Job Opportunities at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Monitoring and evaluation

• Lead the development, management and updating of AWARD ME&L tools, strategy/frameworks and systems;
• Coordinate the design, implementation and reporting of ME&L activities under the different AWARD initiatives and programs to achieve desired outcomes and impact;
• Provide technical backstopping for project/program’s progress tracking, advise on project/program’s overall approach and adjustments, and prepare regular and ad hoc updates;
• Lead the development of sound indicators and ensure data is regularly generated, compiled, analyzed and appropriate  recommendations are formulated;
• Support the implementation of quality assurance and control protocols and ensure internal consistency and validity of project/program’s monitoring checks to enable improved capturing and narration of programmatic results and impact.

   Reporting, stakeholder engagement and fundraising.

• Contribute to sections of internal and external - technical and donor - reporting using appropriate formats to key stakeholders (AWARD team, Senior Management/Steering Committee, beneficiaries, partners and other stakeholders);
• Contribute to proposal development and grants’ negotiations including submission of quality ME&L inputs required to ensure successful proposals;
• Contribute to the review of existing grants’ overall performance and indicators against achieved cumulative results and make recommendations for performance improvemen
• Lead the updating and consolidation of knowledge on AWARD initiatives (research findings, lessons and best practices) and prepare information products (technical reports, policy briefs, manuscripts, etc.) for peer-review and publication;
• Coordinate the dissemination of findings/lessons learnt/best practices internally (strategic meetings, seminars and other sense making sessions) and externally (international conferences and other relevant forums)

  Capacity development for staff and partners.

• Facilitate the interpretation and use of M&E methods, systems, guidelines, data and findings through organised workshops and periodic meetings with partners and stakeholders.

  Team leadership and management.

• Supervise and coordinate unit staff members & consultants
• Contribute to solving complex problems and serve as a role model to others in the unit and overall team.

Requirements

• Master's degree or higher in a relevant field such as Monitoring and Evaluation, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or related disciplines;
• Relevant work experience of 10 years, with not less than 5 years in a management role for ME&L;
• Broad understanding of gender considerations in agriculture, social and policy-related issues, and opportunities for Africa’s agricultural development.

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Duties and responsibilities

• CIFOR seeks expressions of interest from qualified consultancy candidates in the following specializations: 
• Environmental Economics/Value Chains, 
• Financial Governance, 
• Forest Law Enforcement, 
• Governance and Trade (FLEGT), 
• Land and Forest Tenure Reforms, 
• Macroeconomics, 
• Biomass, 
• Biometrics, 
• Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Measurement,
• Human Demography/Epidemiology, 
• Nutrition, 
• Landscape Ecology, 
• Silviculture,
• Soil Science, 
• Environmental History, 
• Gender,
• Information and Communications,
• Legal with experience in international transactions and IP in the agricultural/biological field
• Support functions, e.g. Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, IT, and Administration.

Education, knowledge and experience
General Requirements

• Holds degree(s) in relevant background as required.
• Fluent spoken and written English. Ability in one or more international language(s) is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience working in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams, in a non-profit organization will be an advantage.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills.
• Values the sharing of information and continuous improvement in a cooperative atmosphere of constructive evaluation and learning.

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Duties and responsibilities
Required Competencies

• Provide scientific guidance; ensuring that research concepts and methods are appropriate and meet the highest scientific standards and reflect up-to-date scientific methods and concepts.
• Collaborate closely with theme coordinators/leaders, within CIFOR, to define and implement research activities in emerging interest areas.
• Write and supervise publications and other scientific communications.
• Lead/Supervise project capacity building initiatives.
• Supervise students and staff and mentor junior project scientists.
• Represent CIFOR, when appropriate, in national, regional, and global forums related to forest governance.
• Develop/Maintain constructive partnerships with stakeholders.
• Lead search for additional funding in relevant research areas.
• Plan/Monitor research activities, including financing, as necessary.
• Lead/Coordinate/Contribute to donor reporting.

Education, knowledge and experience
Requirements

• PhD in relevant discipline;
• Experience in collaborative natural resource management or social science research. More senior positions require the ability to manage projects simultaneously and expertise in more than one region with the ability to work across countries and continents.
• Experience successfully developing budgets. Scientist positions require budget management success on multiple projects and the ability to ensure key financial objectives are met.
• Publications record, especially in peer reviewed publications; required.
• Demonstrated experience in resource mobilization/fundraising and in proposal development/writing. Scientist positions require the ability to provide conceptual leadership and oversight in fundraising and a successful track record obtaining donor funding for research proposals.
• Fluent spoken and written English. Ability in one or more international language(s) is an advantage.
• Past effectiveness working with multiple partners and coordinating/participating in research and fieldwork in developing countries.
• Demonstrated experience working in multicultural and multidisciplinary research teams. Strong interpersonal and communications skills.
• Values the sharing of information and continuous improvement in a cooperative atmosphere of constructive evaluation and learning.

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Institutional leadership:

• The candidate is expected to fully institutionalize GESI at CIFOR-ICRAF and assure coordination across the institution. She/he will lead an interdisciplinary team of GESI specialists to include project-based CIFOR-ICRAF staff working on GESI within their own area or theme of expertise (gender, youth, indigenous peoples, migrants, etc., within CIFOR-ICRAF thematic and country teams). She/he will team-build with these staff, facilitating and supporting the development of cohorts and focal points. S/he will support continued professional development and visibility of the core GESI team, while building additional GESI expertise across the institution through training programs on basic GESI concepts and applications in project management, and emerging directions in GESI for research and development. The Director will lead especially on gender and support gender mainstreaming throughout the research and development portfolio(s) and support focal points to provide intersectional specialization on other dimensions of social inclusion.

Communications and impact:

• The candidate will work across institutional units and processes to ensure gender and GESI mainstreaming throughout, and unifying messaging across internal and external communications. She/he will work closely with the communications and GLF, resource mobilization and partnerships teams to enhance the visibility of CIFOR-ICRAF GESI expertise within our established spheres of influence as well as extend our reach into gender and identity-specific fora to bring nexus approaches with other CIFOR-ICRAF impact areas into better focus.
• She/he will develop systems for evaluation and messaging such that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” - to catalyze greater institutional impact. The candidate will build upon and amplify important institutional contributions, for example, in gender-responsive and rights-based approaches, and more recent pioneering work on gender transformative approaches to establish CIFOR-ICRAF as the “go-to place” for R&D for GTAs in food systems, forests, agroforestry, landscapes.
• Strategic networking, advocacy and engagement
• The candidate will lead the development and implementation of CIFOR-ICRAFs GESI strategy and engage with a range of relevant stakeholders, targeting the most important and influential international organizations and donors, as well as civil society, academia, governments and private sector actors. This includes engagement in key international gender spheres such as the gender caucuses of the 3 UN conventions, UN women and the CG gender accelerator and with social movements such as the Stand for her Land campaign; and others in the forests, agroforests, landscapes, food systems and climate change arenas. The candidate will further endeavor to elevate other staff within the GESI team to represent CIFOR-ICRAF and their thematic expertise in strategic events and platforms.

Resource mobilization

• The candidate is expected to mobilize resources to support both gender-specific R&D and gender integration into projects as well as unsolicited funding. The candidate will lead an ambitious fundraising campaign to assure the ongoing prominence of GESI work throughout the organization, working with the research staff on strategy and proposals; courting the donor community; and fostering relationships between staff and donors. This will include capacity building amongst GESI specialists to support fundraising efforts and relevant meetings with potential funders.

Research

• The candidate may engage in specific GESI research / R&D activities as permitted by interest and funding. More strategically, the role of the GESI Director will be to identify and promote the expertise of the GESI team to contribute to research proposals, perform GESI-specific and GESI aligned research within projects and programs, develop a GESI research portfolio across all CIFOR-ICRAF impact areas, and work with MEL and Q4I teams to develop indicators and report on impacts across the portfolio.

Education, knowledge and experience

• A minimum of Master’s degree in a social science discipline or interdisciplinary degree, preferably with an emphasis on gender, equity, social justice and/or development;
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in gender and preferably at least one other GESI arena in relation to forestry, agroforestry, land or landscape management/governance, Natural Resource Management (NRM), geography, sustainable livelihoods and/or development;
• A minimum of 10 years of experience of living and working in Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC), is familiar with rural contexts and able to contextualize gender / GESI to local circumstances in LMIC;
• A minimum of 5-7 years of experience in project management and leadership;
• Strong skills and track record of fundraising;
• Proven understanding of the role of research in/ for development and social change;
• Ability to mobilize new clients and partners, to expand the effectiveness and impact of CIFOR-ICRAF work.
• Demonstrated experience of applying Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) on gender/ GESI / justice issues;
• Intermediate or advanced competency (level C or above) in French or Spanish.
• Experience in engagement, multistakeholder processes and/or advocacy on gender and/or GESI issu