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Solidaridad has signed a multi-million Euro contract for 2012 till 2015 with the Dutch Government. The program is called GLOPSI, the Global Producers Support Initiative. This program seeks to support smallholder farmers, workers and frontier farmers in their transition towards sustainability vis-a-vis international Roundtables in soy, sugarcane, palm oil, cotton and livestock. Smart and sustainable land use, in combination with climate change related tools such as REDD+, is an important cross cutting theme. Solidaridad is one of the lead implementers as well in the so-called RT-REDD programme (Round Table / REDD+), linking certified farmers to REDD+ finance.

Your profile

You will drive our global Smart and Sustainable Land Use agenda, linking payment for environmental services and REDD+ to sustainable agricultural supply chains of soy, palm oil, sugar cane, livestock, cotton and possibly other crops. Leadership and pioneering entrepreneurship mentality is essential. You will develop and maintain market and public partnerships with relevant (US-based) players and foundations with interest in the concept of smart and sustainable land use and appetite for (enabling) environmental services payments, with particular attention to REDD+. Through GLOPSI and RT-REDD you will actively work with our network offices in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to structurally improve the social and environmental impact of agricultural cultivation and processing.

Responsibility

The Senior Specialist in Smart and Sustainable Land Use/REDD+ will lead the Solidaridad Smart and Sustainable Land Use Change Agenda towards Payment for Environmental Services (PES) for farmers world-wide and liaise with Solidaridad network colleagues as well as our partners in both the GLOPSI and RT-REDD programme: IPAM International Program, the Roundtables on Responsible Soy, Sustainable Palm Oil and Better Sugar Cane (Bonsucro), as well as WWF-US and Forest Trends.

Responsibilities include:

• Relationship development and management with US foundations, ODA agencies, corporate partners, programme financiers and relevant policy stakeholders;
• Relationship management with IPAM International and Solidaridad Network offices globally; delivery of strategy and operational reports on smart and sustainable land use and PES, including participation in annual planning/strategy meetings of the RT-REDD consortium;
• Proposal development and project formulation; integration of field projects into international PES and REDD+ schemes;
• Drive interventions and innovations in multi-stakeholder settings such as RTRS, RSPO, Bonsucro that create more favourable conditions for PES payments to (certified) farmers;
• Fundraising, with a particular focus on US foundations and international PES/REDD+ initiatives;
• Coaching of smart and sustainable land use staff throughout the Solidaridad network, including the organization of quarterly phone/web conference calls and an annual physical meeting;
• Feed into Solidaridad communications on Smart and Sustainable Land Use to internal and external stakeholders.

The Senior Specialist in Smart and Sustainable Land Use will report to the Director of Solidaridad South America.

Candidate requirements

• Thorough understanding of sustainability issues related to agriculture, land use change and deforestation dynamics, and a vision of possible intervention strategies and change agents in relation to (environmental services) market development;
• 5 to 10 years of relevant working experience in payment for environmental services programmes, REDD+, or public-private partnerships in land management.
• Master's or Ph.D degree in a relevant discipline, such as geography, economics, international affairs, environmental studies, business or public administration, etc;
• Potential to attract a network of actors, active in PES and REDD related activities;
• Demonstrated ability to deal with various stakeholders, e.g. business, NGO's, donors, governments;
• Demonstrated ability to work with minimal supervision, preferably within a global network organization;
• Affinity with the goals of Solidaridad, service-oriented, team player, enterprising, pragmatic, flexible, sensitive to cultural differences, and with good communicative skills.
• Experience in building up a local infrastructure from scratch is appreciated.
• Proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, and/or Portuguese is appreciated.
• Working experience in tropical forest countries is appreciated.

What do we offer?

• A unique and challenging job in an inspiring and international setting.
• An opportunity to work with an innovative and dedicated network of professionals on all continents.
• A one-year contract with the intent of a permanent position, based on performance, salary range US$ 65,000-100,000
• Frequent international travel
• Support in finding a proper operational space in the US

Next step

Do you recognize yourself in the candidate profile? Then send your one page motivation letter and two page resume in English to Jeroen Douglas (jeroen.douglas@solidaridadnetwork.org). The closing date for this vacancy is 1 February 2012.