Liberia Community Forestry Project Local Program Coordinator
Greater Gola Forest Region, Liberia
Full Time
Experienced
Liberia Community Forestry Project Local Program Coordinator
Term: Independent Consultant, Full time
Location: Greater Gola Forest Region, Liberia
Company Summary
Founded in 2006, Terra Global is a woman-founded, woman-run for-profit social enterprise, and small business. Terra Global's mission is to attract private sector capital to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to produce significant climate change mitigation, community and biodiversity benefits. Terra Global is an industry leader in NbS program development, land-use greenhouse gas and impact quantification, and climate asset creation, with experience in 40 countries at project and jurisdictional scales. Terra Global is the only company with end-to-end knowledge of carbon development and climate finance transactions. We deliver proven expertise working on-the-ground with local partners, while leveraging financial and transaction structuring expertise to equitably balance risk and return between Investors and Investees.Program Summary
Liberia’s forests are under pressure from shifting cultivation, slash and burn, charcoal production, illegal chain-saw logging, artisanal mining, legal logging; the drivers of these threats are a combination of rural poverty, lack of alternative livelihood options, and limited government capacity to monitor and enforce compliance with forest management. According to Liberia’s 2019 Forest Reference Emissions Level (FREL), the land use changes from 2009-2018 have contributed to an estimate of 308,000 ha of forest lost. Over the years, alternative conservation financial models have surfaced to address the conundrum of achieving conservation outcomes and economic developmental aspirations. National governments and local communities currently can explore the value that climate finance provides in addressing the negative effects of climate change. The proposed program will engage with at least 10 Community Forests of a total population of about 86,642 persons in country with a focus to include this in the Greater Gola Forest areas to train and educate local communities on the value and long-term benefit of climate finance, and provide conservation-friendly enterprises, conduct carbon eligibility assessments, and develop the business case to secure climate finance for forest management.To conduct this program, Terra Global will partner with a local NGO, The Nature Compact (TNC), an environmental and natural resources management organization. Terra Global and TNC will i) assess the carbon crediting potential of the targeted geography to establish eligibility for long-term climate finance, ii) empower communities, with a focus on women leaders, and provide capacity building in climate finance, and iii) establish and strengthen existing institutional arrangements needed to attract climate finance for improved forest management and enhanced livelihood incomes through a new program.
Responsibilities
The Liberia Community Forest Coordinator will provide technical support and work alongside partners to implement and monitor project activities, ensure all deliverables follow the Carbon Standard (the Verified Carbon Standard (“VCS”) and Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard (“CCB”)). This role will lead the coordination between the Terra Global International team, implementing partners, and the program participants.The main activities and responsibilities will include:
Program Management
Lead local project management on behalf of Terra Global, which includes:- Provide information and develop sections of the Carbon Eligibility Assessment (CEA)
- Support the Investment Readiness phase of the program, collecting information and developing required documentation
- Promote community awareness of the Program and ensure that communities are actively engaged in the design and implementation of the program
- Work with The Nature Compact (TNC), implementing partner, to ensure communities are engaged, complete FPIC process and sign necessary agreements
- Travelling to community forest areas (initially across the Greater Gola Forest region) with local implementing partners and facilitating community engagement meetings and collecting necessary evidence
- Develop social and livelihood programs including improved agricultural outcomes, promotion of sustainable harvesting and production of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and gender empowerment
- Engage with the Government of Liberia and identify governmental focal points within relevant agencies (Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MoFDP), Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) for the success of the Program
- Assist in the collection of field data required for operational performance monitoring and ensuring the proper recording and reporting of all data collected
- Coordinating and facilitating training sessions, workshops, and informational meetings with government and community partners
- Gather and share lessons learned with TGC, partners and community stakeholders
- Gather, organize and store information and local data needed under the international market GHG and impact standards
Monitoring
- Support the monitoring and evaluation processes undertaken by local implementing partners
- Assist in the preparation and collection of quarterly reports for the Program, based on Program monitoring data
- Ensure consistent and timely flow of information and data from the field to the Terra Global international team
- Digitize and organize field-based data for current and future use and reference
- Work with program partners to set up and maintain the monitoring processes and procedures
- Create systems necessary to support Program validation and verification on an on-going basis, and roll-out of Terra Global’s monitoring system
- Build local capacity for monitoring with local community members trained in the collection of Program data and record keeping
- Coordinating with third-parties in conducting biomass surveys, social assessments, and biodiversity surveys
- Assisting stakeholders with filing public comments about the Program and, when necessary, assist with translation of specific texts relating to the Program validation and verification.
- Assist in the field audit of the Program, by hosting the international auditor and coordinating logistics of field visits
- Overall oversight of the M&E processes undertaken by local implementors
- Support fiscal management procedures for the program
Administrative Activities (remote office)
- Support all partners for effective communication with Terra Global
- Support procurement of goods for the local partners
- Attend regular (e.g., weekly) remote meetings with the Terra Global international team and local partners to provide updates on the progress of individual and Program deliverables
- Support the sourcing of partnerships to implement social and livelihoods programs on behalf of the communities engaged in the Program
Qualifications
- Must be a Liberia national and have a Liberian driver’s license
- Must be based in Liberia (either in Monrovia or within the Greater Gola Forest region), with flexibility to travel frequently to rural areas
- Minimum 5 years of work experience in natural resource management, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and/or REDD+ projects
- Proven track record of field work implementing projects with community forestry groups in Liberia
- Experience facilitating participatory technical and organizational training topics to illiterate populations;
- Field-level project monitoring experience of community-based projects using mobile monitoring apps and devices for field data collection
- High ability to work with MS Office programs especially Excel and Word
- Able to work independently and self-manage deadlines and deliverables
- Exceptional verbal/written communication skills, especially working across cultures
- Exceptional verbal/written communication skills, especially working across cultures
- Must have English fluency and any regional language such as Kpelle, Bassa, and Grebo is a plus
Desirable
- Demonstrated and successful past performance building relationships with government, private and community organizations
- Demonstrated and successful past performance building relationships and negotiating with governmental authorities (local, regional and national), non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
- Open to be part of a remote team
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