ESG Community Manager

ESG Community Manager, Spekboom Restoration Project

Operations Department, Eastern Cape (Gqeberha), South Africa

Location: Gqeberha

Reports to: Project Manager – Community Enterprise

Are you ready to embark on an extraordinary adventure that will revitalise landscapes, combat climate change, and promote sustainable agriculture? Join NatCarbon Africa: a mission-driven, proudly African organisation dedicated to high-quality implementation of large-scale carbon, climate, and biodiversity projects. We embrace the power of innovative technology to enhance project execution. Community engagement lies at the heart of our projects, driven by a genuine commitment to meaningful and inclusive participation and co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic upliftment. 

NatCarbon Africa seeks a ESG Community Manager in the Operations Department for the large-scale Spekboom Restoration Project in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa.

With our partner, Imperative Global, our aim is to restore up to 100,000 hectares of degraded subtropical thicket biome. The Project entails planting Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) on privately owned land to improve ecosystem functioning and agricultural productivity over time, promote biodiversity, improve soil filtration, enhance water storage capabilities, and to reduce soil erosion. The Project is estimated to permanently store large quantities of Carbon Dioxide over the Project life, thus positively contributing towards climate change mitigation.

Purpose:

To ensure that the Spekboom Restoration Project delivers measurable climate, community, biodiversity, and sustainable development benefits while maintaining full compliance with Verra VCS, CCB Gold Standard criteria, SIZA requirements, and all applicable ESG obligations, thereby maximizing project credibility, certification outcomes, investor confidence, and long-term sustainability.

Position Summary: 

The ESG Community Manager reports to the Community Enterprise Project Manager and will lead the planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of all Environmental, Social, and Governance requirements associated with our large-scale carbon project. The Manager will ensure compliance with internationally recognized carbon and sustainability frameworks, including:

• Verra Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards
• SIZA (Sustainability Initiative of South Africa)
• Labour, human rights, and social safeguard standards
• Stakeholder engagement and community development requirements

The role requires the integration of social impact management, stakeholder engagement, community engagement, lead ESG compliance, ensure audit readiness and to ensure successful project certification, validation, verification, and ongoing compliance to ESG requirements.

Roles and Responsibilities: 

ESG Management:

• Ensure project activities align and adhere with corporate sustainability objectives and international ESG best practices.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams involved in environmental, social, and governance activities.

Governance and Risk Management

• Support ESG governance frameworks and policies.
• Conduct Safeguarding and Security risk and materiality assessments
• Identify compliance risks and mitigation measures.
• Ensure ethical business conduct across project activities.
• Promote transparency and accountability within project operations.
• Review and maintain ESG policies and procedures.

ESG Monitoring and Reporting

• Develop and implement the ESMS for the Spekboom Restoration Project.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of monitoring records.
• Collect, validate, and analyse ESG-related data.
• Prepare periodic ESG reports for various stakeholders
• Track and report progress against Social KPIs.

Social Impact

• Coordinate social surveys required in the project with relevant stakeholders.
• Assist with social baseline studies, monitoring plans, and project performance assessments.
• Lead the appointment of service providers to conduct independent social impact assessments, social satisfaction surveys.
• Monitor social outcomes and community benefits generated by the project.

Verra Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards Auditing

• Coordinate interactions with independent auditors and verification bodies.
• Coordinate project documentation required for validation and verification audits.
• Monitor project activities to ensure continuous compliance throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead implementation of community components required under the CCB Standard.
• Lead the development of demonstration of net positive impacts on communities
• Address non-conformities and implement corrective actions.
• Maintain compliance records and document control systems.

SIZA Certification

• Lead interactions with independent auditors including the appointment of accredited service provider, maintaining the self-assessment questionnaire, lead the audit
• Coordinate project documentation required for validation and verification audits.
• Evaluate project activities to ensure continuous compliance to SIZA requirements throughout the project lifecycle.
• Audit Assess readiness of SMMEs to proceed to SIZA external audit.
• Support SMME contractors in audit readiness
• Develop and coordinate corrective action plans arising from audits to ensure close out to enable certification of SMME.

Social and Community Development

• Design and implement stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Facilitate Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes where required.
• Conduct social impact assessments and community needs analyses.
• Manage grievance mechanisms and conflict resolution processes.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage with project stakeholders
• Facilitate stakeholder consultations and workshops.
• Maintain stakeholder engagement records and action plans.
• Build positive relationships supporting long-term project success.

SMME and Community Capacity Building

• Conduct training needs analysis OF SMMEs and workers, source partners to funding training opportunities, appoint service providers, assess services providers to conduct training.
• Develop and implement ESG awareness and other relevant training programs.
• Train project staff and SMME contractors on ESG obligations.
• Build community awareness regarding project benefits and responsibilities.
• Support capacity development initiatives among stakeholders.
• Coordinate with other entities to establish learnership opportunities in the project.

General: 

• Embrace a culture of continuous learning by adapting to evolving job responsibilities, driven by NatCarbon Africa’s commitment to innovation, personal growth, and shifting operational priorities.
• Some travel within the Eastern and Western Cape may be required, including to remote locations, with occasional weekend or holiday work to accommodate schedules.
• Work hours may be irregular.
• This outline of duties and responsibilities is not exhaustive. The employer reserves the right to assign additional duties or responsibilities at any time, provided they are reasonably aligned with the scope of the role or necessitated by operational requirements. The functions and responsibilities detailed within this job description may be subject to modification at the employer’s discretion, based on evolving operational requirements, while remaining consistent with the parameters of the employee’s position.

Skills: 

• Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including facilitation, negotiation, and conflict resolution.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
• Knowledge of relevant legislation
• Knowledge of various standards and auditing requirements.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data and generate insightful reports.
• Cultural sensitivity and the ability to work effectively in diverse community settings.
• Proactive problem-solver with a commitment to ethical practices and community empowerment.
• Fluency in English; additional local languages may be required depending on the project location.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in one of the following: Social Sciences, Sustainability, Environmental Management, Forestry, Environmental Management, Climate Change or other relevant ESG qualification.

Knowledge and Experience: 

• Minimum 5-8 years of ESG, sustainability, environmental, or nature-based project experience.
• Proven experience in stakeholder and community engagement.
• Experience working with international sustainability certification standards.
• Demonstrated experience managing community
• Proven experience in coordinating social audits and compliance assessments.
• Personal Attributes
• Team-oriented with a passion for community development and economic inclusion.
• Adaptable and resilient in dynamic project environments.
• Detail-oriented with a focus on accuracy and compliance.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently under minimal supervision.

Working Conditions

Frequent travel within the Eastern and Western Cape anticipated, including to remote locations.

Travel may on occasion cross weekends and holidays to accommodate schedules.

Work hours may be irregular

You will join a great team! We are:

From diverse locations and backgrounds, but all experts in our respective fields. We bring together a wide range of cross-sector experiences, ideas, and skills.

Relentless in our pursuit of excellence and innovation, always pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo. But it is not all work for us – we also believe in celebrating our successes, recognising individual contributions, and taking time to support each other’s growth and development.

At our core, explorers, constantly learning, evolving, and seeking new ways to deliver impactful solutions. We are not afraid to dream big, take risks, and step out of our comfort zones because we know that together, we can achieve great things.

Compensation

To help us attract and retain top talent, NatCarbon Africa pays employees competitively to the market, depending on experience. Salary is one component of NatCarbon Africa’s total compensation package which also includes health care and life insurance, contributions to each employee’s retirement plan, paid time off and funds to support professional development. We will recognise employees who go beyond expected performance with salary increases and/or promotions.

In return, we expect each employee to, at a minimum:

Meet expectations in terms of work effort and performance.

Take the initiative to build the skills and knowledge needed to do their job effectively; and

Embody the values of NatCarbon Africa.

How to Apply

To apply, please send us the following:

 Cover letter (not to exceed one page).

Resume/CV (not to exceed three pages).

 Please add app.bamboohr.com to your contact list to ensure you receive emails from us

NatCarbon Africa provides equal opportunity for all job applicants and employees and is committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination.

Only applications received online via the NatCarbon website or LinkedIn Page will be considered