Great Green Job of the Week: Forest Initiative Leader, World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to create practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives.
Position Overview:
The World Resources Institute is seeking a Senior Associate to lead WRI’s Forest Initiative and refine and expand its activities. In addition, the position will develop and lead a number of new projects-particularly in the Amazon Basin-that contribute to the success of the Initiative. The ideal candidate for this position is one with expertise in the social and economic dimensions of sustainable forest management, complementing the strong technical expertise (e.g., silviculture, remote sensing) of WRI’s existing forest team.
WRI’s Forest Initiative seeks to increase the ability of governments, businesses, and civil society to act upon better and more widely shared information to protect intact forests, manage working forests more sustainably, and restore deforested lands. Focused on forest-rich regions, the Initiative utilizes spatial and other forest-related information to stimulate, support, and monitor actions that promote more sustainable forest management. The Initiative is currently active in the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia, Russia, and the Amazon Basin.
Responsibilities:
The successful candidate will play a lead role in the Initiative’s strategic development, management, fundraising, and partnership building. The position requires strong leadership, strategic planning skills, excellent interpersonal skills, proven fundraising capabilities, and extensive knowledge of social and economic issues related to forests. In addition, the candidate should be comfortable operating in a results-focused culture.
The successful candidate will be expected to travel internationally. This is a challenging position that offers a unique opportunity to have a major impact on global environment and development issues.
Leadership:
* Develop and maintain a compelling and coherent vision and strategy for the Forest Initiative, in line with WRI’s Strategic Plan 2008-2012 and the People & Ecosystems Program goal and strategy.
* Identify and help develop potential new lines of work that will lead to transformative change in sustaining forest ecosystems and enhancing forests’ role in development.
* Provide strategic direction to WRI’s forest team to ensure a coherent, high-impact strategy that provides development and environmental benefits.
* Expand WRI’s forest-related projects, preferably in the Amazon Basin.
* Foster a culture of excellence in all aspects of the Initiative’s work. Management
* Guide, motivate, and develop personnel within the Initiative.
* Delegate authority to project leaders, ensure they are effective and supported, and ensure planned objectives are achieved.
* Provide day-to-day management of own project staff.
* Oversee the completion of any requested quarterly reports by management or funders, within agreed timeframe.
* Engage WRI senior management on strategic and operational issues. Impact and outreach
* Keep the Initiative and its projects focused on critical issues and opportunities where new insights, analyses, proposals, or efforts could lead to significant progress or impact on sustainable development.
* Conduct outreach and communication efforts and promote staff research findings through briefings to policy-makers, practitioners, and corporate leaders.
* Review funding proposals, draft publications, and articles to ensure they meet WRI’s high standards for quality.
Fundraising:
* Lead efforts to develop and secure long-term funding for the Initiative and new projects based on identified needs in coordination with project managers, the People & Ecosystems Program Director, and WRI’s Development Department. This responsibility will entail leveraging existing relationships with bilateral and multilateral donors, foundations, corporations, and individual donors, as well as cultivating and maintaining new relationships.
* Write fundraising proposals.
* Mentor staff to broaden their fundraising skills, help them manage existing fundraising relationships, and cultivate new funding prospects.
* Serve as internal reviewer for WRI colleagues’ publications/products (to support the institute’s peer review process, which is a key part of achieving excellence in all WRI’s work).
Qualifications:
* Advanced degree in the social sciences with a particular focus on sustainable forest management, environmental economics, social anthropology, or related field. PhD preferred.
* Minimum 10 years experience in the field of sustainable forest management. Expertise/experience in the Amazon Basin and with “forest and climate” issues (e.g., REDD) preferred.
* Strong network of relationships and partners. Relationships in the Amazon Basin preferred.
* Superb analytical and strategic thinking skills.
* Proven ability to motivate staff and teams to achieve on-the-ground results.
* Demonstrated ability to secure funding from donors on a large scale. Extensive experience with project development and proposal writing.
* Outstanding ability to communicate clearly, passionately, and in a compelling fashion to a wide range of audiences, including senior policymakers, NGOs, and corporate leaders.
* Excellent writing skills.
* Demonstrated proficiency of oral and written English. Proficiency in at least 1 other language (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese).
* Willingness to travel at least 20% of time.
Compensation: Competitive and commensurate with qualifications. WRI offers a comprehensive benefits package.
To Apply:
Please send resume or CV and cover letter to Beth Bahs-Ahern, Development and Operations Manager. No phone calls please. Qualified applicants only. WRI only accepts applications for current job openings.
WRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is our policy to recruit, hire, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, parental status, or disability
Contact Information:
Beth Bahs-Ahern
bbahsahern@wri.org
Link WRI + Green Dream Jobs
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This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Consciousness, Green Living, Health, Science, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
