Operations Specialist

The EU adopted the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan in 2003. FLEGT is the European Commission’s response to combating illegal logging. FLEGT aims to reduce illegal logging, one of the causes of forest degradation, as well as illegal timber production such as those via illegal forest conversion, one of the causes of deforestation.

The two main components of the FLEGT Action Plan are the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) and the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). The VPA is a binding bilateral trade agreement, which defines a Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS) resulting in the issuance of FLEGT licences, which provides green lane access to the EU market. There are other important FLEGT instruments or tools such as Voluntary Forest Certification (e.g. FSC or PEFC schemes), national or private legality verification systems, and private or public procurement policies.

Both VPAs and “other FLEGT instruments” have developed or adapted in response or to complement the EU Timber Regulation. While the VPA is the main supply side instrument of the FLEGT Action Plan, in the absence of VPA negotiations, these other FLEGT instruments have the ability to help producer countries improve forest sector governance in response to international market requirements such as the EUTR.

The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme fits under FAO's Strategic Objective Four, enabling more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems at local, national and international levels.

The Programme’s specific objective is to tackle illegal logging, promote trade in legal timber products and ultimately contribute to sustainable forest management (SFM) and poverty reduction. To this end, the Programme is working to achieve the following outcomes\:

Outcome 1\: Voluntary Partnership Agreements contribute to improved forest sector governance and timber legality on domestic and international markets.

Outcome 2\: Initiatives that support legal production and consumption of timber and better forest sector governance in countries that are not engaged in the VPA process are strengthened.

Outcome 3\: The capacity of the private sector to participate in the production, marketing and trade of legal timber has increased.

Outcome 4\: Stakeholders in both consumer and producer countries demonstrate an improved knowledge of benefits from legal logging, international trade requirements and of best practices for forest law enforcement, governance and trade.

The outcome 1 supports the 16 countries currently involved in one of the three phases of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement process (pre-negotiation, negotiation or implementation). Focusing Programme efforts on these countries will bring added benefits of including a multitude of stakeholders in the country level processes – enhancing local contributions and ownership of the process. The resources used on these actions are justified in that these 16 countries account for 75% of the tropical timber traded on international markets and all of them have significant informal domestic market production and consumption (often accounting for up to 50% of the national production). Support in VPA Countries is targeted directly to governments and private sector either through the Direct Assistance mechanism or to government institutions, civil society organizations and private sector organizations through competitive calls for proposals.

Two different mechanisms (Calls for proposals and Direct Assistance) will allow stakeholders’ participation in the FLEGT processes at the national, regional and global level in both VPA countries and countries not engaged in VPAs. Given the diverse geographical reach of the Programme, with different forest governance structures and stakeholder groups, the funding mechanisms proposed offer flexible tools to tailor assistance based on local needs and peculiarities.

1) Calls for proposals\: Calls for proposals provide a competitive mechanism open to all stakeholders (government, civil society and private sector organizations). The Programme will issue calls for proposals to solicit project ideas that can contribute to the FLEGT process.

2) Direct Assistance\: Direct Assistance provides a flexible financing tool to respond to requests for immediate, specific actions connected with VPA national strategy, such as provision of training and technical assistance. Direct Assistance will be available to governments and private sector organizations including those representing SMEs that may find difficult to request assistance through the Call for Proposals mechanism.

Guyana and the European Union have concluded six years of negotiations on the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, which initialled in Brussels on 23 November 2018. The VPA negotiation process involved inter-institutional cooperation between government agencies, the private sector and indigenous peoples. This cooperation has been a determining factor in the negotiation of the bilateral agreement, as the parties concerned focused on a common objective\: defining access to timber, it is harvesting and the legal trade in timber products, while at the same time respecting and conserving forests and improving the quality of life of the people who depend on them.

In Guyana, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme has focused support to the government to successfully launch the first few rounds of VPA negotiations in 2013 and 2014 and develop effective structures for multi-stakeholder consultation in order to continue progress in this phase. As stakeholders became more aware of the VPA, the Programme has provided support in the following areas, following priorities identified by the National Technical Working Group (NTWG)\:

• Consultation strategy and implementation
• Awareness building among all groups
• Training of small loggers associations
• Training private sector operators
• Indigenous people focus for capacity building and monitoring

Reporting Lines

Under the general supervision of the FAO Representative in Guyana, the supervisor of the Technical Coordination for Latin America and Caribbean of the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme, the National Coordinator of the FAO-EU FLEGT and the Head of the FLEGT Secretariat, Guyana Forestry Commission.

The Guyana Forestry Commission requires a consultant for project implementation and coordination between project partners under the EU FLEGT VPA process in Guyana to\:

• Facilitate financial management, monitoring and reporting for the EU FLEGT Grant
• Liaise with project partner, maintain and manage relationships with project donors
• Provide logistical support to the EU FLEGT Secretariat
• Assist in the drafting of Project proposal, agreements and contracts under the EU FLEGT Secretariat.

• Liaise with the Head, EU FLEGT Secretariat for the formulation of Work plans and ensuring all budgets and workplan are congruent with the scope of work of the Secretariat.
• Financial management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting for the Project Grant. This responsibility includes managing budgets, financial and administrative aspects of the project implementation, ensuring financial oversight and compliance with the donor regulations.
• Lead in the execution of functions, including coordination of disbursements, grants, sub-awards. This responsibility includes ensuring effective project implementation across project components, objectives and the efforts of project partners.
• Procurement of goods and services while ensuring all procurement procedures are aligned with the requirements of the donor.
• Maintenance of records, filing systems and databases for assigned project.
• Prepare and submit, in a timely manner, financial analysis, statement, project reports, work plans, and other documents as required by the donor, project partners and the EU FLEGT Secretariat.
• Ensure all transactions are duly authorized, recorded and have the necessary supporting documentation for the purpose of financial reporting and financial audits. Liaising with the auditors to ensure compliance and accountability for all resources.
• Assist in drafting of project proposal, contracts and agreement under the EU FLEGT Secretariat.
• Maintain and manage relationship with project partners in coordination with the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme and the EU FLEGT Secretariat.
• Provide logistical support to the EU FLEGT Secretariat.
• Participate in field visits to assure project progress and to gather data for reporting writing on various aspects of the Project.
• Coordinate meetings, assist in communication outreach and capacity development activities for the EU FLEGT Programme.

• Advanced Degree in Business Administration, Management, or Project Management with at least seven (5) years’ experience in management.
• National of Guyana

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

• Excellent business and financial acumen and sound knowledge.
• Excellent analytical skills and excellent interpersonal relationships.
• Ability to handle conflicts.