CLUA Program Associate

CLUA Program Associate

Ford Foundation

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Program Associate will work for the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), based out of the Ford Foundation’s Rio de Janeiro office.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:

The Program Associate works as part of a team of a program staff who is implementing the Brazil Initiative strategy as part of the Climate and Land Use Alliance. The Program Associate holds a variety of responsibilities related to the research, analysis, and the effective operation of the grantmaking with a primary focus on the portfolio grants made to support the Initiative’s strategy. The Program Associate will also serve as a strong conduit for shared learning within the team and across programmatic teams.

The Program Associate will work with the CLUA team to support the grantmaking, monitor and manage the portfolio of projects, to manage budget forecast and allocation, as well as report on the initiative to its Board and others.

CLUA’s strategy supports implementation of international public and private sector policies that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land use that benefit indigenous peoples and rural local communities, and protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in focal geographies that include Brazil, Mexico, Central America, Indonesia, and beyond.

In Brazil, this includes the following objectives:

• Policy and Governance Reforms: Helping Brazil deliver on forest and climate commitments in the Paris Agreement and implement its Forest Code in the Amazon and Cerrado.
• Community Land Rights and Management: Encouraging increased formal recognition of indigenous and traditional community lands and resource rights, and sustainably operating community-based land management systems in the Amazon and Cerrado.
• Conflict-and Deforestation-Free Beef and Soy: Ensuring beef and soy in the Amazon and Cerrado are legally sourced and verified as deforestation and conflict-free.
• Addressing Impacts of Infrastructure and Extractives: Avoiding negative environmental and social impacts, decreasing the risk of corruption, and guaranteeing indigenous and traditional peoples’ rights in policies, investments, and infrastructure and extractives projects.
• The Program Associate (PA) will report to the CLUA Brazil Initiative Lead, and work closely with the Program Leads, which are part of the CLUA Brazil local team, and the Grants Management team based in the US. The PA will be a full member of the multi-foundation CLUA Brazil Initiative Team. Primary focus areas will be for the following CLUA Brazil Strategy Objectives: Policy and Governance; Community Land Rights and Management; and Addressing the Impacts of Infrastructure and Extractives.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant social science field and minimum 5 years’ experience working in a program-related support capacity.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong proficiency with research, data collection, review, analysis, and reporting.
• Strong proficiency with proposal design, logic-framework and ToC design, and budget management.
• Strong proficiency with the use of software platforms and high degree of comfort with multiple technology applications, including the Office Suite and Trello.
• Strong oral and written communication skills in both English and Portuguese.
• Demonstrated ability to work with a range of stakeholders, including private sector, government, and non-governmental organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage complex projects, including monitoring outcomes and processes involving multiple institutions and individuals in a team arrangement, and bringing this analysis forward to guide decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to work successfully in a multi-faceted, multitasking environment.
• Demonstrated ability to be a productive member of a community of people at work, respecting differences while working toward shared goals, comfort with periods of ambiguity, constructive participation in ongoing organizational development.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Operations

• Under the direction of the CLUA Brazil Initiative Lead and Program Leads, support development and review of project proposals, providing guidance to grantees during the grant application process, as necessary.
• Prepare internal grant-related documentation for submission to Grants Management team and respond to requests from Grants Management team for additional information or documentation needed to process grants.
• Support CLUA Brazil Program Leads to track and monitor progress reports, review implementation periods, providing guidance to grantees during the reporting process, as necessary.
• Assist the CLUA Brazil team to coordinate submissions and approval processes with the CLUA Operations Teams.
• Under the direction of the CLUA Brazil Initiative Lead, hold informational meetings with grantees and stakeholders (e.g. kick off workshops with grantees).
• Assist the report review for completeness, and alignment with CLUA guidelines.
• Produce reports on individual grants, as well as on the overall portfolio.
• Manage relationship and keep the dialogue with CLUA Operations team, as needed.

Initiative Planning and Reporting

• Support the Initiative Coordinator to manage the Initiative Budget, maintaining multi-year payment schedules, projections registries, and monitoring funding sources balance.
• Collect inputs and updates to the Initiative strategy, contribute to annual workplans, team meetings, internal monitoring, and reporting.

Brazil Initiative Lead Support

• Presentations will be requested periodically as a means to update internal and external audiences on the progress of CLUA’s strategy and/or external engagement.
• Collection of data on specific portfolios.
• Elaborate terms of reference for hiring of contracts under the direct administration of the Coordination; possibly, support to manage these contracts.
• For convenings and site visits, develop and prepare background research and meeting materials.
• Communicate with CLUA’s initiative teams for team learning and to share with other programmatic teams.
• Represent CLUA externally and respond to organizational needs as determined by the CLUA Brazil Initiative Lead.

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