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.
Position summary:
The Senior Associate, Sustainable Agriculture, East and Southern Africa, provides information and training to Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farm and group representatives (certificate holders), trainers and other stakeholders on the SAN/Rainforest Alliance certification program. The Senior Associate also serves as the coffee and tea specialist for the region. S/he has deep and up to date understanding of the tea and coffee sectors’ characteristics, players, trends and challenges as far as they are relevant to Rainforest Alliance’s work. Together with other tea and coffee specialists in the Landscapes and Livelihoods and the Markets Transformation teams, the Senior Associate achieves consistency of our work along the value chain, enabling the effective linking of supply and demand and a fluent communication between stakeholders. The Senior Associate works closely with the global Agriculture project team, the Landscapes and Livelihoods Africa team, and with Rainforest Alliance colleagues in the Evaluation & Research, Markets Transformation, Claims, Traceability and Trademarks, and Communications units.
Responsibilities:
Providing Information and Training on the SAN/Rainforest Alliance certification program:
- Be a point of contact for farmers and stakeholders in the region; attend technical questions on the certification program;
- Lead and enable training of trainers; promote Rainforest Alliance’s training tools including the training platform and the Farmer Training App; monitor the use of these tools;
- Be a point of contact for Rainforest Alliance staff and representatives to provide technical inputs on topics such as risk areas, new technical areas of work (e.g. Living Wage, Climate), etc;
- Be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the certification program on the ground to help detect systemic issues with training needs, compliance and audit effectiveness in order to assist Rainforest Alliance in being proactive in mitigating risks and continuous improvement of the certification program;
- Develop training materials in coordination with Rainforest Alliance’s Senior Manager, Training;
- Be a key innovator for agriculture certification work; gather feedback from farmers on their experience of the program, bring valuable expertise and ideas to drive continuous improvement in our work;
- Lead and facilitate any process or analysis required for the further development of the certification program, including stakeholder outreach, discussion groups, public consultation rounds, trouble shooting, etc.;
Tea and Coffee Specialist
- Manage relationships with major contacts in the tea and coffee sectors (i.e. NGOs and research organizations; government agencies; and company contacts that are based in field implementation countries);
- Improve the certification program’s positioning in the tea and coffee sectors through providing technical expertise in meetings with key stakeholders and companies, participation in conferences, roundtables, platforms and coalitions, company field visits etc.;
- Serve as the Landscapes and Livelihoods focal point for managing risks and crises resulting from stakeholder complaints;
- As expert and innovator, actively engage and contribute with Development, Markets Transformation, and others as needed for the design of new field projects which will trigger more certification/sustainable supply chains work, and integrate the work delivered through certification in our broader innovation topic such as sustainable finance and landscape approaches;
- Contribute to the Landscapes and Livelihoods tea and coffee strategies, annual planning and reporting, and studies to assess results and impact;
- Contribute to the implementation of projects which are aligned and complementary to the above elaborated training and/or tea and coffee specialist responsibilities;
Representation and Communication
- Be a point of contact for Rainforest Alliance staff and representatives for certification-related matters that are beyond the scope and services of individual certification bodies, and provide inputs on relevant topics such as Marketplace 2, sector issues, risk management, etc.;
- Represent Rainforest Alliance to external stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, as needed;
- Generate stories and case studies from the field for use in Rainforest Alliance Communication and Fundraising;
- Support the Markets Transformation and Development team in select activities; and
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- BA or BS degree in biology, agronomy, rural development, natural resource management, or related field;
- 5-7 years of relevant field experience, with a minimum of three years’ work experience in sustainable agriculture practices;
- Knowledge of the SAN Sustainable Agriculture Standard and the SAN/Rainforest Alliance certification program, desirable;
- Experience in a technical capacity building role;
- Good understanding of agriculture value chains, preferably with experience working with private companies;
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook with a demonstrated experience in accounting software and working knowledge of PowerPoint;
- Excellent writing, editing and verbal communication skills;
- Written and verbal proficiency in English required;
- Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to interact culturally, linguistically, and diplomatically with diverse internal and external individuals;
- Initiative, self-motivated, resourceful, detail-oriented, dependability, strong attention to detail;
- Knowledge of, and commitment to environmental issues and sustainability practices; and
- Ability to travel a minimum of 30% per year, nationally and internationally.
Salary:
Commensurate with experience.
Benefits:
We believe that all employees, regardless of location or title, should have access to benefits. We strive to provide programs that provide the following:
- Health/medical coverage for staff and family
- Retirement savings plans;
- Paid time off for holidays/vacations, illness, and personal needs;
- Assistance for adverse situations that might arise while on business travel; and
- Insurance for unfortunate circumstances.
Benefits vary, depending on location. Please talk to your recruiter during your interview about specific benefits for your location.
Notes:
Only candidates authorized to work in Kenya will be considered.
Application:
Send resume, cover letter and salary history to Rainforest Alliance, email: [email protected]. Use the following format in the subject line: first name and last name, job title of position you are applying for.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
