| Description |
IMPORTANT: This Advertiser has requested that applicants MUST be National Residents / Valid Work Permit-holders. Other applicants need not apply.
The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Based in New York City, with offices throughout the United States and worldwide, the Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers.
The Rainforest Alliance's TREES (Training, Extension, Enterprises and Sourcing) program promotes sustainable livelihoods and protects biodiversity in forest-dependent communities. We work to enhance the competitiveness of community and indigenous forestry enterprises by building business skills, increasing efficiencies, and facilitating investment in value-added processing, expanding income opportunities from wood and non-wood forest products and environmental services, and increasing access to local and global markets through Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
Position Summary
The Markets Specialist will be responsible for leading all TREES program activities in Mexico related to markets and marketing of products and services produced by community forest enterprises (CFE). The guiding objective of this position is to guarantee achievement of project targets related to volume and sales of forest products (timber and non-timber forest products), as well as environmental services derived from communities that are certified or in process of certification. The Markets Specialist will forge commercial alliances by employing a supply chain, market-demand approach in partnering with CFEs to add value to forestry production, open access to finance for growing CFEs and create new linkages with buyers interested in sourcing products and services from sustainably managed forests. A particular focus will be on growing national, regional and international markets demand for certified products produced by CFEs.
Responsibilities
- Assist with the development of periodic work plans and budgets for the IDB-supported regional project on forest small and medium enterprises (SME) development;
- Ensure achievement of project targets in the areas of CFE sales, business development, product diversification and new market linkages;
- Develop and implement marketing strategies for CFE forest products (both timber and non timber) and environmental services;
- Provide support to community forest partners in the areas of production efficiency, quality control, contracting, administration, business organization and planning, market strategy development and access to market information and buyers;
- Coordinate with Rainforest Alliance marketing counterparts in the region and at Rainforest Alliance headquarters to identify potential linkages with buyers and new marketing opportunities;
- Forge relations with national and international buyers and engage interested parties to develop commercial alliances with community-based enterprises;
- Build demand for lower grade wood, non-traditional species (lesser known species) and environmental services;
- Assist buyers with supply chain analyses, procurement policy development, sourcing action planning, and creating and maintaining business relationships that favor community producers;
- Create and develop alliances with other agencies and projects working on community forest products and environmental services marketing;
- Coordinate technical inputs to periodic reports on marketing activities and achievements in the field;
- Oversee planning, logistics and reporting on technical consultancies and other inputs related to marketing activities; and
- Other tasks as assigned.
Qualifications
- Degree in Forest Administration, Small Business Administration or related field; Master's in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance or related field preferred;
- Minimum 4 - 6 years of experience in renewable natural resources management, preferably with at least 1 year experience in environmental services projects (i.e. forest carbon);
- Minimum of 3 years experience in forest markets; knowledge of non-timber forest products, environmental services and marketing of lesser-known species in the context of CFEs a major plus;
- Extensive work experience with forestry SMEs and communities, experience working internationally a major plus;
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to work independently as well as in an interdisciplinary team environment;
- Experience in international and regional markets and public sector procurement policies for sustainably produced forest products is highly desirable;
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks with a strong attention to detail, against targets and deadlines set in periodic operational plans;
- Ability to formulate and write technical inputs for projects (planning, funding, budgets, management, evaluation, and monitoring) and to negotiate commercial alliances with the community-based enterprises and national and international buyers;
- Strong computer skills (Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint);
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Spanish; proficiency in English a plus;
- Strong teamwork skills, ability to work in multi-cultural settings and capacity to engage effectively with a wide range of actors – from indigenous communities to high-level government partners to private sector players and technical specialists; and
- Ability and willingness to travel 40 percent of the time.
|
