PROJECT COORDINATOR, APPLICATION PACK

COOL EARTH

Cool Earth (CE) is an experimental organisation that works alongside communities to reduce and the impact of by putting local people back in control of their rainforest. We support communities by providing them with the resources they need to strengthen their livelihoods, enabling more sustainable choices to be made regarding forest protection as communities become self-funding. All our partnerships are community-owned and led. We believe that people, who have lived in the forest for generations, are the best custodians for sustainable forest conservation. For the past 10 years, CE have partnered with and supported communities at a grass- roots level, enabling people’s economic and personal empowerment.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA PARTNERSHIP

Three quarters of Papua New Guinea’s land area is covered in forest, an area rich in cultural and biological diversity. The Milne Bay Province situated in the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea (PNG) covers 15,000km2 and contains a recognised 150 endemic species (Mitchell, 2017). Cool Earth’s partner communities, Gadaisu and Wabumari, are located on the southern coast of Milne Bay Province (Fig. 1). Some of the major natural and anthropogenic pressures acting on the rainforest in this area include sea level rise, increasing intensity of natural disasters, and the fast-economic development of oil palm and logging companies.

Figure 1. Community project areas of Gadaisu and Wabumari, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea

Cool Earth is currently working alongside the people of Gadaisu and Wabumari to find a sustainable way to protect and conserve their surrounding land and forest through diversifying income streams, saving schemes and environmental education.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Cool Earth is seeking a highly organised and motivated Project Coordinator, acting as a point of contract between the local community and Cool Earth Programme Manager based in the UK. The successful candidate will have strong communication skills in reporting and budgeting and preferably previous experience working in community engagement or similar in a government or development organisation.

Please note that applications are sought only from individuals with legal entitlement to work in Papua New Guinea (proof of entitlement to work in PNG will be required).

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Start date Mid October 2017

Duration of contract This is a consultant position initially for a twelve-month period with the potential to extend dependent on performance

Probation period Three months

Salary K30,000 per annum (dependent on experience) based on a part time contract with the potential to increase to full time after three months

Location Alotau, Papua New Guinea

Hours of work This is a part-time position based on an average of 25 hours per week, although this may vary depending on the requirements of the job in the field when conducting community visits. The opportunity for this position to increase to full-time will be reviewed after the probation period

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title Project Coordinator

Reporting to Programme Manager, UK Sarah Cheetham

Essential Purpose of Role To act as the point of contact for Cool Earth’s community partnership in Gadaisu (and other neighbouring partnerships as appropriate), to coordinate project activities and engagement while regularly liaising with the Programme Manager in the UK. Working alongside the other Cool Earth Project Coordinator based in Alotau sharing knowledge and information.

Principal Responsibilities

Programme Coordination • Attend relevant community meetings and write minutes outlining the key points, challenges or decisions made to the UK Programme Manager. These are to be included in the monthly update forms sent to the Programme Manager once a month. • Coordinate and speak at community meetings making sure the members fully understand the Cool Earth approach and can raise any questions • Support and advise community members in money management, budgeting and accountability • Support the community committee in completing financial reports twice a year and send them to the UK Programme Manager • Support the community to complete project budgets and activity plans twice a year • Provide administrative and logistical support to external visitors visiting the partnership communities

Programme Development • Support the UK Programme Manager to identify and develop relationships with national and local government agencies, NGOs and academic institutions that would benefit the project in PNG • Identify and continually re-evaluate training needs of community members focussing on the committee and cooperative groups. Suggest relevant training or support needed to the Programme Manager • Support the UK Programme Manager to develop training resources for the community • Deliver or support in the training of community members. This may include: o Administration and basic financial management (e.g. running meetings, compiling records and meeting minutes, budgeting etc.) o Assisting cooperatives to develop basic business plans and linking to markets o Finding NGOs to help deliver environmental awareness raising and education workshops

Communication • Act as communication point between the UK Programme Manager, the community facilitator and any relevant stakeholders • Provide written reports on project progress and updates to the UK Programme manager each month • Liaise regularly with the Cool Earth Project Coordinator of Wabumari to share partnership updates, lessons learned and suggested improvements • Represent Cool Earth and the PNG programme, promoting its work to other communities, external specialists, local and national government representatives and other relevant stakeholders

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) • Support the UK Programme Manager in collecting survey data from community members • Oversee and manage research assistants doing survey work in the community

Essential Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Experience in community engagement • Excellent track record of regular reporting • Experience of overseeing projects and managing project logistics (e.g. support visits from the UK programme manager, technical consultant visits, regular trips to the villages) • Ability to communicate clearly (verbal and written) • Knowledge and understanding of community development and conservation • Ability to work as part of an international team • Experience in basic budgeting and accounting

Desirable Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Experience working in an NGO • Experience working with government and/or university partners • Spoken ability in Gadaisu local language (Sinaki) would be an advantage

Person Specification (essential qualities)

• Willingness to spend up to one week in the community each month • A strong commitment to Cool Earth’s aim and approach • Proactive and organised approach to own work tasks

HOW TO APPLY

To apply please send in your resume with the contact details of two referees and a covering letter explaining why you would be good for this role and why you want to work for Cool Earth. Then send the completed application to [email protected].

Please remember that to apply for this position you must have legal entitlement to work in Papua New Guinea (proof of entitlement to work in PNG will be required).

Please include the following in the subject line of your email: Project Coordinator, Papua New Guinea.

The closing date for applications will be Wednesday 4th October 2017.

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted on or before the 9th October 2017 and phone interviews will be held between the 10th-13th October 2017.

Regrettably, due to limited resources and high numbers of applications we are only able to contact short-listed candidates. If you do not hear from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been successful for this position.