SWITCH GARMENT PROJECT MANAGER/CAMBODIA COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE (M/F) at Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités

Context

Created in 1976, Geres is an international development NGO which works to improve living conditions and fight against climate change and its impacts. As a field player, the energy transition is a major lever for its action. For ambitious societal change, Geres encourages the development and dissemination of innovative and local solutions, it supports climate-energy regional policies and it mobilizes all the players around Climate Solidarity by encouraging them to act and support the most vulnerable.

In Southeast Asia, Geres has 25 years of experience in providing locally adapted, affordable and transferable energy solutions, with a focus on wood and biomass energy, to improve the resilience and the livelihoods of rural communities, empower local stakeholders and contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources.

Geres is currently working in Cambodia and Myanmar with ambition to pursue portfolio development in those 2 countries but also to start operational activities in other countries in the region.

Geres is currently implementing 2 main actions in Cambodia. The first one aims to develop a sustainable charcoal value chain. The other one, SWITCH Garment aims at promoting energy efficiency practices and investment in the garment industry.

The SWITCH Garment began in May 2020 and will last until May 2024. 30 factories have already been signed up to the project. The project is led by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), in partnership with Geres and the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC). It is financed by the European Union, for a total budget of 2.5 M EUR, with a share of about 1M EUR for Geres. Geres has technical role in the project, being involved mainly in:

• Supporting energy audits;
• Providing technical recommendations for energy efficiency improvements;
• Training staff tasked with energy management in garment factories;
• Monitoring implemented improvements made by the factories;

In order to demonstrate the potential benefits of adopting more sustainable energy practices, through showcasing replicable examples. Geres will also be tasked to collect, analyze and disseminate lessons learned of the project, among garment industry stakeholders in Cambodia and abroad.

Mission

Under the supervision and authority of Geres Executive Director, the SWITCH Garment project manager/ will be in charge of defining relevant project objectives and ensuring their achievement, through proper project cycle management, efficient financial management, development of sound partnerships and identification of new project outlooks.

Furthermore, the project manager will also act as country representative of Geres in Cambodia. In this capacity, he/she will work under the supervision and authority of the Executive Director . His/her mission will be to streamline the regional strategy and supervise its implementation at the country level, in collaboration with the Cambodia-based teams and interacting with the regional management.

He/she works in strict coordination with Financial Controller based in the HQ

He/she manages and supervises the local country team.

ACTIVITIES

As SWITCH Garment Project Manager

1. Project Cycle Management:

· Plan, coordinate and monitor activities related to the project team and partners

· Coordinate the monitoring and evaluation process, in particular by developing methodologies and project monitoring & evaluation tools to measure the results and impacts of the project

· Tackle implementation constraints and putting in place the necessary corrective measures in consultation with stakeholders (including partners and beneficiaries)

· Organize and supervise the use of external service providers, internal support missions and other suppliers

· Collect information from teams and draft internal and external reporting documents

· Organize the archiving, sharing and project knowledge management system

· Ensure ownership and capacity building of the project team across the entire project cycle management

2. Project partnerships management:

· Lead the definition of project partnerships in collaboration with the project team

· Facilitate project partnerships dynamics and smooth relationship (GGGI, GMAC, and local authorities as necessary)

· Ensure commitments of Geres towards its partners are dully filled and reciprocally, that project partners abide by their respective commitments towards Geres

· Prevent and, if need be, solve issues and disputes with partners

· Facilitate the identification and the implementation of new partnerships if needed for project implementation

3. Supervise the administrative, logistical and financial management of the project:

· Develop and / or guarantee a framework of operations and responsibilities between the stakeholders in accordance with the rules of the financial partners

· Supervise financial expenditures and accounting flows in collaboration with the Administrative and Financial Officer

· Communicate to teams and ensure compliance with logistical, administrative and financial procedures

· Actively contribute in co-funding research efforts

· Report to the SAF in timely manner

4. Manage and animate the project and team at country level

· Plan and prioritize team activity

· Steer SWITCH Garment team towards the objectives of the project

· Ensure the hierarchical management (recruitment, training, working time, evaluation …)

· Develop skills and support the evolution of team members

· Ensure the well-being of the team and the working conditions

5. Ensure communication and representation for the project

· Ensure communication and external representation at the project level with SWITCH Garment project partners, beneficiaries, with local authorities involved in the project and donors in accordance with GGGI.

· Contribute to Geres global communication by providing project news and contents to HQ communication colleagues

· Ensure the visibility of the activities implemented in accordance with the communication rules of the financial partners and consistent with the recommendations of the headquarters communication department

6. Contribute to the development of project activities

· Monitor the evolution of the project environment

· In connection with the country strategy, identify needs and opportunities for the uptake of project activities and related ones

· Write notes of intent and project proposals to ensure action continuity and scale-up.

· Feed the reflections on the country strategy

· Develop capitalization / feedback on experience and feed exchanges between different projects

As Cambodia Country Representative

7. Oversee implementation of the other Geres Cambodia projects

· Supervise project managers**

· Validate programming of activities**

· Regularly review and, if necessary, adjust projects planning and implementation**

· Ensure smooth relationship between Geres teams and partners**

8. Support the design and the implementation of the Country Strategy in line with Geres Southeast Asia (GSA) regional strategy

· Lead the country team in the identification of the strategic work-streams and roadmap drafting in lines with the country context and development priorities

· Participate in the validation and formalisation process of the country strategy with the Geres expertise Unit Director and Geres executive Director .Mainstream the country strategy across key partners and country team

· Lead the evaluation, update and rescope of the strategy with the country team and in close coordination with the the Geres expertise Unit Director and Geres executive Director.

9. Develop the project portfolio in the country in line with the Country Strategy

· Identify new technical and geographical areas of intervention in the country

· Lead the country team in developing context specific background knowledge beyond the areas where Geres is already active.

· Identify new funding opportunities

· Identify new partnership opportunities and support the creation of strategic partnerships

· Contribute to proposal writing in coordination with GEX Director and the Headquarter

10. Geres’ representation, partnership management and country mission oversight

· Represent Geres towards institutional partners as well as in project steering committees, national events beyond the SWITCH project perimeter

· Ensure due oversight over the enforcement of partnership contracts and agreements

· Ensure the sound overall management of Geres’ mission in Cambodia (HR, logistics, administration and finance) oversee the compliance of relevant procedures and the alignment with applicable laws and regulations.

· Take part in the recruitment of human resources and coordinate their actions in other projects than SWITCH Garment.

11. Ensure country-level security management

· Carry out context and stakeholders’ analysis related to security concerns

· Follow up the security development of the context of intervention

· Regularly update the security documents and streamlining them across the team

· Enforce Geres general security policy in the country

· Manage security events

PROFILE

Education

• A Master’s Degree in Engineering, Economics, Development, Political Science, Energy, Environmental studies or other related field s is required
• A Degree in Engineering, Development Economics or Renewable energy is appreciated

Experience

• 3-year minimum prior experience as a project manager in the international development sector is required
• Previous experience dealing with private sector, particularly working in industry, is appreciated
• Previous experience in South-east Asia is an asset
• Previous experience as a Country Representative is an asset

Skills

Required skills:

• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to establish contact with people from different background and cultures
• Comfortable with high-level governmental/institutional and private sector relationships
• Proficiency in Project Cycle Management, Logical Framework Development, M&E
• Excellent writing and reporting skills
• Demonstrated understanding of the energy-climate nexus in developing countries
• Familiarity with inclusion issues and methods
• Organization and attention to detail especially meeting deadlines
• Team player with capacity to work in a multicultural environment
• Fluency in English both written and spoken is a must
• Intermediate knowledge of French
• Familiar with Microsoft Office

Appreciated skills:

• Prior experience in energy projects in the development sector, in particular related to energy efficiency and biomass energy
• Working knowledge of gender principles and main applied tools in the development sector
• Knowledge of Theory of Change
• Knowledge and willingness to learn about industrial processes
• Knowledge of training process and capacity building

Conditions

12 months contract (renewable)

Full time with days off in lieu (16 days in 2021)

Starting date: as soon as possible

Position based in Phnom Penh, with occasional travels to project locations

Salary based upon profile, experience and Geres salary grid (gross salary between 2 550€ and 3 120 €)

26 paid leaves per year

620 USD expatriation allowance (paid locally), luggage indemnity (240€/adult – 120€/child), move allowance (500€ for single or couple – 800€ for family)

annual leaves bonus, health insurance (50% covered by Geres), retirement (if not eligible for French retirement system a monthly pension fund of around 300-350€ will be guaranteed), unemployment, repatriation insurance

1 air ticket/year (country of residence – country of work)

Family policy (school fees, expatriation allowance, luggage indemnity, move allowance, air ticket, health and repatriation insurance)