Job Description

Job Title: Senior Project Officer

Palladium grade: Senior Associate

Location: Accra, Ghana

About Palladium

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 3,200 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

Programme context

The Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use Programme – Phase 2 (IFSLU2) is the flagship programme in the Nature Based Capital and Climate, Environment and Natural Resources practice area at Palladium. IFSLU2 is split into three components, this position is primarily focused on Components 1 and 2, with collaboration and coordination opportunities for working with Component 3. IFSLU2 is a grants and technical assistance facility that supports businesses and investment models in which the private sector, public sector and communities can achieve improved returns from forests and sustainable land use whilst protecting existing forest, restoring degraded land and improving agricultural land management and production practices. All this work is focused across the tropical forests belt.

IFSLU2 will run for 5 years from Q1 2025. Depending on performance and subject to funding, the programme may be extended for a further 5 years (up to 2035). The programme is funded by the UK government.

IFSLU2 also feeds into the strategy and programme design of other programmes undertaken by Palladium Nature Based Capital and Climate, Environment and Natural Resources practice areas – IFSLU2 is an important programme in this regard.

Purpose of the position

Partnerships for Forests is looking for a Senior Project Officer who will be responsible for developing and managing projects in the West Africa regional portfolio and supporting the region achieve its goals and targets. The Officer will provide high quality technical and commercial input across projects including opportunity assessment, business case development, project design, implementation oversight and performance monitoring. The role is an Associate position, reporting to the Regional Manager and working closely with other Project teams in the region.

Location

The role is offered full-time (40 hours), at 5 days per week, based out of our Accra office, and it is expected the person works from the office at least 3 days per week (pro rata if part time).

We have flexible working conditions, to enable our team to balance their work and home commitments.

Reporting and supervision

· The role reports to the Regional Manager, West Africa based in Accra, Ghana.

Primary responsibilities

Specific duties may include, but are not limited to:

1.Pipeline development and opportunity analysis

• Work with the Regional Manager to shape a strategic and balanced project pipeline and manage technical assistance accordingly.
• Assess new project opportunities through robust commercial and investment analysis to evaluate fit with programme criteria, commercial viability, technical viability, partner capacity and potential environmental and social risks.
• Develop financial and technical insights/factsheets to communicate key points on certain value chains and the pipeline opportunities.
• Accelerate the development of project Ideas for grants approval/ Technical Assistance approval.
• Work closely with Regional Manager to manage Technical Assistance resources and grant implementation that are directly related to the scope of business strategy and private investment mobilization (e.g. business plan, business scale-up strategy, market research/go-to- market strategy, financial modelling, company’s financial management, fundraising strategy and plan).

2.Proposal development

• Lead the development of clear,
  investor-ready business plans with project partners, including financial
  modelling and commercial strategy, in close coordination with Regional Manager.

• Support partners to develop
  credible business cases including capital mobilization and market access.

• Accountable for high quality of project
  proposals and related documents for approval by the programme’s committees;

• Provide advice and analysis into
  structuring partnerships, risks, and expected impact outcomes.

3.Project implementation management

• Ensure effective management of projects under implementation and ensure timely reporting and monitoring to achieve project outcomes and impacts;
  
• Conduct regular monitoring visits to project sites for successful implementation of activities;
• Deliver ongoing problem-solving support to approved projects as they progress toward scale and investment readiness.
• Share lessons and impact stories around projects under implementation;
• Contribute to regional strategic planning and reporting to inform decision-making and align with FCDO and programme targets.
• Maintain effective relationships with project partners, investors and government stakeholders to support successful project delivery and achievement of program results.
• Any other duties as reasonable requested by the Regional Manager or Regional Director.

The role may include national and international travel, sometimes at short notice.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate has the following skills and attitudes:

Essential:

• Demonstrable experience in projects/programme development or management;
• Strong experience and knowledge on developing business case, business strategy, financial modelling, and fundraising for companies (for-profit business/organisations);
• Relevant experience in sustainability or markets/supply chains for agricultural or forest commodities associated with deforestation, such as palm oil, soya, timber products etc
• Proven track record in working on projects or programmes involving local and regional stakeholder engagements and PPPs
• Experience in working with a broad range of stakeholders; facilitating and mainstreaming complex processes amongst civil society, private sector and governments.
• Demonstrated experience in outreach, networking and partnership building across a range of stakeholders, particularly in regard to the development of new innovative initiatives involving the private sector.
• People skills, with the ability to work effectively with multi-disciplinary team members and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Ability to work flexibly, and to tight deadlines, maintaining consistently high standards and attention to detail.
• Solid experience in delivering high-quality results against tight deadlines;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English;
• Advanced Microsoft Office user (in particular PowerPoint and Excel)

Desirable

• Experience with FCDO-funded or other large international development programmes.
• Experience working in agricultural or forest commodities associated with deforestation, such as palm oil, soya, timber products etc. would be an asset;
• Fluency in French.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made during the recruitment process (due to disability, neurodiversity, or for any other circumstance), please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.