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Title: Markets Specialist, Peru - TREES Program, Sustainable Forestry Division
Reports to: TREES Program Director, Sustainable Forestry Division
Location: Lima, Peru
The Rainforest Alliance (RA) 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.
The Rainforest Alliance’s TREES (TRaining, Extension, Enterprises and Sourcing) program promotes sustainable livelihoods and protects biodiversity in forest-dependent communities. We work to enhance the competitiveness of community and indigenous forestry enterprises by building business skills, increasing efficiencies, and facilitating investment in value-added processing, expanding income opportunities from wood and non-wood forest products and environmental services, and increasing access to local and global markets through Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
Position Summary:
The Markets Specialist will lead TREES program activities in Peru related to markets and marketing of products and services produced by small and medium enterprises (SME), communities and indigenous forest operations assisted by Rainforest Alliance. S/he will forge commercial alliances by employing a supply chain, market-demand approach to add value to forestry production, open access to finance for growing partner operations and create new linkages with buyers interested in sourcing products and services from sustainably managed forests. A particular focus will be on growing national, regional and international market demand for certified products produced by partner organizations.
Responsibilities:
- Prepare periodic work plans and budgets for marketing and business development activities for forest SME;
- Ensure achievement of project targets in the areas of sales, business skills development, product diversification, new market linkages and access to finance;
- Develop and implement marketing strategies for partner forest products (both timber and non timber) and environmental services;
- Provide support to forest partners in the areas of production efficiency, quality control, contracting, administration, business organization and planning, market strategy development and access to market information and buyers;
- Coordinate with Rainforest Alliance marketing counterparts in the region and at Rainforest Alliance headquarters to identify potential linkages with buyers and new marketing opportunities;
- Forge relations with national and international buyers and engage interested parties to develop commercial alliances with SMEs;
- Build market demand for certified forest products, especially in domestic markets for lower grade wood and non-traditional species (lesser known species);
- Assist buyers with supply chain analyses, procurement policy development, sourcing action planning, and creating and maintaining business relationships that favor partner producers;
- Create and develop alliances with other agencies and projects working in forest products and payment for environmental services (i.e. WWF Global Forest Trade Network, ADEX, etc.);
- Coordinate technical inputs to periodic reports on marketing activities and achievements in the field;
- Oversee planning, logistics and reporting on technical consultancies and other inputs related to marketing activities; and
- Other tasks as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Bachelors Degree in Forest Administration, Small Business Administration or related field required; Masters Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance or related field preferred;
- Minimum 7 years of experience in the forest sector with at least 3 years experience in marketing in the private forest sector and preferably with at least one year experience in environmental services projects (i.e. forest carbon);
- Knowledge of non-timber forest products, environmental services and marketing of lesser-known species in the context of SMEs a major plus;
- Experience in development of forestry SMEs and community based enterprises; doing so in an international context is major plus;
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to work independently as well as in an interdisciplinary team environment;
- Experience in international and national markets and public sector procurement policies for sustainably produced forest products is highly desirable;
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks with a strong attention to detail, against targets and deadlines set in periodic operational plans;
- Ability to formulate and write technical inputs for projects (planning, funding, budgets, management, evaluation, and monitoring) and to negotiate commercial alliances with the community-based enterprises and national and international buyers;
- Strong computer skills (Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint);
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Spanish; proficiency in English preferred or required;
- Strong teamwork skills, ability to work in multi-cultural settings and capacity to engage effectively with a wide range of actors – from indigenous communities to high-level government partners to private sector players and technical specialists; and
- Willingness and ability to travel 40% of the time, nationally and internationally.
Only candidates authorized to work in Peru will be considered for this role.
Salary: Commensurate with experience.
To apply:
Send resume, cover letter and salary history to Human Resources, Rainforest Alliance, Lima, Peru; email: perupersonnel@ra.org
The Rainforest Alliance is an equal opportunity employer.
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