Vacancy: Project Coordinator for Agroforestry and Environment

Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

THE ORGANISATION

The Beyond Beans Foundation is the implementation partner of international commodities trader ETG for sustainability programmes in cocoa, coffee, and cashew. We are currently working with 70,000 farmers from ETG’s supply chains across West and East Africa and Latin America, developing programmes with and for industrial clients. In close cooperation with our sustainability teams in origin countries, commodity suppliers and programme partners, we support farmers to improve their farming practices towards a living income, help communities to tackle child labour, strive to empower women, support income diversification, and protect the natural environment with agroforestry and conservation efforts.

Beyond Beans is based out of the Netherlands and our core programmes and activities are implemented through subsidiary foundations in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Togo and Ecuador. The Foundation’s rapidly expanding 100+ FTE operational team consists of a multidisciplinary team of project managers and field staff with experience in a wide range of topics, from tackling child labour to climate-smart agroforestry and promoting gender equity.

Current initiatives include supporting sustainable cocoa agroforestry through individual and group training and tree distribution, protection of forest areas, reforestation of degraded lands and providing sustainable inputs such as compost and biochar.

As Project Manager Agroforestry and Environment, you will ensure that the execution and upscaling of project activities are carried out by your team in accordance with your annual targets and budgets. These targets and budgets are based on the commitments to the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI) by ETG | Beyond Beans and on behalf of our clients, as well as donor-funded project targets. Your role will encompass a broad range of activities, from project planning, budgeting, and managing the team and partners, to monitoring and evaluation of environmental activities and projects, as well as reporting on project progress to clients.

You will be working alongside our other local project managers who focus on community development, farmer livelihoods, certification and monitoring and evaluation interventions in Côte d’Ivoire. You will coordinate your activities with the other project managers in Côte d’Ivoire, and you will be in close contact with our Programme Manager Agroforestry and Environment in The Netherlands.

Key activities and responsibilities

• Execute and scale up agroforestry and environmental related projects, in collaboration with cocoa suppliers, clients and partners like WCF, GIZ, IDH, Rainforest Alliance and the Ivorian government.  
• Make activity planning, budgets for field implementation and contracts with local partners. 
• Report to the programme manager on project indicators and realized project budgets and a secondary reporting line to the Country Manager Sustainability in Ivory Coast.
• Advise programme manager on programme improvements and new opportunities.
• Participate in conferences and stakeholder workshops as required. 
• Scope opportunities for ne  new local partnerships and initiatives for collaboration 

The Team

You will be working in our dynamic sustainability team that is spread over the Netherlands (Amstelveen), West and East Africa (Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo and Uganda), and Ecuador. In Côte d’Ivoire, you will be working with our team at our office in Abidjan as well as in the field. Internationally, you will be in contact with our head office team in Amstelveen, especially the Programme Manager Agroforestry and Environment. 

Qualities we are looking for

• A master’s degree in agriculture, forestry, environmental management, international development or other related fields.
• At least 2 years of experience in field implementation in an agricultural context, you will need to be able to develop strong relationships with field officers and cooperative management. 
• At least 4 years of experience in project management, you need to be able to make, manage and report on several interconnected project progress and budgets.
• Knowledge of or experience in cocoa agroforestry is an advantage.
• A passionate and ambitious worker with a drive to continuously improve our projects and procedures. 
• Excellent networking, communication and presentation skills. 
• Efficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams).  
• Familiarity with GIS tools and remote sensing techniques is an advantage.
• Fluent in French and English.

What we offer you

You will be part of a fast-growing organisation and broad network with excellent future career opportunities. We offer substantial freedom in your work, engagement in a broad range of sustainability topics, and personal development opportunities. You will learn about the newest tools and programs to bring a positive change to cocoa farmer livelihoods and environment. Work status 40 hours per week. Based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with regular travels to the field (around 1 week per month).

Interested?

Please fill in the below form. For any questions, please contact jobs@beyondbeans.org

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