| Description |
Responsibilities
The successful candidate will play a lead role in the Initiative’s strategic development, management, fundraising, and partnership building. The position requires strong leadership, strategic planning skills, excellent interpersonal skills, proven fundraising capabilities, and extensive knowledge of social and economic issues related to forests. In addition, the candidate should be comfortable operating in a results-focused culture.
The position is located at WRI’s headquarters in Washington, DC and reports to the Director of the People & Ecosystems Program. The successful candidate will be expected to travel internationally. This is a challenging position that offers a unique opportunity to have a major impact on global environment and development issues.
Leadership
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Develop and maintain a compelling and coherent vision and strategy for the Forest Initiative, in line with WRI’s Strategic Plan 2008-2012 and the People & Ecosystems Program goal and strategy.
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Identify and help develop potential new lines of work that will lead to transformative change in sustaining forest ecosystems and enhancing forests’ role in development.
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Provide strategic direction to WRI’s forest team to ensure a coherent, high-impact strategy that provides development and environmental benefits.
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Expand WRI’s forest-related projects, preferably in the Amazon Basin.
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Foster a culture of excellence in all aspects of the Initiative’s work.
Management
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Guide, motivate, and develop personnel within the Initiative.
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Delegate authority to project leaders, ensure they are effective and supported, and ensure planned objectives are achieved.
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Provide day-to-day management of own project staff.
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Oversee the completion of any requested quarterly reports by management or funders, within agreed timeframe.
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Engage WRI senior management on strategic and operational issues.
Impact and outreach
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Keep the Initiative and its projects focused on critical issues and opportunities where new insights, analyses, proposals, or efforts could lead to significant progress or impact on sustainable development.
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Conduct outreach and communication efforts and promote staff research findings through briefings to policy-makers, practitioners, and corporate leaders.
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Review funding proposals, draft publications, and articles to ensure they meet WRI’s high standards for quality.
Fundraising
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Lead efforts to develop and secure long-term funding for the Initiative and new projects based on identified needs in coordination with project managers, the People & Ecosystems Program Director, and WRI’s Development Department. This responsibility will entail leveraging existing relationships with bilateral and multilateral donors, foundations, corporations, and individual donors, as well as cultivating and maintaining new relationships.
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Write fundraising proposals.
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Mentor staff to broaden their fundraising skills, help them manage existing fundraising relationships, and cultivate new funding prospects.
Qualifications
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Advanced degree in the social sciences with a particular focus on sustainable forest management, agricultural economics, environmental economics, social anthropology, or related field. PhD preferred.
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Minimum 10 years experience in the field of sustainable forest management. Expertise/experience in the Amazon Basin and with “forest and climate” issues (e.g., REDD) preferred.
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Strong network of relationships and partners. Relationships in the Amazon Basin preferred.
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Superb analytical and strategic thinking skills.
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Proven ability to motivate staff and teams to achieve on-the-ground results.
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Demonstrated ability to secure funding from donors on a large scale. Extensive experience with project development and proposal writing.
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Outstanding ability to communicate clearly, passionately, and in a compelling fashion to a wide range of audiences, including senior policymakers, NGOs, and corporate leaders.
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Excellent writing skills.
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Demonstrated proficiency of oral and written English. Proficiency in at least one other language (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese).
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Willingness to travel at least 20% of time.
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