This position will be based in Cap-Haitien on the USAID Reforestation Project, implemented by Chemonics International and consortium partners, National Cooperative Business Association
CLUSA (NCBA CLUSA) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The community organization specialist will be embedded within the project team, and will report to the Project Forestry and Rural Development Specialist. This project aims to increase forest and perennial tree cover in Northern Haiti, with a view to restore and improve the provision of environmental services and support food security and resilience. The four objectives of the project are:
1. Reduce the Threat of Deforestation
2. Improve Resilience to Economic and Natural Shocks
3. Increase Tree Cover in Targeted Areas
4. Improve Environmental Governance and Coordination
The Community Organization Specialist will lead implementation of NCBA CLUSA’s Working Together (Travay Ansanm) methodology and Chemonic’s Community Options Analysis and Investment Toolkit (COAIT). This participatory process empowers communities to develop, from
analysis through implementation and adaptive learning, subwatershed management plans
grounded in an understanding of actual drivers of deforestation and incentives to reduce threats and increase tree cover.
Fonctions
o Facilitate community participation through a local Haitian adaptation of NCBA CLUSA’s Working Together (Travay Ansanm) methodology and Chemonic’s Community Options Analysis and Investment Toolkit (COAIT) to build community participation in a range of local planning and services delivery programs;
o Work to build consensus, define priorities, and cooperatively plan activities among various commune stakeholders to achieve the purposes of this project (reforestation, community resilience, improved environmental governance);
o Lead workshop in each commune that brings together a core group of people representing local government, private sector entities, traditional authorities, CSOs, and citizens to create a vision around watershed management and resilience, and to commence the participatory processes;
o Bolster governance and coordination around watershed management plans and actions, improves management of land, natural resources, and disaster risk, and mitigates conflict;
o Facilitate training in each resilience factor and facilitate transparent and inclusive methods of engaging local populations to better plan, manage, and coordinate activities in NRM, Conflict Mitigation, Climate Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and Food Security;
o Establish Citizen Working Groups (CWG) or work with existing structures made up of disaster risk management (DRM), natural resource management (NRM), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, women, and youth groups, water-user associations, producer organizations, and others that advocate for constituents’ needs and interests;
o Work with community structures to develop and monitor subwatershed management plans;
o Train and assist subwatershed management committees to use plans to improve natural resources management, increase environmental services, and facilitate PPPs;
o Empower women/youth to take on leadership roles in farmers associations and subwatershed management committees
o Develop and implement targeted leadership training programs for women and youth;
o Contribute to the collection of data and information for the monitoring and evaluation of project activities
o Strengthen Local government’s understanding of key resilience factors and them effectively implement, monitor, and learn from experiences (crises).
Qualifications Requises
o Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, Master’s preferred
o 5 years of experience in facilitating community participation relating to NRM, Conflict Mitigation, Climate Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and/or Food Security;
o Experience working with communities, including women, youth and vulnerable populations, to identify priorities and plan activities accordingly
o Experience conducting workshops and trainings to the private and public sector
o Fluency in English, French and Haitian Creole