Position summary:

At Rainforest Alliance, we are looking for an experienced, highly skilled and motivated Senior Associate Deforestation Risk Monitoring to join our team in Cameroon. This role will play a crucial role in providing technical support to agro-industries, cooperatives and small producers in the different landscapes committed to making their cocoa supply chains sustainable in key landscapes in the Congo Basin, building on the ongoing projects with UN-Environment and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Senior Associate Deforestation Risk Monitoring fosters a culture of deep collaboration amongst the Cameroon team, with colleagues from all relevant units across the region and globally and ensures excellence in all aspects of our mission delivery within Cameroon, including safeguarding the quality of our commitments to companies, donors and partners, and compliance with policies and procedures. This position carries out no supervisory responsibilities. As a world-class organization committed to sustainability and environmental conservation, Rainforest Alliance offers a unique opportunity for individuals who are passionate about making a difference.

Responsibilities:

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate;
• Contribute to the development of learning materials, case studies, and knowledge products to disseminate project findings and lessons learned;
• Organise and participate to field missions to analyze the gaps between private companies’ production practices in the cocoa sector and RA requirements, with a focus on monitoring the risk of deforestation linked to agricultural production;
• Organise training workshops in key landscapes to share sustainable production practices with producers supplying the RA partners;
• Participate to meetings with cocoa sector partners to share information on agricultural sustainability, RA standards and other sustainability scheme requirements;
• Produce training and meeting reports, and contribute to projects’ progress reports and presentation shared with UNEP and other RA partners as required;
• Facilitate stakeholder consultations, workshops, and meetings to ensure inclusive participation and buy-in for deforestation-free landscape initiatives;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of innovative approaches to forest conservation that enhance ecosystem services and support community livelihoods;
• Support capacity-building efforts for local communities, partners, and staff on sustainable forest management practices; and
• Collaborate with the Producer Support Manager, Quality of Implementation Manager and any other relevant departments’ team to propose, design and implement improvements to producers in their certification process and assurance system to avoid deforestation in projects supported landscapes.

Qualifications:

• Degree or equivalent experience in Forestry, Agriculture, Social Sciences, Natural Resources Management or related field;
• Minimum 3 years’ experience working in the cocoa sector with smallholder producers and/or producer groups and/or community-based organizations;
• Experience working with local communities, government agencies, and private sector partners in Cameroon or similar contexts;
• Good mastery of deforestation monitoring tools and familiar with the use of IT technologies and/or various farm management and landscape management applications. Ability to use GPS and GIS softwares;
• Knowledge of Rainforest Alliance Certification Programme mandatory;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships of trust and confidence with farmers, farmer organizations and local stakeholders, including ability to adapt appropriately to different cultures, and social contexts;
• Experience in managing donor-funded projects, including budget management and reporting is desirable;
• Excellent writing, editing and verbal communication skills, written and verbal proficiency in French and English is required;
• Ability to travel internationally, including in different cocoa origins;
• Ability and willingness to travel at least 30% of the time nationally and internationally; and
• Demonstrated commitment to the Rainforest Alliance mission and values.

Level: 4

Deadline: 25 November 2025

Salary: Commensurate with experience

Notes: Only candidates legally authorized to work in Cameroon will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.