Impacts and Assurance Associate (Smallholder Representation and Shared Investment Mechanism)

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Position Impacts and Assurance Associate (Smallholder Representation and Shared Investment Mechanism)
Department Impacts and Assurance
Reporting To Impacts and Assurance Manager
Employment Type Full Time
Work Arrangements Flexible
Effective Date ASAP
Location Southeast Asia

PURPOSE OF POSITION

The Impacts and Assurance Associate will be responsible for supporting smallholder engagement and representation and managing GPSNR’s Shared Investment Mechanism projects and processes. This role will also contribute to other organisational workstreams such as communications, admin support, and finance.

ABOUT GPSNR

Founded in 2019, the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber is an international, multistakeholder, voluntary membership organisation, with a mission to lead improvements in the socioeconomic and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain. GPSNR currently has 300+ members which represents over 60% of global natural rubber volume.

At GPSNR, we value diversity in experiences and backgrounds. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and our employees are people with different strengths, experiences and backgrounds, who share a passion for improving sustainability and equity practices in supply chains. Diversity for us not only includes race and gender identity, but also nationality, age, disability status, parenthood, sexual orientation, religion and many other parts of one’s identity. All of our employee’s points of view are key to our success, and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility.

ABOUT YOU

You are driven by a passion to generate meaningful change in the tropical commodity sector, particularly through enhancing the livelihoods and capabilities of smallholder farmers. Your main responsibilities include support the operational processes of the Shared Investment Mechanism, overseeing the implementation and monitoring of SIM projects, and facilitating smallholder participation in the platform, ensuring they are actively engaged and well informed about ongoing initiatives. You communicate clearly across cultures, work well independently, and can manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, international environment. You bring both operational rigour and the interpersonal warmth needed to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Support the management of GPSNR Shared Investment Mechanism process, including overseeing open calls for SIM projects, evaluation cycles, fund tracking, and coordination with working groups, governance bodies, and finance. Ensure templates, documentation, and guidance materials are maintained and accessible.
  • Support the management of full project lifecycle for SIM funded projects, from agreement negotiation through implementation monitoring to reporting and close out. This includes managing contracts and payments, reviewing progress reports, identifying and mitigating/escalating risks, and ensuring alignment with deliverables, timelines, budgets, and GPSNR requirements.
  • Plan and conduct field visits to verify GPSNR project implementation, engage with project stakeholders, and prepare field reports with findings and recommendations.
  • Support smallholder engagement activities, including coordination of interpretation and translation, meeting logistics, stakeholder communications, maintenance of smallholder records and onboarding processes, and manage the Rubber Wiki platform.
  • Support the communications team in activities related to smallholder engagement and SIM projects, including developing relevant communication content.
  • Contribute to broader organisational workstreams, including administrative support, meeting coordination, and cross team collaboration.
  • Perform additional duties as assigned.

REQUIRED COMPETENCES & QUALIFICATIONS

  • Ability to manage a broad range of responsibilities, including administration and finance, while handling multiple priorities effectively.
  • Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and processes across different geographies and stakeholder groups.
  • Excellent organisational and administrative skills with strong attention to detail and accuracy.
  • Self-disciplined and proactive, with good judgment in identifying and escalating risks and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
  • Clear and effective communication skills to ensure efficient and effective information exchange.
  • High level of emotional intelligence and sensitivity when engaging with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, including team members, smallholder farmers, corporate representatives, civil society, and government partners.
  • Strong problem solving ability and adaptability to changing conditions and competing priorities.
  • Initiative in developing strategies, procedures, and documentation templates to support platform operations.
  • High level of emotional intelligence and team citizenship.
  • Willingness to travel to project sites in natural rubber producing countries, including Southeast Asia and West Africa.

ADVANTAGEOUS COMPETENCES & QUALIFICATIONS

  • Prior experience in project management in the sustainability, agriculture, or development sector.
  • Experience in stakeholder coordination, fund administration, or governance processes in an international or multistakeholder environment.
  • Familiarity with natural rubber supply chains, smallholder livelihoods, or tropical commodity sectors.
  • Familiarity with digital platforms for knowledge sharing or community engagement.

Please send your application to cheewei@gpsnr.org with the email subject: [IA Associate (SH&SIM) – Your Name]

More To Explore
News

GPSNR Working Groups Update: May 2024

Strategy and Objectives Working Group: Feedback on the Assurance Model resolution has closed, and the finalised resolution has been released along with other voting materials. Public consultation on the documents up for discussion can be found here. Members will vote on the Assurance Model resolution at the Extraordinary General Assembly and are encouraged to participate in the in-person meetings to provide input on the Assurance Model content.

Smallholders Representation and Capacity Building (SCB) Working Group: The SCB Working Group meetings in April provided updates on the Thailand Agroforestry, Thailand GAP, and Indonesia GAP projects. The final workshop for the Income Diversification and Rubber Agroforestry Taskforce in Liberia was completed. Calls for capacity-building project proposals and funding were issued and interested members are welcome to contact cheewei@gpsnr.org.

The SCB WG will continue maintaining oversight of all ongoing projects. The Pre-EGA Smallholder Webinar will run from 8 PM to 10 PM SGT on 30 May 2024. The final report for Indonesia GAP (Phase 1) and the mid-term report for the Digital Knowledge Sharing Platform are in progress and will be distributed by the Secretariat once received. The Digital Knowledge Sharing Platform Task Force will meet with the project partner, Koltiva, for remediation planning and technical review meetings. The Income Diversification and Rubber Agroforestry Taskforce will finalise their reports and prepare for the final presentation.

Shared Responsibility Working Group: The Value Transfer Group has held subsequent meetings to discuss the value transfer proposal. The group continues to meet to refine the proposal, which will be presented at the in-person meetings in June.

GPSNR Secretariat May 29, 2024
News

Stretching the conversation about sustainable natural rubber

By 2050, the number of cars in the world is expected to more than double as urban population growth and rising incomes lead to increased demand for mobility. This has led to louder calls for a more environmentally friendly, energy efficient transport sector.

But what’s been missing from the conversation on sustainable transport so far is a key material that cars and other vehicles literally run on: rubber.

Around 70 per cent of the world’s supply of natural rubber is used to manufacture the wheels that move cars and enable airplanes to take off and land. In the last two decades, the consumption of natural rubber, which is primarily produced in the world’s tropical regions, has been increasing at a steady rate of 5 per cent every year.

Ideal climate and soil conditions in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have made Southeast Asia the epicentre of global rubber production. Ninety per cent of the 13.960 million tonnes of rubber tapped last year came from this part of the world. The last 10 years have also witnessed the expansion of industrial rubber practices in Cambodia and Laos, after land in China and Vietnam began to deteriorate as a result of large-scale rubber production.

On a recent trip to Bintan, an Indonesian island located an hour from Singapore’s shores, Eco-Business got a first-hand look at the reality of smallholder rubber farming in Asia and the challenges of charting a sustainable path for rubber.

Although natural rubber has not received as much attention as fellow tropical commodity palm oil, it creates a similar set of social and environmental problems, from contributing to rapid deforestation to a history of land grabs and human rights violations in the Mekong.

However, unlike palm oil, which is mainly produced in large estates owned by big, family-owned corporations, close to 85 per cent of global rubber is produced by smallholders in Asia, making traceability a major issue in the industry’s quest for sustainability.

“Natural rubber is a crucial element of tyre production, driving the importance of its sustainability,” William Dusseau, manager of technical relations at Cooper tyre and rubber company, told Eco-Business. “A coordinated, universal and standard industry approach is the way to drive solutions in establishing and promoting sustainable natural rubber practices.”

He added that the launch of the Global Platform on Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), which took place last Thursday at the World Rubber Summit in Singapore, was a significant step in developing and maintaining sustainable rubber standards.

Members of the new platform include major brand tyre companies such as Cooper, Michelin, Pirelli, and Bridgestone and global car manufacturers including BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and General Motors.

GPSNR also includes international non-profit and civil society organisations such as Mighty Earth, Birdlife International and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

According to Jean Bakouma, head of the Forest Program at WWF-France, since the rubber value chain is primarily driven by buyers, tyre manufacturers hold the greatest leverage for improving both the socioeconomic and environmental performance of natural rubber production.

“A robust sustainability policy that is thoroughly implemented by tyre manufacturers must consider sustainable natural rubber as a natural and responsible way to protect forests with high conservation value and high carbon stock, as well as foster other environmental services,” he said.

GPSNR Staff March 27, 2019
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