Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing Senior Professional

Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing Senior Professional

Who are we?

Proforest is a mission-driven organisation that works throughout agricultural supply chains supporting the production and sourcing of agricultural and forest commodities that deliver positive environmental and social outcomes for People, Nature and Climate. These cover issues such asprotecting and restoring forests and natural ecosystems, respecting worker’s rights, advancing gender equality, and engaging with communities and indigenous people. Through our consultancy services, we help companies put their sustainability commitments into action both, within and beyond supply chains. We also facilitate pre-competitive collaboration with peer companies and other stakeholders such as governments, civil society and communities, and we support multi-stakeholder initiatives and landscape approaches that build common goals, address systemic issues and deliver positive outcomes at scale.

Proforest is looking for a passionate fulltime professional with expertise in human rights and responsible sourcing of agro-commodities to join our European team. In this role, you will work directly with many global food and consumer goods companies and brands to help them with the practical implementation of their human rights commitments. If you are passionate about taking on challenges at a global scale, want to have a positive impact and have experience and knowledge of international tools and approaches to support companies to respect human rights in their business and supply chains, we would like to hear from you.

What will you do?

The role sits in the Human Rights and Livelihoods (HR&L) technical team, and will mainly support the Responsible Sourcing Team, but also support on-going work including sector collaboration and taking action at landscape or jurisdictional level. This work supports the implementation of our clients’ responsible sourcing and production commitments, and the use of collaborative initiatives to deliver change at scale. The HR&L team retain a topic-specific focus on delivering positive outcomes for people, while serving as key delivery team members and leading on specific projects.  We work with companies including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mars, Unilever, Cargill on commodity supply chains including palm oil, sugar, soy, coconut, beef and cocoa. The collaborative initiatives with which we work include The Consumer Goods Forum Forest Positive Coalition, the Palm Oil Collaboration Group, ISEAL and commodity roundtables such as RSPO and Bonsucro. Our client projects aim to deliver positive outcomes for People, Nature and Climate by using and adapting Proforest’s ACRES approach.

As a senior professional in the HR&L team, you will:

Provide practical technical expertise and knowledge to a range of consulting and collaboration projects on how to implement human rights and livelihoods commitments in practice, and support companies to achieve positive impacts for people in their supply bases and supply chains. This will be achieved via working with colleagues to support companies in the meaningful implementation of human rights due diligence,  including  policy commitments, human rights risk assessments, and actions within and beyond supply chains to address issues such as forced labour, child labour, OHS risks, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) land rights issues. You will:

• Collaborate as a human rights resource person / focal point within projects, and with peers across projects to implement Proforest’s tools and guidance
• Support and deliver training and capacity building (internal and external) on key topics and practices in human rights and livelihoods and their application to responsible production and sourcing.
• Actively contribute to the development of Proforest’s approaches and tools, to knowledge management and internal communications tools on Proforest’s work related to addressing human rights and supporting decent livelihoods for smallholders.
• Represent Proforest in relevant international meetings and forums, ensuring close collaboration with Proforest colleagues to agree positions and share outcomes.

You will also take responsibility for the delivery of projects and/or workstreams for a number of Proforest clients, supported by a team of human rights and environmental experts. In this role, you will:

• Manage the day-to-day implementation and delivery of major client projects and/or workstreams with the aim to drive and deliver meaningful positive social and environmental outcomes for people and planet in clients’ supply chain and production bases;
• Be responsible for budget, planning and project administration, as well as monitoring of deliverables in line with project requirements;
• Coordinate and support the project team working across multiple Proforest offices to deliver projects effectively;
• Provide technical support on human rights topics, using Proforest tools, methodologies and best practices;
• Maintain a clear understanding of the current HREDD legislative context, stakeholder pressures and best-practices relating to the sustainable management and sourcing of agricultural and forestry commodities, including industry collaboration groups (e.g., CGF PFC, POCG, SCF…) 
• Build and manage strong peers’ relationships within client’s business to influence long term change.

The role will be either a project manager or a senior project manager depending of your experience and proven track record.

What is your profile?

We are looking for people who are self-motivated, have passion for what we do and are excited about helping deliver our mission. For this role you will:

• need confidence and strong interpersonal skills to help us achieve real change in a challenging environment. You will be able to work collaboratively as a team and be able to receive and give constructive feedback.
• have a relevant Masters’ level qualification and have knowledge and understanding of human rights issues in agricultural supply chains.
• have knowledge of and/or applied experience of the implementation of the UNGPs’ Human Rights Due Diligence framework as a tool for companies to deliver on their respect for human rights, including the concept of grievance mechanisms and the provision of remedy to rights holders.
• have a good knowledge of the relevant international frameworks, conventions, and guidelines; and voluntary standards / certification schemes designed to address human rights relevant to agricultural commodity production;
• have at least 3 years of relevant professional experience : in a similar consultancy role, sustainability initiative,  private sector, or delivery-focused NGO working in, or closely with, large corporate buyers and international agricultural commodity supply chains.
• can demonstrate strong project management skills (including excellent time-management, problem-solving and organisational abilities) and proven ability to deliver to tight timelines.
• be an excellent communicator, able to operate in a multi-cultural environment, have strong analytical skills and are able to drive innovation and change.
• have excellent written and spoken English with the ability to draft proposals, reports and presentations.
• be willing to travel for training, field work and meetings.

Highly desirable:

• Knowledge and experience of mandatory human rights due diligence legislation designed to ensure that companies  respect human rights
• Experience and skills at developing and delivering training – on-line and in person.
• Training and experience of gender equality mainstreaming, and/or building gender sensitivity into field work or programmes.
• Experience of living and working in least one of the regions where Proforest has a strong presence (Latin America, West Africa and Southeast Asia)
• Knowledge and/or experience of the production practices of at least one of the commodities Proforest works on (palm oil, cocoa, sugar, beef, soy, rubber).
• Fluency in another relevant language: French, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malay, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin.
• Experience of working within multi-stakeholder processes and/or facilitation of meetings and collaborative processes.

Why should you work for us?

• We all share the same vision and mission to support the transition to agriculture commodity production and sourcing that delivers positive outcomes for people, nature and climate;
• We trust our people and offer flexibility, including hybrid working, while also maintaining a strong sense of team cohesion;
• We are a global organisation, with offices in 8 countries and staff from more than 17 countries, speaking more than 40 languages;
• The work environment at Proforest is friendly and supportive  and is made of people determined to make a difference in company’s practice to achieve sustainable agricultural production. There are many opportunities to engage in social events with colleagues outside of work.

Key Terms:

• Location: Oxford, UK or Leiden, The Netherlands
• Salary: £30-45,000 depending on experience (€35-50,000)
• Starting date: As soon as possible
• Eligible to work in EU or UK

Please send your CV and cover letter to personnel@proforest.net  by 17^th February 2023.