Manager, MEL and Compliance

Emergent Forest Finance Accelerator Inc • London, CA

21d • Hybrid

About The Position

Emergent is a global non-profit that mobilizes public and private finance to conserve and restore the world’s forests to combat the climate crisis. We act as a catalyst between forest governments and participants of the LEAF Coalition—a groundbreaking public-private partnership committed to halting tropical deforestation by 2030. By uniting private sector buyers, donor governments, forest governments, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), and civil society, LEAF aims to raise and deploy the finance needed to tackle deforestation by making tropical forests worth more alive than dead.

Emergent purchases high-integrity carbon credits from national and subnational jurisdictions generated through their REDD+ programs and verified under the ART TREES standard. These credits are sold to LEAF Coalition participants – donor governments and corporate buyers – who are committed to achieving ambitious climate and nature goals.

We have a historical opportunity to bend the climate curve – if we act now. If you are passionate about climate change and believe in preserving and protecting forests, please read on.

The Role
Emergent is looking for a Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) and Compliance to join our Fund Management and Reporting (FMR) team. Fund management is a transversal function at Emergent that supports delivery and payment of Emission Reduction (ER) credits while ensuring compliance with fiduciary, environmental, and social safeguards standards. Proceeds from the sale of ERs represent verified results in reducing deforestation and intend to support tropical forest countries to deepen their climate ambition, sustainable development initiatives, and forest protection policies. Funds are channeled through accredited financial intermediaries and distributed in accordance with jurisdictions’ priorities and benefit sharing arrangements.

The incoming Manager will support forest countries in the selection of Financial Intermediaries and support negotiation processes to ensure fiduciary requirements are met, and help oversee these partnerships.
The Manager will work closely with donors (including Norway, UK, US, and South Korea) and Corporate Partners to ensure compliance with fiduciary and accountability requirements. A key responsibility will be developing and implementing the overarching Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework and Monitoring, Evaluation, Adaptation and Learning (MEAL) Plan that will ensure the LEAF Coalition is continuously learning and adjusting approaches, to maximize the benefits for people and planet.

Our ideal candidate is fluent in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) methodologies and tools and is an organized and process-oriented professional with excellent desk research and analytical skills. This is a full-time role ideally based in London or Barcelona, starting as soon as possible. The incoming Manager will report to the Vice President, Funding Governance and Impact.

Requirements

• 3+ years’ professional experience in MEL and reporting in a development and/or climate finance context with a multilateral (World Bank, regional development banks, EU, UN agencies), development finance institution (IFC, EIB, Norfund), or bilateral development agency (Norad, FCDO, DESNZ USAID), or an international NGO.
• Experience monitoring and evaluating projects against a results framework (logframe) and familiarity with results planning and management principles and tools, including Results-based Management (RbM) and Theory of Change (ToC).
• Familiarity with ODA funds management principles (monitoring, reporting, and auditing modalities) and climate policy framework, incl UNFCCC, REDD+, Paris Agreement.
• Experience preparing, negotiating, and executing complex multi-party contracts, demonstrated experience deploying diplomacy, tact, and cultural sensitivity.
• Detail-oriented with strong analytical, technical writing (in English) and administrative skills.
• Skills to work across teams and effectively interact with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field (i.e. economics, international development, political science/economy, or environmental science).
• Professional fluency in English is required
• Able to travel (~ 5% – 15%).

Nice To Haves

• Managing the deployment of funds toward REDD+ activities, including Jurisdictional REDD+ and ‘nested’ REDD+ projects is an asset (e.g. through bilateral or multilateral programs such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, Green Climate Fund, and Global Environment Facility).
• fluency in Spanish, Portuguese and/or French is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate development and implementation of a MEL framework as a basis for reporting against the LEAF Results Framework, including developing guidelines, templates and processes for data capture, analysis, and dissemination.
• Serve as primary MEL point of contact, leading on quality data collection, analysis, and prepare reports and presentations to donors (including Norway, UK, US, and South Korea) and Corporate Partners drawing from the MEL framework and data.
• Support FMR team’s interaction with Forest Governments on selection of their Financial Intermediaries (FIs), which are contracted to act as conduits for flows of funds to jurisdictions to implement their investment frameworks and benefit sharing arrangements, and report on the use of funds to Emergent and LEAF stakeholders.
• Support engagement with Financial Intermediaries, including on-boarding of FI candidates to ensure robust, good practice fund management and accountability frameworks are in place.
• Support procurement of consulting services to conduct Institutional Capacity Assessments of candidate Financial Intermediaries, as necessary.
• Develop and manage the process for collecting programme performance data from forest government, to be presented as impactful achievements to LEAF’s stakeholders.
• Support Forest Governments in understanding key milestones related to seller journey and specific responsibilities related to FMR.
• Support Funding Agreement negotiations and ERPA negotiation deal teams, as appropriate.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager