Program Relations & Policy Manager

Location: Bangkok

This position can be based anywhere in Southeast Asia but ideally Bangkok.

Are you passionate about creating impact and improving the livelihoods of communities while benefiting the environment?

We are working with a social enterprise, with 18 years' experience in project development of community-powered carbon programs in areas of sustainable agriculture, social forestry, mangrove restoration, clean cooking, rural energy access, and waste management. They are searching for a Program Relations & Policy Manager to be based in Southeast Asia, ideally Bangkok.

These programs are focused on people collectives who are at the forefront of the climate crisis and are aimed at enabling livelihoods and adaptation at scale. Their work encompasses over 7+ million rural households and approximately 3-5 million hectares of agricultural land & forest areas across 15+ countries in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Key Responsibilities:

• Apply country-specific knowledge on climate policy, existing or upcoming frameworks for carbon markets, international bilateral agreements, NDC commitments to the UN etc, to strengthen the project portfolio and approach to the region

• Develop strategies based on SEA countries’ readiness to enter the carbon markets (compliance or voluntary) and organise and attend meetings with relevant departments within the government to ensure the necessary legal documents can be obtained (e.g. Letter of approval) as per the internal formal project onboarding process

• Analyse the potential of specific climate-based technologies and develop implementation strategies with partners on how best to execute them

• Liaise with international carbon standards to explore the applicability of existing methodologies in specific countries in line with their national frameworks and whether a domestic standard has been proposed

• Building trusted relationships with on ground project implementor and streamlining their processes to align with internal project development protocols

• Act as a main point of contact / liaison between internal legal teams and project partners to ensure adherence to legal due diligence processes including but not limited to KYC, ESG, Partner Onboarding and evaluation of internal policies

• Gap analysis & risk profiling of the country, project & project partner specific to the technology potentially being employed

• Act as a main point of contact / liaison between internal commercial teams, external investor and project implementation partners to ensure project budgets and financials fit the scope and to ensure timely deliverables of project reports, updates and progress

• Constant and consistent follow-ups with on ground implementors and respective team members to ensure alignment with internal and investor timelines

• Travel to specific countries for the purpose of policy development and field visits
  

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The Program Relations team acts as the liaison between business and operational verticals within the organisation, the on-ground project service delivery partners, technical teams and investors and clients. It is a crucial team in the organisation, responsible for being the one point of contact for projects being developed as well as ongoing projects - for external stakeholders as well as teams within the organisation.

Key Requirements:

• Dedicated work experience in a relevant, client-facing or reporting role

• Experience in working with teams and on-ground partners from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds

• Knowledge of regional languages would be highly advantageous

• Ability to travel to remote locations

• Strong experience in the sustainability and international development sector

• Leadership capabilities

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Self-motivated and result oriented

• Ability to multitask and organise