Manager, MEL & Compliance

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.

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.

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.

Qualifications:

• 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.
• Managing the deployment of funds toward REDD+ activities, including Jurisdictional REDD+ and ‘nested’ REDD+ projects is an asset.
• 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; fluency in Spanish, Portuguese and/or French is a plus.
• Able to travel (~ 5% – 15%).

Additional Requirements: Applicants must have work authorization in the country where they are applying.

How to Apply: To apply, please submit your resume and a one-page cover letter detailing why you are a strong fit for the role. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submissions are encouraged. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If your application is unsuccessful, we will not retain your personal data.

Emergent provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, local or other applicable laws.

Studies have shown that men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them. If you think you have most of what we’re looking for and believe you’d be a great fit, we’d love to hear from you.