Manager, Technical Assistance Program
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
As a member and secretariat of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) -- an international coalition of leading conservation organizations -- the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Agriculture unit works with farmers to ensure compliance with the SAN standards for protecting wildlife, ecosystems, workers’ rights, and promoting the well-being of farmers, their families and communities. Farms that meet the SAN’s rigorous environmental, social and economic standards are awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal. The SAN standards are applied by producers of major commodity crops (including bananas, pineapple, coffee, cocoa, tea, citrus and flowers) that profoundly affect the economies, environments, cultures and politics of tropical countries. Today more than 350,000 farms in 30 countries are certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified products are widely available in mainstream markets.
Under the supervision of the Director, the Manager will support the SAN´s technical and operational goals by leading the development and implementation of the SAN Technical Assistance Program for agriculture and cattle producer groups and farms. The primary function of the program will be to facilitate and support the technical assistance activities carried out by SAN members.
- Lead the development and implementation of the SAN Technical Assistance Program;
- Establish platforms to share best practices in technical assistance with SAN members;
- Developing training materials and conduct calibration exercises with SAN members to improve the effectiveness of their technical assistance work with producers;
- Establish quality assurance control system, including a system for training technical assistance providers, an approval and quality monitoring mechanism for technical assistance providers;
- Ensure consistency in training tools and materials;
- Provide feedback to SAN Policy and Standards on aspects to be improved in SAN’s normative documents;
- Monitor the effectiveness and impact of the technical assistance activities by SAN members;
- Support SAN members in the development of fundraising proposals related to technical assistance;
- Establish a system to evaluate the results of the program and support its continuous improvement;
- Provide support in other SAN technical, operational and administrative processes as necessary; and
- Other duties as assigned.
- Bachelor’s degree in Education, Social Sciences, Natural Resource Management or related fields. Master’s degree in a related field a plus;
- 7-10 years of related experience; Experience with quality control and supporting training in networks of organizations a plus;
- Experience in developing fundraising proposals related to technical assistance;
- Excellent oral and written English and Spanish communications skills. French and Portuguese a plus;
- Must have excellent computer and data management skills (Microsoft Word, Excel and database programs);
- Must have strong organizational and planning skills, be able to work independently, and work under tight deadlines;
- Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills; and
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 30%.
Commensurate with experience.
Send resume, cover letter and salary history to Human Resources, Rainforest Alliance, P.O. Box 11029-1000, San Jose, Costa Rica; Fax: (506) 2216-4801; E-mail: crpersonnel@ra.org.
The Rainforest Alliance is an equal opportunity employer.