Climate and Food Security Coordinator, LAR

The Climate and Food Security Coordinator liaises with technical and administrative staff across the Conservancy and with partners to develop proposals that are aligned with the programmatic goals of the Lands Program interventions in agricultural development and climate change adaptation in the Region.  This will contribute to our overarching goal of Transforming the region’s agriculture into environmentally resilient systems for long term sustainable growth. The Latin America Region seeks to achieve this goal by changing the production/consumption value chains of Latin America to incentivize the conservation of the region’s 940 million hectares of natural habitat, and through sustainable intensification on the region’s 740 million hectares of agricultural land. An understanding of the environmental aspects of farming and ranching for both smallholders and large holders, as well as related sustainable technologies is important for this position. Pre-existing knowledge of agricultural policies, programs and interventions by large entities in different countries in Latin America is key. 

Externally, the Coordinator will interact often with organizations and institutions that fund our projects in agricultural development. S/he will interact with governments, corporations and non-profits to promote our Program on Climate and Food Security. She supports the management of key partnerships with public and private entities in order to identify and resolve technical issues and to widely communicate progress on the Climate and Food Security Program.  S/he helps position, in coordination with the Lands team, the Conservancy’s Latin America Program as a major sustainable food partner within the space for conservation with development at scale.

Internally, s/he will be charged with frequent communication and consultation with field staff to ground-truth and acquire knowledge on status of the climate and food security projects, develop a specific, actionable business plan and subsequent annual program work plans. S/he communicates upward and outward those field successes that are relevant to the Lands Climate and Food Security Program. S/he will ensure all projects are delivered on-time within scope and budget. S/he will assist in the definition of program scope and objectives, involving all stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility. S/he will ensure funding availability and allocation for approved projects, as planned. S/he will develop a program monitoring and progress tracking process and report and escalate issues in a timely manner to management as needed. S/he will successfully support managing the relationship with major grant source organizations and create and maintain a comprehensive project documentation.

S/he will report to the Latin America Lands Manager.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE 

• Responsible for managing the Climate and Food Security Program.
• Coordination of medium-scale and complex work program involving every level of operating unit within the Latin America Region, from regional to conservation program and project office. 
• Overseeing 12+sub-grant agreements and partnerships involving organizations based predominantly in Central America, Brazil, Colombia and the US.
• Overseeing 7+ service contracts that will support the outcomes of the programs in implementation.
• Maintain a strong working relationship with current grantees, such as the Department of State technical and contracts staff and Conservancy managers with shared objectives across Latin America primarily and within the organization.
• Coordinating with 25+ financial, administrative and program staff from TNC involved in climate smart agricultural projects.
• Adaptively and preventively manage to budgets, track expenditure of projects and identify operational issues before they become major problems.
• Ensures that investments in climate smart agricultural projects are consistent with the Region’s strategic and operational guidelines.
• May visit conservation, ranching and agricultural field sites in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain, and under physically demanding circumstances approximately 4-6 times per year.
• Requires frequent travel domestically and internationally (approximately 30-50% per month).