With the Central African rainforest disappearing at an alarming rate, the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) aims to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development. To this end, CAFI’s donors work together with its six Central African partner countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo) to recognize and preserve the value of the forests to mitigate the climate change and biodiversity crises and reduce poverty. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development.

Lack of government capacity has been identified as a key challenge in the implementation of all CAFI’s investment plans, which impedes progress and slows cooperation. This capacity deficiency has also manifested in CAFI’s recruitment processes, where Central African applicants have been either lacking or underqualified.

CAFI’s Fellowship modality is based on UNDP’s Fellowship policy. It will contribute to increasing national expertise and capacity in CAFI’s six partner countries in the areas of sustainable development and climate change mitigation. Investing in young talents in the region will increase familiarity with donors and partners and expose them to a professional environment according to international standards and expectations. The overall objective is to promote a new generation of professionals committed to forest protection and poverty alleviation, equipped with the necessary skillsets to tackle these challenges when possibly returning to work for their national governments.

The Fellow will obtain valuable first-hand experience of the day-to-day work of the CAFI Secretariat in matters of evaluation and follow-up of CAFI-funded programmes, as well as communication and coordination with donors and Executing Agencies to advance policy dialogues and programme development. 

The fellow will report primarily to the Management Specialist, and will matrix-report to the designated staff in charge of the thematic area where the Fellow will be located during his/her period within CAFI.

The duties and responsibilities above will be adjusted depending on areas of expertise, interests, and skillset.

• Interest and motivation in working in an international organization;
• Good analytical skills in gathering and consolidating data and research for practical implementation;
• Outgoing and initiative-taking person with a goal-oriented mind-set.
• Communicates effectively when working in teams and independently.
• Meticulous in organizing and structuring various tasks and responsibilities.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Responds positively to feedback and differing points of view;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

The candidates must hold the nationalities of one of the 6 CAFI Partner countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon or the Republic of Congo.

The candidates must submit (a) letter(s) of recommendation signed by a Government representative of their country of nationality, and/or a national or international academic/research institution based in their country of nationality.

Education:

• Masters’ degree in environment, sustainable development, forestry, rural development, climate change or related field

Professional experience

• At least one year of professional experience with their national governments, universities, research institutions etc. on topics related to CAFI’s mandate (sustainable development, forestry, agriculture, land-use planning, land tenure, energy, mining or demography)

IT skills:

• Knowledge and a proficient user of Microsoft Office productivity tools

Language skills:

• Fluency in French or Spanish is required
• Good knowledge of English (read and spoken) is an advantage.