Senior Project Manager- Agriculture in emerging economies (M/F)
Join in the Livelihoods Funds’ adventure to build more resilient rural communities and ecosystems, as well as sustainable businesses. We develop concrete, impactful, replicable solutions for efficient, sustainable farming and land use in emerging economies (Africa, Asia and Central/South America).
The Livelihoods Funds are supported by private companies who believe in working and learning together to drive change. These companies join forces to mutualize investment risks while maximizing impact. They are convinced smallholder farmers are key players in achieving food security on a global scale while preserving ecosystems.
Livelihoods Venture is the dynamic service company that advises two funds from its Paris office:
- the Livelihoods Carbon Fund, created in 2011, with a current portfolio of nine projects for a total investment of 40 m€,
- the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F), created in 2015, with an objective of 40 agricultural projects with c.200,000 smallholder farmers for a total investment of 120m€ over a ten-year span.
Livelihoods Venture is a social business that brings into play the appropriate skills to select, develop and implement the projects in which Livelihoods Funds invest. Its multi-disciplinary team identifies promising projects with strong environmental, economic and social impact and deploys these programs together with local partners (private companies, NGOs, public institutions) and rural communities. Livelihoods Venture coordinates all stakeholders to deliver the tangible outputs expected by the investors in the Livelihoods Funds, such as secured raw material supply, enhanced livelihoods for farmers, carbon credits with high social and environmental value, water and biodiversity conservation.
Our focus areas are: agroforestry projects, ecosystem restoration and rural energy projects to generate carbon credits with high social value and to build sustainable supply chains. For more information, visit: www.livelihoods.eu.
We craft projects from scratch with a unique approach: build a broad coalition of experts; invest upfront; implement projects that deliver value for farmers, businesses and society; monitor projects over 10 to 20 years; receive result-based payments to guarantee tangible results. This is a complex task in a challenging environment, hence our quest for finding the right candidate for our ventures.
Job Description
The position is an exciting opportunity to take a senior role in the management and delivery of core service areas within Livelihoods Venture, and respond to the rapidly growing demand for impactful projects in the area of sustainable agricultural commodities and carbon assets.
In this new and permanent position based in Paris (with travels up to 30%), you will report to the Technical & Innovation Director and be responsible for coordinating all critical steps of Livelihoods Funds’ projects with rural communities.
In line with this role, you will be expected to fulfil the following assignments:
- Build an efficient working atmosphere with all project stakeholders;
- Be a source of proposals and creativity regarding the orientation given to new large-scale and long-term projects (10 years) in favour of smallholder farmers; identify best-in-class agricultural and technical models adapted to local geographies for farmers and company buyers;
- Co-build the technical model of impactful rural and agri-business projects with technical experts, NGOs, private companies and Livelihoods business development team. Contribute to the alignment of this stakeholder coalition on the ambitions of the Livelihoods Funds’ projects;
- Be present in all project’ steps to present solutions and convince a large panel of stakeholders, nurture partnerships with a local project developer during the different project phases;
- Steer, structure and coordinate all project activities with the local technical partner(s) to deliver qualitative and quantitative results expected by Livelihoods Funds’ investors within timeframe and budget constraints;
- Implement KPI’s to monitor the measure of project impacts across the full value chain.
Occasional work as required on other related projects.
The Successful Applicant
You are a self-motivated professional with boots on the ground, dedicated to drive sustainable change for agriculture and natural resources. Passionate about creating social, environmental and economic value with a result-oriented mind, you are a proactive and audacious individual with strong negotiation skills and resilience under pressure.
Strong leadership and project management skills (including excellent time-management, problem-solving and organisational abilities). Highly developed interpersonal and team working skills, as well as proven ability to operate in a multi-cultural environment. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. You are committed to ongoing professional learning and development.
Engineer with preferably a Masters in Agriculture or Natural Resources Sciences (or equivalent), you have a minimum of ten-year proven experience in technical or operational positions involving rural or agricultural project management and the coordination of technical platforms with NGOs or public institutions. Implementation at field level and/ or monitoring of field activities are essential. Experience in emerging economies is mandatory (Africa, Asia or Central/South America).
Finally, you are fluent in English; Good French speaking and writing skills are a plus.
Salary commensurate with experience
Please send your cover letter and CV (contact[a]livelihoods.eu)