Certification Officer, Congo Basin (m-f-d)

The Mission

FSC works to take care of our forests and those who rely on them: by protecting plant and animal species, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, forest workers’ safety, and much more. We achieve this through FSC certification, ensuring forests around the world are responsibly managed. For more information on FSC, visit our website at www.fsc.org.

To effectively meet the challenge of protecting the world’s forests, we are committed to ensuring we have the world’s most skilled people working with us. This commitment extends to everyone that works in FSC around the world: from those that lead the design of policies and standards, to those that roll out those same policies and standards on the ground, and to those that provide us with backbone to do our work.

We are looking for an engaged Certification Officer, Congo Basin who brings solid expertise and a passion for FSC’s mission, to work with us in a multinational environment.

The Scope

To play a key role within the FSC Congo Basin team in providing technical, scientific and capacity development support to companies and stakeholders on matters relating to FSC certification and ecosystem services.

Main Roles and Responsibilities

• Take lead in technical planning, implementation, and reporting FSC’s certification support initiatives and processes.
• Coordinate the technical reporting of progress and contribution of FSC Congo Basin to Global Strategy and to FSC Africa’s objectives.
• Take lead in the implementation of FSC certification readiness support to companies, communities, and smallholders.
• Take the lead in organizing, supporting, and ensuring the appropriate delivery of training for companies seeking both Forest Management (FM), Chain of Custody (CoC) certification as well as government agencies, civil society and other forest professionals in the Congo Basin, with a priority focus on Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the DR Congo.
• Technically supervise, train and provide technical capacity to FSC Country Officers in the Congo Basin to effectively support companies and stakeholders in the FSC certification process.
• Develop, manage and maintain an adapted, accessible and user-friendly on-line training platform for Congo Basin stakeholders on FM and CoC certification, as well as on the FSC Ecosystem Services framework. The main deliverables for this objective will include:
• Develop, manage, and maintain an updated general and specific certification relevant credible knowledge and information base for the Congo Basin that is accessible to the Congo Basin and FSC Africa teams, as well as relevant FSC constituencies.
• Produce a certification status and readiness assessment report for all companies operating in target priority countries of the Congo Basin: Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon and DR Congo, and implement a strategy to effectively engagement them in FSC certification.
• Support FSC-certified concessionaires (and those working towards FSC certification) to implement the FSC Ecosystem Services claims procedure. Take lead on and support to the development of guidelines and tools for the implementation of solutions across the Congo Basin
• Development of technical collaboration with FSC partners – forest administrations and other relevant public agencies, academic and training institutions, etc. – in the Congo Basin to effectively role out FSC solutions for responsible forest management
• Respond to questions from members, certificate holders and other stakeholders and in the process promote the exchange of knowledge on responsible forest management and markets.

Qualification, Experience and Skills

• Education and Training:

Master’s degree or equivalent in forestry, natural resources, environmental or social sciences.

• Working Experience, Style and Skills:
  • At least 5 years of professional experience in natural forest and natural resources management, and sustainable development.
  • Demonstrates sound conceptual and practical understanding of forest management, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
  • Proven experience in the setting and implementation of social and environmental standards, as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR).
  • Have experience with and understanding of Public-Private-Partnerships and their effective use to advance FSC goals in responsible forest management in tropical Africa.
  • Demonstrate good understanding of the industrial forest sector, and forest products value chains and markets.
  • Have mastery of and experience with Congo Basin Forest policy, legal and institutional context.
  • Demonstrated experience in multi-stakeholder dialogue and policy engagement.
     
• Languages:
  • Fluency in French (spoken and written).
  • Ability to work in English.
  • Excellent writing and communication skills

• Computer Skills – good skills in the use of/experience with:
  • Standard software packages (MS Office).

Terms and Conditions

• Location: Libreville, Gabon.
• Working Hours: Full time (220 working days per calendar year).
• Type of contract and duration: 2 years consultancy contract.
• Starting Date: As soon as possible.

How to Apply

• Please apply via our website by submitting your CV in English
• Please do not send any photos of yourself.
• The deadline for applications is 29 March 2023.

We will confirm receipt of your application. However, only candidates shortlisted for an interview will be further contacted and will receive notice of the outcome of the selection process. Should you not receive a confirmation of receipt please check your spam filter and if you cannot find it there contact us at recruitment@fsc.org

For FSC, inclusiveness and diversity are important values. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds and are entirely committed to consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age and disability.  

Please be informed, that by applying for this position you automatically accept our Data Protection Information on processing your personal data.

We are looking forward to your application!