Validation & Verification Coordinator

About Wildlife Works

Wildlife Works is a community-centered wildlife conservation company that implements market-based initiatives to protect the planet’s threatened wilderness and endangered wildlife. The company was founded on the premise that if we want wildlife in our world, it must work for local communities who share their environment. Wildlife Works’ conservation projects drive direct financing to forest communities to fund their own economic development while preventing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere annually.

Job Summary

Wildlife Works is seeking a candidate for the position of Validation & Verification Coordinator to organize validation and verification field activities for Wildlife Works’ Francophone Africa projects.

The candidate will work with global and regional teams to ensure efficient preparation, planning and execution of field-based assessments by Validation & Verification Bodies (VVBs) for the validation of new projects and annual verification of existing projects under leading carbon and non-carbon standards, including the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB). The role will also involve timeline management and data collecting in support of recurring project verifications. The candidate will ideally have some knowledge of carbon and non-carbon standards and accreditation processes. Familiarity with field auditing processes is desired, preferably with a knowledge of REDD+ carbon projects, forest conservation, biodiversity, and social monitoring.

The Validation & Verification Coordinator will report to the Validation & Verification Manager based in Burlington, Vermont USA. However, the position will be based in the Wildlife Works’ regional office in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Validation & Verification Coordinator will work day-to-day with Africa (Francophone) regional staff and project management teams. The candidate is expected to support accreditation processes in the field to ensure annual monitoring, reporting and validation & verification events are completed on schedule according to tight, but reasonable time constraints. The position requires a passionate individual with excellent project management and communication skills.

Responsibilities:

• Contribute to validation and verification processes, keeping team members informed of interim progress and helping to ensure results are delivered on time and within budget.
• Facilitate Validation and Verification Body (VVB) services and related assessment processes for Wildlife Works’ projects across Francophone Africa.
• Coordinate VVB site visits and travel to project locations when needed.
• Work with project and regional staff to ensure relevant monitoring metrics and results (MRV) are transferred to corporate management at high quality and on time.
• Support the ongoing accreditation process, including annual work plans, validation / verification timelines, budgets and deliverables, and scheduling training and quality checks.
• Support project-specific information and data dissemination for responding to VVB audit findings.
• Communicate professionally and comfortably to your colleagues across multiple applications, time zones and cultures / work styles.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in environmental science, forestry, geography or another relevant environmental field.
• Minimum two (2) years relevant work experience in natural climate solutions (NCS) project development, accreditation, MRV and technical documentation or carbon accounting for the voluntary carbon market, preferably with experience in Verra standards and methodologies.
• Familiarity with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), with emphasis on standards / framework compliance and reporting.
• Previous auditing experience with natural resource-based certification programs (e.g. Verra, FSC, PEFC, SAN, FairTrade) is preferred
• Previous accreditation experience with voluntary or compliance based GHG programs and standards is preferred
• Coordination experience with a demonstrated ability to manage processes to completion on time.
• Collaborative and team-oriented: frequent interaction with US corporate headquarters, African regional offices and local project staff.
• Must have adept communication skills: organized, thorough and detail oriented. Experience in collaboration with international teams is preferred.
• Written and spoken fluency in English and French is required. Written and/or spoken fluency in Lingala and proficiency in other local or regional dialects is preferred.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally.
• Willingness to work in remote project locations throughout Francophone Africa.
• Legal authorization to work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.