Portfolio Specialist, Greater Rift Valley, Restoration Initiative

 What you will do:

Project Management (90%)

• Coordinate the selection process for local organizations that submit applications to TerraFund for AFR100 requests-for-proposals, ensuring that each applicant receives thorough vetting from experts at WRI and partner organizations
• Catalog the technical assistance needs of funded and aspiring organizations and connect them with a local and international coalition of subject matter experts to fulfil those requests
• Approve and manage the workplans of local organizations in the Greater Rift Valley that receive funding from TerraFund for AFR100, explaining expectations to them and ensuring that they complete their work
• Work closely with WRI’s partners, including One Tree Planted, Realize Impact, and National and County government agencies, to ensure smooth management of funded projects
• Serve as the resident TerraMatch expert for funded projects in the Greater Rift Valley and work with the TerraMatch product team to support the design of new platform features that address their needs and challenges
• Liaise with the project monitoring team to ensure that project developers understand the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) requirements of TerraFund for AFR100 and can provide accurate geospatial shapefiles for satellite analysis
• Coordinate and conduct site visits to funded projects, ensuring that logistics run smoothly
• Contribute to donor reporting by collecting information from the field and stories from projects

Research & Communications (10%)

• Liaise with the Greater Rift Valley Landscape Coordinator, AFR100 Community Coordinator and Product Specialist, TerraMatch to ensure that guidance materials for requests for proposals and project MRV are tailored to the local context and are well communicated
• Update the wider WRI and AFR100 teams about project portfolio progress (and challenges) specific to the Greater Rift Valley
• Conduct and contribute to high-level research into the pipeline of community organizations and enterprises in the Greater Rift Valley for dissemination to donors, government officials, and the public.

What you will need:

• Education: You have a completed bachelor’s degree in forestry, agriculture, business administration, or other related field
• Experience: You have 3+ years of experience, including in project management
• Demonstrated capacity to use online project management tools and platforms, such as Airtable and Monday.com, and to help new users learn new platforms
• Professional experience working directly with agriculture, forestry, or restoration projects or businesses in Kenya
• Languages: You will be proficient in written and spoken English and Swahili, with additional fluency in languages widespread in the Greater Rift Valley, e.g., Kikuyu, Kamba, Kalenji, Maasai, Turkana, Samburu, considered an asset
• Requirements: You must have an existing right to work within the Greater Rift Valley in Kenya.