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IMPORTANT: This Advertiser has requested that applicants MUST be National Residents / Valid Work Permit-holders. Other applicants need not apply.
The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Based in New York City, with offices throughout the United States and worldwide, the Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers.
As a member and secretariat of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) -- an international coalition of leading conservation organizations -- the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Agriculture division works with farmers to ensure compliance with the SAN standards for protecting wildlife, ecosystems, workers’ rights, and promoting the well-being of farmers, their families and communities. Farms that meet the SAN’s rigorous environmental, social and economic standards are awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal. The SAN standards are applied by producers of major commodity crops (including bananas, pineapple, coffee, cocoa, tea, citrus and flowers) that profoundly affect the economies, environments, cultures and politics of tropical countries. Today more than 350,000 farms in 30 countries are certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified products are widely available in mainstream markets.
Position Summary:
The Manager, Cocoa is responsible for managing the Rainforest Alliance’s cocoa program across Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes delivering all cocoa projects according to work plans and budgets (including the GEF-UNEP project), coordinating with field consultants and staff; identifying and supporting local partner organizations; developing and implementing Rainforest Alliance’s cocoa program strategies; leveraging private sector investment through its cocoa programs and developing and managing major donor relationships. The Manager will also coordinate closely with and support other Rainforest Alliance departments in value chains, traceability, communications, development, marketing and impact monitoring, as well as building links with TREES, Climate and Evaluation & Research, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and its certification bodies.
Responsibilities:
- Manage grant projects in the cocoa sector, taking full responsibility for implementation, deliverables and budgetary execution; prepare donor reports as per contractual commitments and manage relationships with donors; comply with internal Rainforest Alliance procedures; act as project manager for the GEF-UNEP project;
- Provide strategic management to Rainforest Alliance’s cocoa program: conduct regular risk assessment of the program and manage it adaptively; maintain critical information exchange with the Traceability Unit; manage relationships with industry partners and ensure their investment in Rainforest Alliance certification programs ; coordinate with the Rainforest Alliance Markets team (marketing and corporate engagement) to plan supply and demand, manage supply data and support its relations with consumer brands;
- Supervise Rainforest Alliance’s implementing partners in West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia), and Madagascar, support the partners’ work with producer groups and other stakeholders through providing information and guidance, and ensure that they have the necessary personnel, tools, materials and financial resources;
- Coordinate with regional managers/project managers to define strategies and develop resources for other countries of operation (including Tanzania, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Dominican Republic), identify partner organizations, build relationships with key stakeholders and supervise implementing activities;
- Develop new projects to support implementing our strategy and where possible creating linkages with other Rainforest Alliance divisions (forestry, climate) for landscape level impact; coordinate with the Director, Program Design and Development and the Development department to write and present new proposals to donors;
- Maintain active dialogue with the broad group of cocoa stakeholders internationally, and in producing countries (specifically government bodies, national extension services, technical partners);
- Coordinate with SAN’s accredited Certification Bodies to plan and implement activities preparing for auditing for compliance with the Sustainable Agriculture Standard;
- Coordinate with SAN’s Secretariat to plan and organize stakeholders technical workshops to contextualize the Sustainable Agriculture Standard in producing countries;
- Coordinate with Rainforest Alliance’ Evaluation and Research Team to monitor and record results from our cocoa activities in collaboration with our implementing partners and research institutes;
- Support the Rainforest Alliance Communications, Marketing and Education division to obtain information on project impacts and human stories of successes, and communications activities in countries of operation;
- Lead developing activities in select commodities in cocoa countries; and
- Other duties as assigned.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Manages 2 employees. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems;
Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in Agriculture, Natural Resources Management, Business Administration or another tropical agriculture-related field;
- 7-10 years relevant experience;
- First-hand knowledge of the concepts of sustainable agriculture and knowledge of the cocoa industry, tropical commodity buying gained from direct experience;
- Understanding of business and value chains and experience in working with companies as well as farmers;
- Demonstrated experience in Project Management, including managing budgets;
- Fluent written and spoken English and French;
- Demonstrated leadership and ability to manage remote staff in developing countries: at least five years direct work experience;
- Effective interpersonal and communication skills, with ability to operate efficiently in multi institutional relationships, and to communicate with farmers, government ministers, donor representatives and/or company executives;
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to work independently as well as in a team environment, assess priorities and multi-task with strong attention to detail;
- Administrative efficiency, with ability to track project progress and prepare timely reports, and competence in main computer software programs; and
- Willingness to travel up to 30 percent of time, mostly in producing countries.
Salary:
Commensurate with experience.
Notes:
Only candidates authorized to work in locations indicated above will be considered.
Application:
Send resume, cover letter and salary history to Human Resources, Rainforest Alliance, 233 Broadway, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10279; Fax: 212-677-2187; Email: personnel@ra.org. If emailing, use the following format in the subject line: first name and last name, job title of position you are applying for.
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