European Forest Institute
About the European Forest Institute
The European Forest Institute (EFI) is an international organisation with 30 member countries and around 130 member organisations. EFI’s headquarters are in Joensuu, Finland. EFI has several offices across Europe, including in Barcelona, Spain and under its International Partnerships Facility a project office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The International Partnerships Facility (IPF) of EFI is a global centre of knowledge and expertise that supports policy and governance reforms to safeguard the world’s forests. It promotes sustainable forest and land use to help protect and restore forests and maximise their role in green economic growth, climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation. It also fosters legal, deforestation-free and sustainable commodity production and trade.
Following two decades of IPF’s experience in partnering with tropical forest countries to enhance forest governance and sustainable land use, EFI has witnessed a strong demand from stakeholders in tropical forest countries for impartial advice in this field and opportunities to learn from each other, see what works in practice, as well as build partnerships between experts to accelerate progress in this field. In response to this demand, EFI will establish an International Forest Governance Hub (hereafter referred to as the Hub). The Hub will serve tropical forest country stakeholders delivering on-demand impartial advice, providing a space for North-South exchange as well as South-South learning and exchange. It will also provide the space for multi-country led initiatives on tropical forest land use governance. The start-up of this initiative is being financed through a grant from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Forest Governance Markets and Climate Programme with a view to expanding and attracting other donors and interested parties to join.
The entity will be located at EFI’s new UK office, scheduled to open by the end of 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland (hosted by Forest Research at their premises). From that base, it is expected to develop a strong network across all tropical forest regions.
The objectives of the Hub are to:
- Provide independent and tailored guidance from and to tropical forest countries on forest governance.
- Consolidate and curate knowledge and understanding of forest governance to inform international and national processes.
- Create a cross-country space for dialogue and lessons learning and promote South-South cooperation and learning.
- Foster international initiatives and policy processes to serve the interests of developing countries’ ambition for sustainable development and sustaining their forests, grounded in strong forest governance principles.
- Build understanding amongst donors and investors on the importance of investing in forest governance foundations and having the tools to do so.
The Role
EFI is assembling a leadership team to establish the International Forest Governance Hub and is currently seeking two Leaders to guide the Hub’s development and establish and oversee its governance and operations.
The Leaders will be accountable for delivering the Hub goals and objectives, managing a team of interdisciplinary experts. They will shape the Hub’s development strategy, its institutional structure, recruit a small core team and build a wide network of expertise capable of delivering the Hub’s objectives. They will work in close cooperation with the Head of International Partnerships Facility, the Hub Advisory Group (formed by EFI, FCDO, FGMC Programme Management Strategy and Support Team (PMSST)) and future governance structures of the Hub, once in place.
Person Specification
The successful candidates will have experience of engaging at a high level of government in tropical forest countries and be able to maintain respect at this level. They will have experience working in partnership to solve forest governance challenges and seek opportunities. To deliver in this role, you will need to be a self-starter with the ability to work with colleagues at EFI to conceptualise, build, staff, and develop the Hub.
The preferred candidates will be well networked and preferably come from an established forestry background, although experience working on sustainability at the interface of forestry will be considered. The individuals will need to have experience of engagement, complex programming and implementing projects in tropical forest countries and be able to navigate the challenges inherent in the subject of forest governance to achieve success. EFI are particularly interested in candidates with a strong network and understanding of the African context of forest and land-use governance and those who can demonstrate a track record in resource mobilisation.
This is a role suitable for individuals who are comfortable operating in small to medium environments where leaders are expected to roll their sleeves up and get involved with operations. The role requires energy, passion and commitment to the Hub’s objectives and those of EFI more broadly. The leaders will need to have combined experience that covers the following areas:
Role Specific Criteria
- Extensive experience (at least 10 years) working on multi-disciplinary initiatives in tropical countries.
- Extensive Experience working within an operational environment including management of finance, IT, institutional governance and HR experience.
- Experience in designing and implementing entity-level operations. Including designing organisational governance structures, human resources and business operations support.
- Significant international experience in leading forest and land-use governance processes and teams working across multiple geographies within a well-established network.
- Experience in institution building and supporting the development of new and innovative initiatives.
- Master’s or higher university degree in relevant discipline, or relevant experience.
- Demonstrated capacity to manage complex projects/programme in a results-oriented and flexible manner.
- Proven track record of resource mobilisation.
Personal Qualities
- Excellent interpersonal communications and relationship management capability
- Experience and willingness to engage and work at Director / Ministerial level and with the media.
- A level of emotional intelligence, collaborative nature and facilitator type leadership that would foster the ability to work in a co-leadership model.
- Capability to create an inspiring teamwork environment.
- Professional proficiency in English is required. French language proficiency would be advantageous.
- Experience in working in multilateral and regional institutional contexts is highly desirable.
NB: It is acknowledged that the experience above is not commonly found in a single candidate, hence why EFI is seeking a Leadership team working arrangement. It is important to stress that candidates do not need to fulfil the entire criteria to be considered, rather they should aim to meet at least 50% of the role specific criteria and 100% of the general criteria.
Job Features
| Job Category | Environment, James |
| Location | The entity will be based in Edinburgh (UK). Flexible working arrangements can be considered and discussed as part of the recruitment process. |
| Salary | Competitive |
| Contract Type | The position is offered on a fixed-term basis for four years, with the possibility of extension based on performance. |
| Closing Date | 19th October |
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Job Features
| Job Category | Environment, James |
| Location | The entity will be based in Edinburgh (UK). Flexible working arrangements can be considered and discussed as part of the recruitment process. |
| Salary | Competitive |
| Contract Type | The position is offered on a fixed-term basis for four years, with the possibility of extension based on performance. |
| Closing Date | 19th October |
