Environmental Safeguards Manager at Catholic Relief

Job Summary:

The Environmental Safeguards (ES) Manager serves as a technical resource in strategic planning, program and activity design, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the entire project for environmental compliance and climate integration. As environmental safeguards lead, the manager ensures all Nawiri project activities are in compliance with Title 22 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulation (22 CFR 216 or “Reg. 216”). As climate integration lead, the manager ensures all Nawiri project activities meet ADS 201mal and USAID Climate Risk Management guidelines. The Specialist serves as environmental climate advisor to Nawiri management, technical leads, and Implementing Partners (IPs) on Climate Risk Management (CRM) and in identifying and analyzing climate vulnerabilities and developing mitigation measures.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

The USAID-Nawiri Environmental Safeguards Manager provides a high level of technical guidance on environmental compliance and climate integration, as follows: 

Environmental Compliance 

• Serves as technical advisor to Nawiri project, ensuring its activities are in compliance with Reg. 216, USAID Environmental Procedures, and with host-country government environmental and social safeguard regulations.
• Provides substantive guidance to respective team leads and IPs on environmentally sensitive work, such as agriculture and livestock production, WASH, health, cash transfers & emergency responses.
• Facilitates efficient project activities implementation in all sectors by ensuring high-quality documentation for environmental compliance, reviewing, and approving environmental compliance aspects of scopes of work, and identifying environmental compliance concerns with suggested approaches to achieve compliance.
• Updates the project’s Reg. 216, USAID Environmental documentation; Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Program (EMMP), Water Quality Assurance Plan (WQAP), Pesticide Evaluation Report, and Safer Use Action Plan (PERSUAP) to reflect any changes or additional considerations in project activities.
• Leads the process of EIA/EA for all project activities that fall under areas specified in the Second Schedule of Kenya’s Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) 1999 and ensures that the assessments and analysis meet both USAID and NEMA standards.

Climate Integration

• Serves as the project’s climate integration expert, ensuring compliance with USAID climate risk management processes, as detailed in relevant ADS mandatory references.
• Is a technical advisor to Nawiri staff and IPs, working to identify and analyze climate vulnerabilities and develop mitigation measures by monitoring, identifying, and sharing opportunities to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into Nawiri programming and operations.
• Assures that the activity climate risk screening consideration are implemented, by providing guidance to activity leads to properly identify, mitigate, and document climate risks.
• Works within the project’s M&E system and other tools to document and manage compliance with USAID climate risk requirements and contributes climate risk expertise to Nawiri management.

Capacity Building 

• Leads assessments of capacity-building shortfalls and identifies effective and efficient training delivery approaches to build the capacity of Nawiri and IPs staff.
• Develops training materials and/or serves as a lead trainer for technical areas and workshops; and provides mentoring and on-the-job training to project staff to ensure environmental compliance and climate integration requirements, policies, and procedures are known and followed.
• Develops networks with other CRS ES specialists and shares best practices and provides technical support to CRS Kenya country program as needed.  

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Works with the M&E team to support regular and effective monitoring of the environmental and social compliance aspects of Nawiri project activities, periodically monitoring activities through office reviews and field visits, and supports staff and IPs to carry out their activity monitoring responsibilities.
• Supports proper and timely reporting, e.g., Integrating Environment and climate change into Quarterly and Annual Review Reports (AAR), development of Environmental Status Report (ESR), and follow-up on the Record of Compliance (RoC) documentation for all infrastructure development activities upon completion.
• Participates directly with Nawiri staff to remedy outstanding issues and inform Nawiri management of issues and resolution.
• Travels to all project sites to conduct field visits, support Nawiri technical leads to monitor environmental compliance and effectiveness of mitigation measures and evaluate the overall environmental impact of implementing activities.
• Acts as an advisor, providing feedback to Nawiri IPs to identify problems and offer technical recommendations and solutions for full compliance. 

Personal Skills

• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented
• Demonstrated commitment to respect, equity, diversity, and inclusion including gender equality.

QUALIFICATIONS

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience

• Master's Degree in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Planning and Management, Natural Resources management, Environmental Health and Environmental Engineering or related field. Additional experience may substitute for some education.
• Minimum of 7 years relevant work experience with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with relevant field-based experience in environment safeguarding sector.
• Registered in the capacity of Lead expert with National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to undertake EAIs
• 5+ years’ experience in environment and social impact assessment and institutional capacity building
• An articulate individual who possesses excellent communications and personnel management skills and who can relate to people at all levels of an organization
• Knowledge of technical principles and concepts in environment safeguarding. Thorough knowledge and understanding USAID’s Environmental Safeguards requirements and Kenya’s environmental laws, procedures and guidelines.
• Experience in project design and proposal development
• Knowledge of capacity strengthening best practices.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.