Global Carbon Coordinator

Job Description

ABOUT SELF HELP AFRICA:

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an international NGO dedicated to the vision of an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa. Headquartered in Ireland, SHA creates scalable and sustainable solutions to eradicating long-term poverty through knowledge transfer, investment, and market linkages.

In 2021, Self Help Africa merged with United Purpose. This doubled our size and created an international NGO that is implementing projects to end extreme hunger and poverty across 17 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Collectively a part of the wider Gorta Group, which also includes social enterprise subsidiaries Partner Africa, TruTrade and Cumo Microfinance, the organisation will work with close to six million people this year.

JOB PURPOSE:

To deliver on our mission and provide the best service and support to the communities whom we serve, we have in place the highest standards of compliance, accounting, safeguarding and delivery systems across our organisation.
Self Help Africa works to help protect smallholder farmers in rural Africa to help fight against the worst effects of climate change.

We are committed to supporting communities to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change by sustainably managing landscapes and their means of production to improve livelihoods and protect natural resources.

From tree planting to cook stoves to the provision of wells and boreholes, carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are key benefits of our work. The role of Carbon Coordinator is key to ensuring we are maximising opportunities for generating carbon credits from, and availing of climate finance towards, our development projects.

This role is central to the achievement of SHA’s goal of attracting climate finance and is part of the Business Dvelopment team, working closely with the Programmes Department. The job holder will lead the global carbon co-ordination working group bringing together the Technical Advisors across our specialist team who are responsible for climate smart agriculture, natural resource management, energy and WASH. The jobholder will be responsible for maintaining an overview of carbon credit supply and offset sales progress and develop the capacities needed to sustain and scale carbon credit generation.

The Carbon Coordinator will work closely with the Director of Business Development and the Global Team of Advisors particularly with those covering Agriculture, Enterprise, Dairy Systems, WASH, Forestry and Natural Resource Management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

In particular, in this role you will work to grow Self Help Africa’s organisational understanding of the requirements of, and potential for, certified carbon credit generation from our international development work.
You will support and collaborate with the Technical Advisors, to advise the country teams on the requirements of certified carbon crediting and support the strengthening of internal capacity to deliver the steps required to ensure compliance with the requirements of carbon partners and the accrediting bodies.
More broadly you will drive the growth of carbon & climate finance activities across the SHA/UP to maximise options for monetising emissions reductions. This will include leading the planning, development and reporting of a business case that ensures maximum benefits accrue to communities and national governments while generating a sustainable financial contribution to the organisation. You will:

• Diversify SHA/UP’s carbon portfolio in terms of countries, partners, funding & investment, carbon sources and certification standards. This will include other forms of climate finance such as Payment for Ecosystem Services and the emerging funds being made available for climate adaptation & mitigation in developing countries.
• Maximise opportunities to generate carbon credits from, and avail of climate finance towards for our development projects with Country Programmes and thematic advisors.
• Develop financial projections and evaluate the viability of different initiatives from a donor funded and private pre-funding/sales of credits
• Keep a global watch on carbon market dynamics, prices, upcoming trends, risks and opportunities

• Advise on commercial aspects of partnerships and contracts with carbon partners (and supporting the scoping of potential additional partners).
• Support the country teams and Technical Advisors on understanding national policies that will influence or impact on our ability to sell carbon credits on behalf of communities.
• Provide support to country teams in understanding wider compliance measures and standards (e.g. climate finance / carbon project expectations of governments)
• Develop appropriate marketing strategies for carbon credits and securing investment in new projects.
• Act as the focal point for organisational knowledge management around carbon & climate finance.
• Consolidate technical resources and information on carbon across SHA/UP
• Manage the database of all carbon credits (covering the supply-side forecasting as well as sales) and other payments for ecosystem services generated by the organisation for easy marketing and trade.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS:

Internal

• Country Directors and relevant Programme and Project Managers
• Technical Advisers and Research team
• Programme funding and Business Development teams
• Group CEO

External

• External specialist partners, including technical carbon project developers, offset retailers, direct credit offtake clients, carbon certifiers and registries, and impact investors.

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Essential

• Knowledge of carbon finance and markets.
• Knowledge of climate change legislation and environmental policy.
• Demonstrable interest in sustainability, net zero carbon and climate change.
• A commercial outlook / mindset – ideally private sector experience
• Excellent skills in report writing and proposal development.
• Strong research, evaluation and analytical skills.
• Excellent written English essential
• Flexibility and the ability to work in a multi-cultural team
• Self-motivated with good organisation, planning and management skills and a track record in working remotely.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and experience in providing remote support.
• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Self Help Africa

Desirable

• Knowledge of / interest in SHA/UP’s relevant programming sectors (in particular, climate-smart agriculture, sustainable landscapes, green energy, water and waste management)
• International Experience in Africa and Asia.
• French or Portuguese

HOW TO APPLY:

Full Job Description here.

Please upload a completed Application Form, CV and cover letter outlining your suitability for the role here

Please note incomplete applications will not be considered for shortlisting.

Closing date is Friday 17th June 2022 at 5pm

Self Help Africa strives to be an Equal Opportunities Employer

All candidates offered a job with Self Help Africa will be expected to sign Self Help Africa’s Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.  Specific roles may require Police/DBS/ vetting.