Project Coordiantor – Community Forests (Maternity Cover)

This is an excellent opportunity to join an organisation working at the nexus of human rights and tropical forest protection. We are looking for an experienced and dynamic coordinator with passion for human rights and environmental justice. You will have experience delivering large scale, rights-based programmes in complex environments and the ability to liaise with local partner organisations, donors, government officials and other stakeholders. You will be able to think strategically to direct multiple activity streams and towards the project goals, while ensuring compliance with donors’ requirements.

Reporting to the Head of Programmes and working closely with the Community Forests Team in London and Kinshasa, the Project Coordinator will be responsible for the smooth implementation of our Community Forests project in DRC. The Project Coordinator will maintain oversight of project activities, ensuring that they build towards our strategic objectives, and support local implementing partners on a daily basis. The successful candidate will be able to steer policy advocacy and to produce analyses, communications materials and reports. They will also be capable of representing the organisation with a range of stakeholders.

The post is based in the Rainforest Foundation’s north London office, although exceptional remote candidates will be considered. Currently, we are operating a hybrid flexible working policy in response to COVID-19.

The Project: Forest for the Future- Improving Livelihoods and Land Use in the Democratic Republic
of Congo through Community Forests

The adoption of the Community Forests Decree in 2014 and its main bylaw in 2016 in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) is arguably the most significant legal reform related to tropical forests and
forest peoples’ rights in recent years. This framework could impact as many as 40 million forest-
dependent people and with tens of millions of hectares potentially available to develop pro-poor,
community models of forest management.
Since its creation, RFUK has been continuously advocating and supporting the development of
community-based forest management in the Congo Basin – something that is now widely recognised
as being key to achieving delivering strong conservation and development outcomes. Under a DFID
(now FCDO) funded project (2016-2019), RFUK headed a consortium of Congolese and international
NGOs that played a central role in laying the foundations for community forestry in DRC. The project
facilitated the development and adoption of the National Strategy for Community Forestry;
consolidated the Multi-stakeholder Roundtable for Community Forestry as a deliberative policy
making body; accompanied nine communities to apply for their community forest concessions;
trained and built capacities among civil society and government officials at all levels; and produced a
ground-breaking body of resources, studies and tools to inform best practice in DRC and beyond.

USAID, Norad and other donors are supporting RFUK and our consortium partners to build on these
efforts to trigger a new phase of development of community forestry in DRC. The project, which will
run from September 2020 to September 2025, has the central objective to consolidate community
forests as a viable forest use model that enhances livelihoods while protecting forests. To this end, the
project will pursue four main strands of work:

• Promoting land use planning, sustainable management and income generating activities in
• Advocating for the continued improvement of the legal framework and promoting transparency and good practice;
• Building capacities in government and local civil society.
• Activities will be implemented in the field by a consortium of Congolese NGOs based in Kinshasa, Goma, Mbandaka and Kindu.