Forestry Technical Lead job at CESVI

About CESVI

CESVI is an international humanitarian organisation founded in Italy in 1985. CESVI operates in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, working in emergency and development contexts to support vulnerable populations and promote sustainable development, environmental protection and resilience.

CESVI has been operational in Uganda since 2001, implementing programmes in livelihoods, food security, nutrition and community resilience in both development and refugee response.

Project Background

The COMMON ROOTS project is under the AICS (Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development) ReForest Project implemented with resources from the European Union. The project aims to increase and conserve the national forest cover and promote the environmental sustainability and economic growth of the targeted areas. The project is implemented in 16 districts of the Eastern region through a consortium approach.

Job Purpose

The Forestry Technical Lead will provide overall technical leadership and oversight for all restoration and forestry-related activities implemented under the consortium. The position will ensure high technical standards, methodological coherence, and uniform implementation approaches across partners, in line with national forestry regulations and donor requirements.

Technical Leadership and Quality Assurance

• Provide technical guidance for the design and implementation of Collaborative Forest Management (CFM), community stewardship schemes and Natural Forestry Regeneration (NFR).
• Lead the technical planning and execution of restoration activities in degraded and erosion prone areas.
• Develop and standardise technical guidelines, methodologies and tools to ensure consistency across consortium partners.
• Ensure compliance with national forestry regulations, environmental standards and donor requirements.
• Conduct regular technical field monitoring visits to assess quality and adherence to restoration protocols.
• Identify technical risks and propose mitigation measures.

Consortium Coordination and Capacity Building

• Provide technical support and mentoring to partner organisations implementing forestry activities.
• Facilitate technical coordination meetings among consortium forestry focal points and participate in the Project Advisory Committee (PAC).
• Ensure harmonised data collection and reporting on forestry-related indicators in collaboration with the MEAL team.
• Contribute to technical sections of donor reports.
• Build the technical capacity of project staff and community structures on restoration best practices.

Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Development

• Liaise with relevant government forestry institutions and district authorities to ensure alignment with national policies and standards.
• Support the establishment and strengthening of community forest governance structures.
• Promote knowledge sharing, documentation of lessons learned and best practices.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen and scale up restoration approaches within the project area.

Essential requirements:

• University degree in Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Sciences or related field.
• A Master’s degree is an asset.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in forestry, forest landscape restoration or community-based natural resource management.
• Demonstrated experience in CFM and NFR or similar participatory forestry approaches.
• Proven experience supervising or providing technical oversight to multi-stakeholder or multi partner projects.
• Experience working with district authorities and national forestry institutions in Uganda.
• Experience in donor-funded projects (EU-funded projects considered an asset).
• Experience in developing technical guidelines and standard operating procedures.
• Ability to monitor forestry indicators and contribute to technical reporting.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent coordination and facilitation skills.
• Strong communication and report-writing abilities in English.
• High level of integrity and adherence to safeguarding standards.

Safeguarding

CESVI has a zero-tolerance approach towards sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and all forms of misconduct. The selected candidate will be required to adhere to CESVI’s Code of Conduct and Safeguarding policies.

• Provide technical guidance for the design and implementation of Collaborative Forest Management (CFM), community stewardship schemes and Natural Forestry Regeneration (NFR).
• Lead the technical planning and execution of restoration activities in degraded and erosion prone areas.
• Develop and standardise technical guidelines, methodologies and tools to ensure consistency across consortium partners.
• Ensure compliance with national forestry regulations, environmental standards and donor requirements.
• Conduct regular technical field monitoring visits to assess quality and adherence to restoration protocols.
• Identify technical risks and propose mitigation measures.
• Provide technical support and mentoring to partner organisations implementing forestry activities.
• Facilitate technical coordination meetings among consortium forestry focal points and participate in the Project Advisory Committee (PAC).
• Ensure harmonised data collection and reporting on forestry-related indicators in collaboration with the MEAL team.
• Contribute to technical sections of donor reports.
• Build the technical capacity of project staff and community structures on restoration best practices.
• Liaise with relevant government forestry institutions and district authorities to ensure alignment with national policies and standards.
• Support the establishment and strengthening of community forest governance structures.
• Promote knowledge sharing, documentation of lessons learned and best practices.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen and scale up restoration approaches within the project area.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent coordination and facilitation skills.
• Strong communication and report-writing abilities in English.
• High level of integrity and adherence to safeguarding standards.

• University degree in Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Sciences or related field.
• A Master’s degree is an asset.
• Demonstrated experience in CFM and NFR or similar participatory forestry approaches.
• Proven experience supervising or providing technical oversight to multi-stakeholder or multi partner projects.
• Experience working with district authorities and national forestry institutions in Uganda.
• Experience in donor-funded projects (EU-funded projects considered an asset).
• Experience in developing technical guidelines and standard operating procedures.
• Ability to monitor forestry indicators and contribute to technical reporting.