Country Director at Rainforest Alliance

Job Description

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The Rainforest Alliance is a growing network of people who are inspired and committed to working together to achieve our mission of conserving biodiversity and ensuring sustainable livelihoods. Through creative, pragmatic collaboration, we aim to rebalance the planet by building strong forests and healthy communities around the world.

Position summary:

At the Rainforest Alliance we are looking for a pro-active, collaborative, and innovative Country Director who will provide strong leadership to lead the strategic planning, fundraising and implementation of Rainforest Alliance’s activities in Kenya and Tanzania. The Country Director, Kenya harnesses the institutional strategy of driving landscape and sector transformation to develop and iplement a national strategy and country plan that responds to local needs, ensure excellence in all aspects of our mission delivery (technical, financial, compliance), and safeguards Rainforest Alliance’s reputation and the quality of implementation of our certification programs. The Postholder will guide and lead a hard-working team, creating a culture that is aligned with Rainforest Alliance’s values and maintaining deep collaboration bonds with colleagues in other countries and functional areas such as Markets; Communications; Standards & Assurance; Institutional Relations (IR); Global Administration, HR and Finance & Accounting. This position will be responsible for ensuring the financial viability and sustainability of the country programs and will be responsible for building functional alliances to scale-up our impacts.

Responsibilities: 

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

Leadership and Management:

Build a high-performing, results-oriented and mission-driven team that reflects the Rainforest Alliance’s vision and culture, creating a positive work environment for personnel; Guide, motivate and develop personnel, seeking opportunities for professional advancement and ensuring they understand how their work relates to Rainforest Alliance’s global mission and strategy; Delegate authority to staff, ensuring that they are supported and connected to the broader organization, and ensure planned objectives are met in line with organizational policy and budgets; Update and oversee the successful execution of the Kenya Country Strategy and corresponding annual workplans focusing on strengthening the existing work and its escalation; Deliver effective and impactful implementation of Rainforest Alliance’s mission by fostering a culture of implementation excellence and ensuring that Rainforest Alliance attains its technical, financial, and contractual commitments; Foster structures and processes for effective collaboration within Kenya and with all other relevant Rainforest Alliance units, at the regional and global level; Ensure the timely and high-quality completion of organizational and donor annual workplans, budgets, reports, and audits; Foster and supervise compliance with Rainforest Alliance and donor policies and procedures; Proactively identify and lead risk, bringing up key issues to the supervisor where appropriate; and Support the organization to address institutional crises and challenges relevant to our work in Kenya and Tanzania.

Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement:

Develop and maintain results-based, long-term partnerships with Rainforest Alliance clients, partners, donors, NGOs, governments, certification bodies and other stakeholders; Enhance Rainforest Alliance’s reputation, credibility, and positioning in Kenya and Tanzania; Actively promote the production, export and consumption of Rainforest Alliance Certified™ products, and other endorsed certifications (i.e. RSPO, FSC), in collaboration with the Markets department; Represent Rainforest Alliance at key events, presentations, policy forums and round tables to communicate program achievements and ambitions and participate in discussions on strategies for sectors, landscapes and communities and other issues of concern to Rainforest Alliance; In collaboration with the Communications department, develop and disseminate communications and marketing materials on Rainforest Alliance work in Kenya and Tanzania.

Fundraising and Business Development:

Develop and implement a long-term integrated Rainforest Alliance Kenya financial plan, in collaboration with Finance, Institutional Relations (IR) and other relevant units; Proactively identify funding opportunities and cultivate long-term relationships with senior leads and decision makers from governments, companies, aid agencies and other donors; Lead and/or provide key contributions to multilateral and bilateral fundraising proposals; In coordination with Markets colleagues, support organizational efforts to grow supply and demand for certified products from Kenya and Tanzania and increase royalty revenues; Identify and advance potential innovations in Rainforest Alliance’s business model in Kenya (i.e. unrestricted funding opportunities; fee-for-service partnerships), in collaboration with supervisors and other relevant units.

General Administrative: 

Lead all aspects of the management of Kenya office resources, including human resources, as applicable, in a matrix-management set-up with Rainforest Alliance’s global support departments; Serve as designated bank account signatory for local accounts, delegating where approved; Ensure compliance with policies & procedures and internal controls, and their appropriate local adaptation; Co-maintain power of attorney for the legal entity; delegated authority for executing legal documents, including taxation, subject to review and approval; Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position will be responsible for a team of about 45 staff, with high growth prospects; This position carries 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 performance management of employees, addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Qualifications: 

MSc in Agriculture, natural resources management, development, business administration, project management or any related field; At least 15 years’ experience in the development and execution of market-based conservation initiatives, landscape management, community-based forestry, climate smart agriculture, climate change and value chains transformation; At least 5 years of direct experience leading a team of staff and in preparing and implementing grants funded by bi-lateral and multi-lateral organizations and companies; Strong organizational skills to manage multiple priorities in a time sensitive manner; Experience with country strategy development and implementation; Knowledge and understanding of Rainforest Alliance’s Theory of Change, Rainforest Alliance certification and/or other certification and verification standards and systems; Strong knowledge and network of philanthropic landscape for institutional funders and demonstrated track-record securing large grants; Demonstrated success building partnerships and business with the private sector strongly preferred; Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships of trust and confidence with national and international stakeholders and relevant platforms; Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal in English; Kiswahili is added advantage; Ability and willingness to travel at least 20% of the time nationally and internationally; Demonstrated commitment to the Rainforest Alliance mission and values.