Executive Director

About the Greenbelt Movement

The Greenbelt Movement is a non-governmental organization founded in Kenya by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai. Since 1977, the movement’s work has focused on conserving the environment by empowering rural women and local communities through environmental education, supporting ecosystem restoration through tree planting, advocacy and movement building, and creating livelihood safety-nets at household level.

To learn more about the work of The Greenbelt Movement, please refer to http://greenbeltmovement.org/who-we-are

What are we looking for?

The Greenbelt Movement is in an exciting growth phase, expanding its work in Kenya and increasing its influence across Africa. We now seek to hire an Executive Director who has the capacity, vision and dedication to lead a passionate workforce in various counties in Kenya and guide the development and implementation of a new, innovative 3-5 year strategic plan.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience in economic, environment, social development and or human rights and is passionate about supporting local communities develop solutions to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. They will have leadership experience with a non-profit organization in Africa and proven experience in administration, finance, operations, and fundraising. Based in Nairobi with frequent local and international travel, the successful candidate will provide leadership and oversight on all Greenbelt Movement key functions (programmatic, financial and operations) to both scale its impact and ensure the organization’s sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

In close collaboration with the Board of Directors and the Senior Leadership Team, the successful candidate will:

• Develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans for The Greenbelt Movement in accordance with the organization’s systems, policies, and governance framework.

• Lead fundraising efforts through engaging with current and prospective donors and supporting the board of directors to raise funds for organisation through presentations, roadshows and other events

• Provide leadership to the achievement, evolution and implementation of the Greenbelt Movement’s mission-aligned growth strategies. As the head of the leadership team, drive organisational success through exceptional leadership and alignment with GBM’s mission, vision and values to foster the work culture, creating a positive and constructive environment for all employees.

• Take charge the development of teams to successfully execute GBM’s program and operational strategies

• Develop and maintain positive, trust-based relations with key internal and external stakeholders, including the board of directors, the senior leadership team, NGO peers, existing and prospective donors and other third parties.

• Guide and strengthen GBM accountability mechanisms and ensure policies and guidelines are aligned to best practices. Assure continuous monitoring, review, reflection and impact assessment.
  Reporting to The Greenbelt Movement board as required, providing insights and strategic advice

  Qualifications and Experience

• A Postgraduate degree in Environmental Science, Law, International Relations, International Development or other relevant science or social science discipline.

• At least 10 years of management level experience with at least 5 years in a senior leadership position with a non-profit organization; experience in managing organisations through a change process is beneficial.

• Experience in locally-led land restoration, reforestation and livelihoods development and or the broader social justice sector e.g. food security, conservation, human rights, women rights etc is required. Knowledge of local and global carbon markets and the related opportunities to create value for local communities in the forestry and land sector is an added advantage.

• Proven success in developing and executing strategies to achieve short and long-term goals
  Experience in fundraising is required, with the ability to demonstrate fundraising success in previous professional setting

• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to adapt, inspire and engage a group of skilled professionals and help build a collaborative team culture;

• Proven ability to align organisational vision, values and strategy with team goals, actions, and performance

• Capacity to work transparently and cooperatively with county and national governments

• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills. The ability to communicate with presence, impact, and influence to engage stakeholders and help fundraise

• A commitment to the values and purpose of The Greenbelt Movement and the ability to motivate and engage others and shape a positive performance culture.

• Fluent in written and spoken English and Kiswahili.

• Ability to travel locally and internationally, as well as with local organizations and communities in remote areas