Director Reforestation and Planting - Eldoret

About the company

Earthtree is a Kenyan company that develops agroforestry projects  – rapidly scaling up climate action with real and measurable social and environmental benefits. In Kenya, Earthtree grows new forests in a highly data driven manner, supporting regenerative horticulture and agriculture projects that can restore ecosystems that bring back biodiversity and support farmers with new sources of revenue. We support communities to help their land regeneration goals and engage with farmers, and landholders to help them achieve their land productivity goals.

Who and what are we looking for?

The Director Reforestation and Planting - will be working independently, overseeing and taking part in activities on the ground, and managing the tasks of coordinating the work of project nurseries and planting sites and tracking project activities. The candidate is expected to have strong technical skills in conservation and sustainable land-use management and/or sustainable agriculture, and have a strong proven track record in managing large-scale sustainable development or conservation projects, with requisite nursery, operational, project, and financial management skills. Strong leadership and people management skills are essential to the role to ensure a professional and motivated team that delivers effectively against project aims, objectives and timelines. You will excel in working across a diverse and dispersed team of technical specialists building positive relationships. In particular you will establish good working relationships with relevant Government functionaries and institutions, community leaders and other stakeholders. 

This position is based in Eldoret with regular travel to project areas and outside the county as required. In return, the role offers the opportunity to work within a ground-breaking and entrepreneurial organisation, at the forefront of global conservation. You will help to build team capacity to account for current and future climate conditions, considering local stress factors, as well as traditional/cultural and biodiversity values.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Coordinate all aspects of the planting activities. You will coordinate with all relevant organisations, co-ops, and any government entities and indigenous people to secure their cooperation and involvement in the project.
• Lead the Land Capability Assessment and Baseline Surveys and act as co-author of the Project Design Document.
• Ensure timely documentation of all stakeholder consultations with  geotagged pictures and reports, and video documentation of at least 10% of all community meetings. Videos will record parts of the sessions to demonstrate that the meetings have, in fact, happened and also as evidence of Free Prior Informed Consent is followed as a best practice process with all communities.
• Work closely with the Earthtree Kenya Leadership Team to establish the Project Management Office in Eldoret, Usain Gishu County with your counterparts. You will help to build the team and workforce capacity to deliver on the required project outcomes, and work collaboratively with your counterparts & colleagues.
• Establish your travel routes to all nurseries and also to all planting sites to plan the project and then oversee project preparation, plan the seed, nursery and planting and maintenance operations, with a view to establishing the correct monitoring regime for all baseline surveys and plantings.
• Attend Project meetings with a larger team as and when required/needed.
• Report on the work on the ground periodically, document and maintain dated records of all essential activities associated with the project.
• Aid in monitoring, reporting and verification activities.
• Understanding  and documenting goals, vision, and risks for each project site.
• Study and document physiological characteristics of each species to be planted (adaptation to climate, root system, resistance to fire, moisture shortage), tree species mixing to increase the resilience to climate change and other stress factors.
• Improve the Tree species selection knowledge, to help with planting & tree maintenance.  Indigenous and naturalised species chosen are economically important species for the project, and site specific species selection will be tailored to project-specific restoration objectives and intervention types. 
• Hire project staff for Plantation design and management, Value chain experts, Governance & community engagement experts, and others as needed.
• Onboard yourself into Earthtree Workplace, JIRA, Confluence and Earthbanc MRV App - and check the posts each day and reply conscientiously with Earthtree colleagues to ensure you keep moving priorities and project deliverables forward.

Requirements:

• A Bachelor or Masters Degree in forestry/ forest science or related discipline and more than five years of related work experience in Western Kenya (Preferred) or similar work across the country. 
• You will have a minimum of 10 years of reforestation or agroforestry experience.
• Excellent communication skills. Fluent in English.
• Ability to work independently, with experience in large scale plantation projects in tropical and mountainous regions and regions of high precipitation.
• Adaptability to a new work environment and staying and working with local communities.
• A valid driver’s licence as well as an acceptable driving record.
• Willingness to lead fieldwork, interact with communities and record data in steep, rugged terrain and inclement weather.
• Experience using Excel or Google spreadsheet for forestry/Nursery data is required along with use of other softwares for data collection and collation.
• Working knowledge of QGIS or ArcGIS with some prior work experience in forestry and related data management will be advantageous.
• Supervisory experience. Excellent Internal (within organisation and team) and external (with government and community stakeholders) communication skills. 
• Good understanding of MRV systems in forestry and plantation works.

Desirable:

Experience working with Indigenous stakeholders, landowners, NGOs, including negotiating with landowner and for land registration agreements, carbon and NTFP processing agreements. 

• Able to travel to project sites and stay sometimes at local accommodation closer to the project site. This is usually only required when it is necessary to undertake the work with implementation partners to survey communities, landscapes, and develop documents/plans required for the development of the project. 
• Contribute to developing plans for project budgeting and financial reporting, establishing soil preparation procedures documentation, tree planting and protection procedure documentation, tree maintenance including fire breaks, animal management plans to protect trees from animals, watering schedule plans and procedure documents, and all such documentation that is required.
• Manage and Direct all Planting Managers, across the project sites. 
• Strong quantitative skills, with the ability to use data and metrics to draw conclusions and inform decisions
• Entrepreneurial mindset
• You are expected to take the initiative and be a part of defining and refining the product marketing and communications strategy and briefs, bringing their unique knowledge and skills to the product collaboration, and incorporating these into the briefs in order to create a great stakeholder experience. 

Working at Earthtree

● This role is full-time with flexible hours.

● Join a fast growing business with a great opportunity to quickly grow your career. 

● Join the office in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya and help us positively impact climate, biodiversity and communities in Kenya and globally. 

● We support some remote work but are moving to about half time in offices to encourage in-person collaboration and teamwork.

● We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability. We ensure every applicant gets an equal chance of success.

Other benefits

● Learning and development: We are on a constant learning journey and you will receive an annual learning and development budget to help you with this.

● Paid time off

● Hybrid work policy.

● Relocation package available from anywhere globally.