Socio-economic and Gender Officer, RECOFTC Thailand

About the Company

RECOFTC is an international nonprofit organization working towards a future where resilient communities with respected rights thrive in forest landscapes that they manage sustainably and equitably. We take a long-term, landscape-based and inclusive approach in supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods and foster gender equality. We have almost 40 years of experience working with people and forests and have built trusting relationships with partners at all levels. As a trusted, honest broker, we occupy a distinct position as an international organization that supports, informs and brings together governments, communities, businesses, academia and civil society organizations. Our innovations, knowledge and initiatives enable countries to foster good forest governance, mitigate and adapt to climate change and achieve the UN Global Goals.

We operate in the Asia-Pacific region, with country offices in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Viet Nam.

In Thailand, RECOFTC works closely with government agencies, communities and partners to advance biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest landscape management, including through the Integrated Forest Landscape Management for Strengthening the North-eastern and Eastern Forest Corridors (IFLMS-NE&E) project. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) serving as the GEF implementing agency. RECOFTC holds overall executing and technical responsibility for the project as the operational partner, with FAO providing oversight and technical support, and the Royal Forest Department (RFD) serving as the lead government partner agency.

The project focuses on four forest complexes along Thailand's eastern border: Phu Phan, Phanom Dongrak–Pha Tam, Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai and the eastern forest, which together span 6.5 million hectares of globally significant wildlife habitat, home to species such as the Asian elephant, the Indo-Chinese tiger and the Great Hornbill. These landscapes are under growing threat from forest degradation, land-use change and habitat encroachment and fragmentation, which increasingly expose wildlife to human activity. The Government of Thailand has recognized that protecting these habitats requires a landscape approach, since the effectiveness of protected areas depends heavily on what happens in the surrounding lands and waters, shaped by the actions of communities, private landowners and government agencies.

The project’s primary goal is to strengthen biodiversity conservation across these four complexes by improving forest landscape management. This involves strengthening government policy, institutional arrangements and capacities for conservation within and between protected areas, mainstreaming biodiversity objectives into the management of forests, agricultural land and plantations, and reducing human-wildlife conflict. The project also contributes to broader national policies and laws on land degradation, gender equity, rural development and climate change.

Delivery of the project draws on a wide network of partners at the national, provincial and local levels, including government departments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and academic institutions. More than 30 stakeholder groups are engaged across the four target forest complexes, including provincial government departments, local authorities, local administrative organizations, forest plantation owners, community forest users, local communities and academic institutions.

RECOFTC is currently seeking a Socio-economic and Gender Officer for the IFLMS-NE&E project based at the RECOFTC Thailand Office in Bangkok. The selected candidate will be offered a 24-month contract with the possibility of extension, contingent on funding availability and satisfactory performance. Any offer of employment resulting from this vacancy is contingent upon confirmation of project funding.

Tasks and duties

The Socio-economic and Gender Officer will be a member of the Project Management Unit (PMU) within the RECOFTC Thailand Office, reporting directly to the Project Technical Adviser, and working closely with other staff across the RECOFTC Thailand Office and Main Office. The officer is responsible for the project’s socio-economic and gender equality and social inclusion work, contributing technical expertise to partner organizations and service providers on socio-economic and gender assessment and analysis, including support for community mobilization and institutional development across the four forest complexes.

Specific tasks and duties include:

Socio-economic and community mobilization

• Conduct socio-economic and gender analysis of the project context and stakeholders, and lead the implementation of related project activities, including socio-economic assessments, social impact assessments and analysis of socio-economic change
• Work with the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer to conduct baseline socio-economic and environmental surveys, and support ongoing socio-economic data collection and analysis to monitor trends and changes over the project's duration
• Lead the planning and implementation of environmental and social safeguards (ESS), including oversight of the environmental and social management plan (ESMP) and coordinate with project partners and stakeholders to raise awareness and understanding of ESS and ESMP
• Provide technical support to ensure socio-economic dimensions are incorporated into the project’s biodiversity conservation, including community mobilization and institutional development
• Work with the project team and partners to plan and implement community-based incentive mechanisms that support project outcomes

Gender and social inclusion

• Design and implement gender-sensitive and inclusive interventions