Senior Manager, Partnerships and Projects

Position summary:
Rainforest Alliance is looking for a motivated and results oriented Senior Manager Partnerships & Projects to be part of the Côte d’Ivoire team. The Senior Manager leads all aspects of partnerships with key stakeholders in Côte d’Ivoire and implementation of projects to achieve positive climate, biodiversity, and social development impacts from sustainable agriculture (with a focus on cocoa and coffee), landscape management and sustainable forestry among others. The Senior Manager harnesses the institutional strategy of driving landscape transformation to meet country needs and contributes to integrated program design and implementation to high quality standards. The Senior Manager fosters a culture of deep coordination and collaboration amongst the Côte d’Ivoire team, with colleagues from all relevant units across the region and globally and ensures excellence in all aspects of our mission delivery within Côte d’Ivoire, including safeguarding the quality of our commitments to companies, donors and partners, and compliance with policies and procedures. This position carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with Rainforest Alliance policies and applicable laws.

Responsibilities: 

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate:

Partnerships

• Lead cross organizational advocacy on key issues and strategy relating to the key agricultural, forestry/environment and human rights sectors; build and maintain relations with key governmental and civil society actors within Côte d’Ivoire;

• Build partnerships with producer communities, civil society organizations, donors, private companies, corporations- and governments for a sustainable transformation of the cocoa-coffee sector in order to meet the most urgent environmental and social challenges;

• Improve relationship with the Conseil Cacao Café (CCC) in Côte d’Ivoire, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forest and Environment and other state actors to develop collaboration in project development and provide regular updates on projects implementation;

• Maintain relationships with key private companies and corporations involved in the project’s development and implementation; and

• Maintain relationship with other key stakeholders in Côte d’Ivoire including but not restricted to World Cocoa Foundation, Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, and International Cocoa Organization, amongst others as needed for the achievement of the desired results.

Project Development and Management

• Ensure excellence in mission delivery in Côte d’Ivoire including safeguarding the quality of Rainforest Alliance’s work, achieving commitments made to companies and donors in grant and fee-for-service agreements;

• Support identifying the fundraising opportunities of the country portfolio, in close collaboration with the Snr Manager Project Design & Development for West Africa, Institutional Relations and Corporate Affairs colleagues;

• Take lead responsibility for developing selected proposals for presentation to institutional donors and companies investing in Rainforest Alliance’s Landscapes & Communities work;

• Take lead responsibility for the implementation of some projects when needed;

• Ensure timely completion of program progress reports and annual planning; lead all aspects of planning and budgeting, reporting and contractual compliance with third parties per Rainforest Alliance and other applicable requirements;

• Collaborate with Rainforest Alliance leadership and projects’ managers to effectively manage risks and challenges;

• Manage subgrants for L&C projects and provide administrative and technical support to subgrant partners and build their capacity in project delivery and administration; and

• Collect stories and information from the field and develop support materials to communicate the projects’ achievements and to support external relations/ partnership strategies as per the projects’ communication plans.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning

• Prepare and contribute to projects monitoring and evaluation tools and reports and offers feedback to improve project design and implementation;

• Contribute to research, report publications and communication of projects’ outcomes, capturing new synergies for improving positioning and adding value to the organisation and its engagement with farmers and other key stakeholders; and

• Participate in relevant Community of Practice and other cross-learning events to contribute to Rainforest Alliance’s global learning.

 Supervisory Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and management to multidisciplinary teams, subgrantees, consultants involved in projects, and carry 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 and

• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: 

• Masters degree in natural resource management, forestry, agriculture or a related field, or equivalent professional qualification;

• Proven experience (10 years’) in the development and execution of sustainability programs in agriculture, forestry or landscape management;

• At least 5 years of experience in a senior position working in or with agricultural commodity sectors, including with private sector;

• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships of trust and confidence with national and international stakeholders and relevant platforms;

• Experience with project administration and budget development and implementation;

• At least 5 years of direct experience in preparing and implementing grants funded by bi-lateral and-or multi-lateral organizations, other donors and private companies;

• Outstanding interpersonal and written and verbal communication skills in English, with preference for French language ability additionally;

• Ability and willingness to travel at least 40% of the time nationally and internationally;

• Demonstrated commitment to the RA mission and values.

Job level: 2A

Deadline: 8 March 2024

Notes: Only candidates authorized to work in Côte d'Ivoire will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org

WHO WE ARE:

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why
To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How
Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability, and any other protected group.