Assistant, climate program

Background

The Rainforest Alliance 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 Climate Program works to conserve biodiversity and enhance livelihoods by supporting sustainable land management practices to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The Climate Program is cross-cutting, involving the sustainable forestry, agriculture and tourism programs of the Rainforest Alliance. The principal strategies of the Climate Program are to: build capacity for REDD+ implementation through project facilitation and developing/deploying training and guidance materials; contribute to REDD-readiness initiatives at a national level in target tropical countries; innovate and implement projects leveraging carbon finance as a tool for landscape-level conservation; shape forest carbon standards and REDD+ policy at the national and international level and amongst key climate investment funds; develop and scale adaptation-oriented tools and initiatives; and build demand and capacity for forest carbon validation, verification and methodology services in priority tropical regions, amongst others. The Climate Program works with a wide range of stakeholders, from small producers to large corporations and governments.

Position Summary

The Assistant will support the Rainforest Alliance’s Climate Program by serving as its administrative lead, assisting with communications and reporting, conducting research, and coordinating logistics for strategic events. S/he will engage with staff from Sustainable Forestry, Agriculture, Tourism, and other programs to enhance the organization’s ability to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. The Assistant will work under the supervision of the Climate Program Coordinator, and in close coordination with all Climate Program staff.

Responsibilties

Administration & Event Coordination

• Manage Climate Program usage of Sharepoint and Salesforce;
• Prepare, process and monitor payment requests, invoices and related materials;
• Compile and/or maintain internal databases;
• Coordinate logistics for international conferences, tradeshows, workshops, UN meetings and trainings;
• Coordinate meetings with partners and clients, and prepare meeting summaries/minutes;
• Execute mailing/shipping of Climate Program contracts and other materials; and
• Maintain physical and electronic records of Climate Program (e.g. reports, publications, correspondence, etc).

Communications

• Compile information for, and help prepare, reports for internal and external audiences;
• Prepare publications request forms and coordinate with the Communications team to maintain Climate Program Web pages, as well as to disseminate timely Climate Program updates via blogs, press releases and social media outlets; and
• Prepare informative and visually-engaging PowerPoint presentations for different audiences.

Research

• Conduct research and prepare concise internal briefs on various topics to include stakeholder and donor engagement opportunities; carbon market trends; biofuels policy; approaches to community-based adaptation; REDD+ developments in priority tropical countries; and;
• Monitor relevant climate change-related events at regional, national and international levels and raise opportunities to appropriate Rainforest Alliance staff.

General Support

• Provide general support and guidance to staff and external audiences by providing prompt, informative communications to general queries on the Climate Program;
• Edit, format and proofread Climate Program publications; and
• Other tasks as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; preferably in Natural Resource Management, Environmental Science, or related to environmental change;
• 1-3 years of professional experience; minimum 1 year in climate-related work;
• Excellent writing, editing and verbal communication skills;
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills, with ability to foster positive working relationships with diverse internal and external individuals;
• Knowledge of, and commitment to, climate change issues and sustainability practices;
• Strong organizational skills and efficient management of multiple tasks and priorities;
• Ability to execute work independently;
• Strong computer skills (Microsoft suite -- Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint);
• Ability and willingness to travel a minimum of 5 percent per year, nationally and/or internationally;
• Fluency in Spanish and/or French preferred;
• Desire to learn and enhance understanding of climate change mitigation and adaptation from a technical and policy perspective preferred; and
• Experience in a not-for-profit and international environment preferred.