to solve critical forest monitoring and management challenges (see also www.forest-atlas.org).   

General

• Lead the development of strategies and support implementation of WRI’s forest activities across Africa, with an initial focus on Liberia and Madagascar
• Provide regular technical, analytical, communication and strategic support to WRI staff based in GFW priority countries in Africa
• Manage relationships with WRI collaborators and partners in Africa, including key government institutions
• Coordinate and oversee the development and implementation of technical applications in support of improved forest land-use allocation and monitoring
• Ensure the quality of any data and data products related to WRI’s work
• Support elaboration and implementation of MOUs with key partners in WRI’s priority countries
• Work closely with WRI’s global forest team and partners to ensure functional integration of African partners, information and activities
• Identify opportunities for WRI’s engagement with forests in Africa outside of current priority countries

Research and Analysis

• Identify and pursue a set of research priorities through which WRI can support partners in priority countries to improve management of forests.
• Lead the production of original, policy-relevant research and analytical outputs (e.g. reports, blogs, maps, data products) based on WRI/GFW/Forest Atlas datasets.
• Collaborate with and support WRI colleagues and partners in priority countries to produce research and analysis using WRI/GFW data.

 Project and Personnel Management

• Lead management and oversight of key project components for WRI-GFW in Africa.
• Oversee project budgets, including oversight of subgrants to in-country partners.
• Ensure effective management, capacity building and career development support to ~5 WRI staff based in Africa and Washington, D.C.
• Contribute significantly to proposal writing and lead relevant reporting both internally and externally.

Outreach and Communication

• Lead efforts to communicate about WRI’s Africa forest work and analytical content to non-technical audiences, including existing and prospective partners and funders.
• Support in-country capacity building efforts by leading the development of training materials on WRI/GFW data and related data generation and data validation methodologies.
• Represent WRI’s Africa forests work through presentations at relevant conferences, workshops and through in-person meetings with key forest stakeholders.
• Develop research-based communication materials for diverse audiences in Africa.