Program Overview

Human society and the global economy are inextricably linked to forests. More than 1 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. And forest ecosystems play a critical role in stabilizing the climate; providing food, water, wood products, and vital medicines; and supporting much of the world’s biodiversity. WRI Indonesia plans to enhance support to Indigenous People and Local Community (IPLC) in securing their community forests and adopting forest-friendly livelihoods to reduce and reverse deforestation using Social Forestry schemes in 5 forest rich provinces, namely Aceh, West Sumatera, Jambi, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan. WRI Indonesia is collaborating with 2 local partners that have been working directly with IPLC in those regions. As stated in the project theory of change, we will implement 4 workstreams: 1) supporting community forest mapping, registration, and recognition, 2) improving IPLC capacity in managing and protecting their forest and adopting forest-friendly livelihoods opportunities, 3) supporting women and youth groups of IPLC to strengthen their influence and access to natural resource management, and 4) facilitating key stakeholders to provide meaningful support to IPLC in securing and managing their forests.

In Aceh, this program will support several Social Forestry Communities in (at least) 3 Forest Management Units (FMU), namely FMU 1 Aceh, FMU II Aceh, and FMU III Aceh. The program will be focusing its support for the post-recognition process especially to improve IPLC capacity (including women and youth) in managing and protecting their forest and adopting forest-friendly livelihood opportunities as well as gaining meaningful support from various stakeholders. Prior to this program, WRI Indonesia has implemented similar initiatives in South Sumatra and another location to establish a role model, consisting of a recognition process of IPLCs/ community forests, as well as post-recognition e.g developing forest management plans and livelihood initiatives managed by IPLC group. WRI aims to enhance the model in the next phase while also scaling up the impact on other communities and locations.

To implemented program, WRI Indonesia works in collaboration with multi-stakeholders to accelerate social forestry implementation, including recognition of the Indigenous and Local Communities and their lands and forest resources. Once their land is tenure-secure, communities are more likely to be able to invest in their forest resources to sustainably manage their land. The shift towards commercializing forest products is a major transition, with local/Adat communities moving from subsistence harvesting to producing a product for the market, to managing the post-harvest processing and marketing of the product while also keeping the sustainability of their forest resources. The extent to which communities wish to move down the value chain of harvesting and processing products from their forests will vary depending on several factors, including their forest management plans and business plans as well as their interest in and capacity for managing different types of local enterprises. Therefore, WRI Indonesia is currently facilitating the development of small-medium scale community businesses through sustainable livelihood approaches.

Job Highlight

The Community Business Development Assistant will be responsibility to support the implementation of the community business development and livelihood component of the Regional Aceh program. This role includes assisting with project management and stakeholder engagement for The Enhancing Community Forest Tenure & Sustainable Livelihoods in Indonesia (NICFI – IPLC) project, particularly on issues of social forestry and customary forest.

Key responsibilities include analysis on community business development strategies, ,collaborating with the community development and livelihood team, conduct market research, developing marketing strategy development, and implementation of community-based businesses including engaging with marketing actors. The Assistant will also monitor and evaluate community business performance and provide support to ensure successful implementation of sustainable businesses, including engaging with business actors.

The Community Business Development Assistant will be based in Bener Meriah district, Aceh, particularly on prioritized sites or villages that may be assigned dan frequent field travel to other priority districts, as well as other places as may be assigned. He/she will report to the South Sumatra and Aceh Senior Program Lead. He/she will liaise closely with the regional team and other key personnel of the projects, as well as key stakeholders such as Provincial Forestry Office, Forest Management Unit and Communities partners implementing similar programs, as well as relevant government agencies, local authorities, and civil societies that will contribute to achieving intended targeted impact of WRI portfolios.

What You Will Do

Research and Development (25%)

• Conduct analysis on community business development and strategy for social forestry group through collaboration with community development and livelihood team.
• Identify program support opportunities for community business improvement (e.g business incubation, business matching, business collaboration, etc.)
• Conduct market research, develop marketing strategy development, and facilitate the implementation for community-based businesses including engage with marketing actors.
• Support, coordinate, and share knowledge with other WRI Indonesia relevant units.
• Working closely with RDI and communication team to ensure all research and communication component are implemented as required by the program.

Program Implementation (40%)

• Support, monitor and evaluate community business performance and valuation regularly.
• Improve social forestry groups capacity in developing sustainable business plan component (SBMC, Pricing, Market analysis, BEP, etc), evaluate business performance and valuation.
• Support content creation in online platform (website and social media) and other marketing documents developed for forest-based livelihood or another project implementation in Aceh as assigned.
• Provide technical support for pre-post and implementation of events in Aceh.
• Support WRI Regional Aceh team in preparation for the presentation, reporting, and writing of the forest-based livelihood project as needed.

Stakeholders Engagement (20%)

• Engage with communities, local government, private sector, and other stakeholders to gain meaningful support for community business development.
• Identify key stakeholders in village, sub-district and district level related to the community business branding and marketing, livelihood development and other initiatives.
• Engage key stakeholders to gain meaningful support and enabling environment in local level.

General Support (15%)

• Provide technical support for pre-post and implementation of events in Aceh.
• Contributing to cross-output implementation support in Aceh.
• Provide other support as requested by WRI Indonesia.

What You Will Need

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree preferably from Agribusiness, Economic, marketing, communications, public relations, forestry, biology, natural resources management, or other relevant studies.
• Minimum 2 years’ experience supporting communities’ business by conducting market research, develop branding and marketing strategy as well as business plan and implementation.
• Strong familiarity with social customary forest issue, and community-based livelihoods.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills with the ability to effectively engage with community, stakeholders, and business actors.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluating business performance and impact
• Highly creative in creating content, particularly able to do photo/ video editing, lay-outing through various apps/other design tools.
• Familiarity with web design and content management system (CMS).
• Familiarity with social media metric tools and their specific functions.
• Strong interpersonal skills, working with people from a variety of backgrounds.
• Must be self-motivated, detail-oriented and organized thinker with an ability to juggle multiple priorities, handle assignments independently, and work under tight deadlines.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive approach
• High integrity and passion for sustainable development.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Active in social media and showing adequate portfolios in creating and managing content for social media account and websites as provided in online link in his/her CV.
• Experience in developing various community commodities, design and packaging as well as marketing strategies.
• Have 2 years’ experiences developing SF based-community business development strategy.

Deliverables

1. Monthly reports
2. Potential commodities recommendations and report
3. Capacity building implementation report
4. Community business plan
5. Sustainable community business implementation report
6. Knowledge products

Duration

1 September 2024 – 31 December 2024 with the possibility of extension subject to individual performance review, program needs, and budget availability.

Terms of Payment

Daily rate-based consultant with a maximum of 72 (seventy-two) working days for the whole contract period or 18 working days per month in average.

Contract Arrangement

Individual consultancy contract (Part-time, limited term)

What we offer

• Consultant rate that is commensurate with experience and skills
• Travel insurance for both domestic and international for any travel duty as assigned by WRI Indonesia
• Access to the WRI global network
• A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work

Must have authorization to work in Indonesia to be eligible for this position.

Final candidates might be required to take a writing test and to produce two writing samples when needed.

How to apply: In order to be formally considered, please submit an updated resume and cover letter through WRI career portal.

Application close: 17.00 (DKI Jakarta local time), 31 August 2024.We will close the advert earlier when the best candidates are identified at earlier dates.

This is a locally engaged position; Indonesian nationals are encouraged to apply.

About Us

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence, Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices. We are committed to providing equal opportunities in employment, we embrace all diversity and encourage women, gender diverse communities, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply. Recognizing our strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

WRI Indonesia is national entity (Yayasan) associated with the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global environmental research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. WRI work with various stakeholders in the natural resources sector to support policy and management that are both profitable and sustainable. WRI work with leaders in more than 50 countries for more than 30 years, with offices in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and the United States.

Launched in early 2014, WRI Indonesia builds on WRI’s 10-year history in the country, and strengthens our impact on the ground. In the short-to-medium term, WRI Indonesia aims to expand its presence and portfolio to include projects in the climate, energy, as well as city and transportation programs.