South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.

Our Project Development team is at the forefront of developing and managing climate mitigation activities. By working closely with project owners and developers as well as their local communities, we manage the complete registration, verification and evaluation of carbon projects to enable the issuance of emission-reduction certificates, in line with official carbon standards. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic sustainability professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you!

Job summary:

The Senior Stakeholder Engagement Manager will be focused on leading the design and advising on the implementation of the social strategy that will ensure the sustainability of our Nature Based Solutions projects in compliance with the high quality projects criteria in Africa. In addition, with your experience and expertise, you will design a work plan with the regional social teams to map, Monitoring and Evaluate (M&E) the direct application in the projects. 

You will be responsible for stakeholder relationship management and for promoting the permanence and technical evaluation of community-based projects to ensure medium/long-term project management. Additionally, in this role you will be responsible to ensure your team members engagement and personal growth through ongoing training about the necessary skills and tools to perform their work.

This position requires advanced qualifications for the design, management and evaluation of NBS projects and the management of community and co-benefits aspects.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Lead the development of social and community components of Projects Design Documents and Monitoring Reports under different NBS standards in coordination with regional team, project managers, senior leads and global team

• Support the regional team on the stakeholders engagement strategy, including the preparation, implementation in the field and the generation of reports following the quality required by South Pole and the clients

• Advise the proposal/deliverable preparation and completion of the project development cycle tasks to the best quality required by South Pole and the client (if needed)

• Advise project managers and overseeing compliance with commitments to partners and communities associated with the ongoing projects

• Plan frequent travels within the African region, often this will entail travel to remote locations with rustic conditions

• Help standardize the costs of the implementation of the social component, as well as the corresponding monitoring and evaluation costs of implementation

• Design and improve standard operational procedures for stakeholder engagement, create training content, and coordinate capacity building of technical and commercial regional teams

• Support the engagement with possible partners and collaborators for upcoming opportunities

• Gather, prepare and present information to represent South Pole at meetings, as requested

• Support the engagement with the government (national and sub-national)

• Participate in formal and informal networking opportunities as requested

Requirements:

Essential -

• University Degree in anthropology, social studies or social sciences

• Extensive work experience in local community engagement of forestry/land use, sustainability consulting, climate change mitigation/adaptation projects or related fields

• Experience with approaches for strengthening government/organization/institutional capacities related to social and environmental safeguards and grievance mechanisms

• Experience in the development of social and environmental policies, procedures, guidance, and monitoring tools

• Experience in conducting social research (quantitative and qualitative) is considered as an asset

• Ability to manage targets and priorities and develop own and team’s goals

• Capable to make decisions to improve the operational focus of the team and take accountability for them

• Ability to manage a team (Junior to mid-level project coordinators) of up to 10 members including internal and/or external collaborators

• Ability to work on assignments that are diverse in nature, applying company policies, processes and procedures to resolve a variety of issues/problems

• The capacity to solve relatively complex project-related problems independently, and receive general direction on new assignments or projects

• Ability to create high quality written documents (proposals and deliverables) in English

• Ability to engage with various stakeholders at the international, national, and sub national level

• Excellent communication skills

• Excellent oral and written command of English

• National, or holder of a valid work visa in Kenya

Desirable -

• Basic knowledge of the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Benefit Sharing Mechanism

• Advanced network of potential clients, collaborators or other relevant stakeholders within the region

• A second language is considered a plus e.g French, Kiswahili

What we offer:

At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation. 

We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make; South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.