The World Resources Institute's Forest Legality Initiative is hiring! See below for details on the three available positions.
China Associate
Overview
The Associate will be a key subject matter expert and will facilitate program management and contribute to the development of high quality project activities and research products that are designed to influence targeted audiences.
The Associate will work with the Forest Legality Initiative (FLI), an international, multi-stakeholder initiative designed to increase the demand for legal forest products and to reduce the trade in illegal timber. To this end, FLI pursues a series of activities including: (a) evaluating, promoting, and developing tools and technologies used by the forest products industry and other stakeholders to practice due care and to deter the entry of illegal forest products into supply chains; (b) strengthening and building capacity of civil society and independent monitors to increase accountability for and to eradicate illegal logging; and (c) convening a wide range of stakeholders to discuss, share knowledge, and collaborate on ideas and projects aimed at exercising due care and eliminating the illegal timber trade.
Responsibilities
The Associate’s main areas of responsibility will include the following:
Program/Project Management (60% of time required)
- Working in partnership with government agencies, the private sector, and other non-profit organizations to develop collaborative approaches for promoting timber legality verification, due diligence, and promising tools and technologies for tracking and traceability within the forest products sector.
- Designing, implementing, and evaluating project activities in China and related to Chinese forest products trade.
- In collaboration with senior level staff, helping to manage outcomes and partnerships.
- Monitoring and managing project deliverables, setting and clarifying priorities for global team members.
- Monitoring and managing project budget performance, scoping progress according to planned milestones, expenses and revenue, and internal and donor reporting.
- Completing institutional and donor reporting (narrative, quantitative and financial) for projects, including project outcomes.
Research & Knowledge (30% of time required)
- Conducting research on the Chinese forest products sector and global timber supply chains.
- Conducting research on challenges and best practices in the forest products sector for complying with timber legality regulations and sourcing requirements.
- Authoring or co-authors knowledge products (e.g., reports, briefs, data-products).
- Implementing methods that lead to robust and unbiased knowledge products.
- Mentoring junior researchers.
- Reviewing 2-4 knowledge products written by other WRI researchers yearly.
Program Development (10% of time required)
- Contributing to research proposals between a five and six figure fundraising goal.
- Identifying and developing funding partner relationships through external outreach; conducting due diligence on feasibility of use through fit-gap analysis.
- Monitors and complies with sub agreement guidelines.
- Contributing to presentations and donor proposals.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Masters in related field (Forestry, Economics, Public Policy, International Relations, Environmental Management/Science, etc.).
- Minimum 5-7 years of full-time work experience in relevant field, with program implementation and project management experience.
- At least 3 years of experience working in China on forest legality, illegal logging or forest conservation.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
- Strong quantitative, analytical research skills.
- Detail-oriented and organized thinker who can juggle multiple, competing priorities
- Ability to travel when needed
- Native Mandarin speaker with English proficiency.
Preferred Qualifications:
- PhD in a related field.
- Work experience in government agencies or government-affiliated institutions in China.
- Experience with external communications and/or donor management.
- Demonstrated expertise on forest governance, trade or forest-related industries in China.
- Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills, including an ability to work constructively with a wide range of stakeholders and within a team setting.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Previous experience working with partners based in different countries preferred.
- Commitment to WRI’s mission and institutional values
Final candidates will be required to take a writing test.
Optional: Finalists will need to submit 2 writing samples.
Salary and Benefits: Salary is commensurate with experience and skills. WRI China offers a generous, comprehensive benefits package
Start date: As soon as possible
Application deadline: Open till filled
Location: Beijing, China
Grants and Finance Coordinator II
Overview
WRI’s Forests Program requires an assertive, detail-oriented, and highly organized individual to support a diverse team of experts as a Grants and Finance Coordinator II. This is an excellent position for someone seeking to work in financial and project/program management.
The Grants and Finance Coordinator II will work with the Forest Legality Initiative (FLI), an international, multi-stakeholder initiative designed to increase the demand for legal forest products and to mitigate the trade of illegal timber. To this end, FLI pursues a series of activities including: (a) evaluating, promoting, and developing tools and technologies used by industry and stakeholders to practice due care and to deter the entry of illegal forest products into supply chains; (b) strengthening and building capacity of civil society and independent monitors to increase accountability for and to eradicate illegal logging; and (c) convening a wide range of stakeholders to discuss, share knowledge, and collaborate on ideas and projects aimed at exercising due care and eliminating the illegal timber trade.
The Grants Finance Coordinator II will provide a variety of support functions to the FLI team, including: budget management, vendor payments, contracts administration and coordination, assessing and ensuring compliance with donor reporting requirements, administrative tasks, event organization, and proposal budget development.
Responsibilities
The Grants & Finance Coordinator’s main areas of responsibility will include the following (70%):
- Assist the Project Manager in ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of grants and contracts
- Monitor life of grant reporting requirements and ensures that progress reports are submitted in a timely manner
- Prepare detailed financial reports to funders as needed and gather transaction receipts
- Assist the Project Manager in tracking contract deliverables to ensure that they are submitted within the period of performance and coordinate the submission of invoices
- With Project Manager, review on a monthly basis the transactions and finances of the projects
- Assist the Project Manager with updating budgets quarterly and create budgets for upcoming proposals consistent with WRI’s requirements for budgeting costs
- Submit and track requests for payment in a timely manner and ensure that payments processed are consistent with WRI’s internal policies and grant requirements
- Prepare and maintain subgrant and contract agreements with partners and contractors including follow-up needs to complete agreements on time
- Work with partners to help them understand and meet subgrant and contract requirements
- Monitor partners to ensure the timely and accurate submission of progress and financial reports
Other areas of responsibility will include the following (30%):
- Coordinates logistics of projects events, including coordinating venue, catering, travel, and accommodation arrangements
- Coordinates and schedules team meetings, including taking and circulating notes and communicating items for follow-up
- Updating and maintaining web content
- Organize and manage project documentation in shared drives
- Support project reporting (information collection, drafting, editing), including quarterly and annual project status reports, project evaluations, and other technical reports required by the donor.
- Coordinate recruitment and manage onboarding of new staff members as needed.
- Support the project staff with other administrative duties, as needed, such as responding to public inquiries, drafting correspondence, and taking and circulating meeting notes
- Other duties may be assigned based on need and interest
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree Required
- At least 2-3 years of full time relevant work experience in financial management and administration, preferably in a non-profit setting.
- The position requires a detail-oriented, highly organized individual with experience and interest in program operations, grant compliance, financial management, and budgeting
- Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills, including an ability to work constructively with a wide range of stakeholders and within a team setting
- Strong writing, database management, and communication skills
- Strong computer skills, including advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, web-based communications (Skype, GoToMeeting, etc), and internet research
- Administrative and events planning experience
- Must be adaptable to rapidly changing priorities and have the ability to manage multiple projects with varying deadlines, with a high level of accountability and reliability
- Patience and perseverance in understanding and explaining issues to partners and contractors
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to work well in a team
- Familiarity with database software and management (such as Raiser’s Edge, Concurs, Cognos, TM1, etc.) a plus
- Commitment to WRI’s mission and institutional values
Ideal Candidate
Fluency in a relevant foreign language, especially Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Chinese preferred
Final candidates will be required to take a writing test.
Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and skills. WRI offers a generous, comprehensive benefits package.
Location: Washington, DC
Associate I
Overview
The Associate will be a key subject matter expert and will facilitate program management and contribute to the development of high quality research products that are designed to influence targeted audiences.
The Associate will work in the Forests Program for the Director of the Forest Legality Initiative (FLI), an international, multi-stakeholder initiative designed to increase the demand for legally harvested and traded forest products and to reduce illegal logging and associated trade. To this end, the FLI pursues a series of activities including: (a) evaluating, promoting, and developing tools and technologies used by industry and stakeholders to practice due care and to deter the entry of illegal forest products into supply chains; (b) strengthening and building capacity of civil society and independent monitors to increase accountability for and to eradicate illegal logging; and (c) convening a wide range of stakeholders to discuss, share knowledge, and collaborate on ideas and projects aimed at exercising due care and eliminating the illegal timber trade.
Responsibilities
The Associate's main areas of responsibility will include the following:
Program/Project Management (55% of time required)
- Forge collaborative relationships with government agencies, the private sector, and other non-profit organizations to promote the use and scaling-up of promising tools and technologies for tracking and traceability within the forest products sector, and for compiling and analyzing traceability information (includes information platforms).
- Collaborate with relevant stakeholders such as certification and legality verification bodies, to incorporate the use of tracking and traceability technologies and procedures into forest management and supply chain management components.
- Establish partnerships with forest products companies to pilot tools and technologies to improve supply-chain transparency, tracking, and traceability.
- In collaboration with senior level staff, helping to manage outcomes and partnerships.
- Monitoring and managing project deliverables, setting and clarifying priorities for global team members.
- Monitoring and managing project budget performance, scoping progress according to planned milestones, expenses and revenue, and internal and donor reporting.
- Completing institutional and donor reporting (narrative, quantitative and financial) for projects, including project outcomes.
Research & Knowledge: (40% of time required)
- Conduct outreach, literature reviews and expert interviews to map out existing and planned state-of-the-art tools and technologies for tracking and tracing supply chains within the forest products sector.
- Evaluate tools and technologies on their applicability to overcoming challenges in tracking forest products from harvest to consumer.
- Authoring or co-authors knowledge products (e.g., reports, briefs, data-products).
- Implementing methods that lead to robust and unbiased knowledge products.
- Mentoring junior researchers.
- Reviewing knowledge products written by other WRI researchers yearly.
Program Development (5% of time required)
- Contributing to research and related fundraising proposals.
- Identifying and developing funding partner relationships through external outreach; conducting due diligence on feasibility of use through fit-gap analysis.
- Monitors and complies with sub agreement guidelines.
- Contributing to presentations and donor proposals.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Masters in related field.
- Minimum 3-5 years of full-time work experience in relevant field, with program implementation and project management experience, including at least two years of experience working on supply chain management and/or compliance within the forest products industry
- Extensive knowledge on the state of existing tools and technologies used for forest management and tracking and traceability
- Exceptionally good written and oral communication and interpersonal skills, for both technical and general audiences
- Strong quantitative, analytical research skills.
- Detail-oriented and organized thinker who can juggle multiple, competing priorities
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25% of time when needed
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with external communications and/or donor management
- Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills, including an ability to work constructively with a wide range of stakeholders and within a team setting
- Previous experience working with partners based internationally
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
- Fluency in a relevant foreign language, especially Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Chinese
- Commitment to WRI’s mission and institutional values
Final candidates will be required to take a writing/analytical test.
Optional: Finalists will need to submit 2 writing samples.
Salary and Benefits: Salary is commensurate with experience and skills. WRI offers a generous, comprehensive benefits package
How to Apply
Qualified applicants should apply online at careers.wri.org. All applications must be submitted online through this career portal in order to be formally considered.
The World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) is an environmental and development research and policy organization that creates solutions to protect the Earth and improve people’s lives. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, it is WRI’s 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, gender identity, parental status, protected veteran status, or disability. WRI’s global agenda requires a staff that is diverse – with respect to race, gender, cultural, and international background. Diverse perspectives and experience enhance the way WRI selects and approaches issues, as well as the creativity and applicability of WRI's policy research and analysis. WRI, therefore, encourages applications from U.S. minorities, persons from other countries (especially developing nations), and from women of all backgrounds.
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