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.

Position summary:

At Rainforest Alliance we are looking for a motivated and impact driven Senior Project Manager to join our team in Côte d’Ivoire. The Senior Project Manager will ensure day-to-day management and technical support for a new five-year project with a large cocoa company.

Working with the cocoa company’s producers and traders, the project will implement conditional cash payments for 5,000 farming households and livelihood strategies for 10 cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire, while promoting sustainable farming practices. Specifically, the postholder will ensure projects outcomes, outputs and activities are delivered on time, to a high standard, in line with internal protocols and donor requirements, and builds upon learning and best practices.

The postholder will be accountable for maintaining partnership relationships with implementing partners to ensure donors’ needs and expectations remain aligned with project delivery and field realities. The postholder will supervise approximately 8 staff, including 6 field technicians, one finance / administration manager, and one livelihoods specialist. In addition to this project team, the senior project manager will coordinate with the farm intelligence specialist who will manage the monitoring and evaluation system of the project, the markets and project design team who will liaise with the donor company and other cocoa sector actors, the public affairs specialist, who will liaise with Ivorian government officials, and other Rainforest Alliance support teams. Finally, the senior project manager will facilitate documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and promote best practices for continuous improvement within the project.  

The incumbent will report to the Director of Côte d’Ivoire.

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:

A.  Project Design and partnerships

• Design and oversee project work plans, deliverables, and timelines;
• Lead coordination activities with project donor, Rainforest Alliance project design and Markets team, and other relevant project partners. 

B.   Leadership and Project Management

• Supervise the implementation of all project activities;
• Direct and supervise project team, including 6 field technicians, one finance/administration manager, and one livelihoods specialist;
• Prepare internal communication with donors (emails, reports, etc.) while coordinating with other team members;
• Manage relationships with implementing partners; complying with partners’ agreements, donor rules, and Rainforest Alliance internal procedures;
• Fosters a process for effective collaboration and sharing of knowledge and capacity within project partners and with other project stakeholders; and
• Assess progress and risks of project implementation and takes appropriate risk mitigation measures to address them.

C.  Communication and Dissemination

• Represent the project at key events, presentations, policy forums and roundtables;
• Advise and support Communications and Markets team to create communications materials.

D.   Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

• Monitor progress of project activities and report as needed to the donor;
• Support the Farm Intelligence specialist to collect, interpret, and report project data on farmer adoption and farmer income.

E.   Grant Compliance and other Responsibilities

• Supervise the finance/administration manager to ensure that best practices are adhered to with regards to invoicing, payment of consultants/sub-grants; and other practices as needed;
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: 

• MSc (+ 7 years of work experience) or BSc (+9 years of work experience) degree in a relevant field (Agriculture, Natural Resources Management, Development);
• Minimum 7 years of experience of project management and relationship management;
• Minimum 3 years working experience in the cocoa sector, with producer organisation and community development;
• First-hand field knowledge of the main social and environmental challenges in cocoa growing areas; prior experience with mobile money payments preferred;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships of trust and confidence with producer groups and other local stakeholders;
• Ability to work within a team structure as well as independently, under pressure and stay focused;
• Demonstrated leadership and ability to manage staff and consultants;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, strong communication skills, with ability to interact culturally, linguistically and diplomatically with diverse internal and external individuals;
• Both written and verbal fluency in English and French;
• Ability to travel frequently to project sites within Cote d’ Ivoire (several times per month);
• Strong personal ethics and integrity and commitment to uphold the rules and values of the Rainforest Alliance.

Job LEVEL: 2A

Salary:

Commensurate with experience.

Deadline: February 16, 2023

Link: https://rainforest-alliance.hirehive.com/job/114491/senior-project-manager-abidjan

Notes:

Only candidates authorized to work in Cote d’Ivoire will be considered.

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