Project Lead/Lawyer, Rights and Governance (Africa) ClientEarth

ABOUT THE ROLE

In this exciting, challenging role, we’ll look to you to bring the strategic thinking and skillful, collaborative approaches needed to animate a series of projects in Africa that aim to change how natural resources are managed sustainably and for the benefit of local communities. You will be an active participant on the ground in Africa, a skilled and thoughtful manager of people, teams and projects, and an expert able to bring a creative and practical approach to public interest law and capacity-building in developing countries.

The position is an integral part of ClientEarth’s Climate & Forest Programme team, based in our attractive international headquarters in east London and will involve extensive and regular travel to Africa.

ABOUT YOU

With a demonstrated track record in the law, natural resources management and development, you are ready to bring your capacities for strategic thinking and people and project management to lead a team of lawyers delivering a series of complex projects in central and west Africa. You already have outstanding research, analysis and writing skills that equip you to address natural resource management and community rights issues through a variety of frameworks (e.g. human rights law, natural resource law, public and administrative law, commercial and investment law, indigenous peoples' law, international environmental law). You are able to bring a creative approach to the law and use of legal practice to secure the sustainable use of natural resources and community rights. You are adept at analysing problems rigorously and from all angles, showing sound practical and political judgement. You are able to guide, manage, supervise and direct the work of others. You are an excellent communicator, able to influence, convince and collaborate at a high level, and to build and support partnerships and networks. You are adaptable and resilient, able to work in diverse settings, and in collaboration with a team. You’ll be fluent in French and English. You’ll also need to be willing to travel extensively in Europe and elsewhere.

ABOUT US

ClientEarth is a public interest environmental law group founded in 2007. ClientEarth brings together law, science and policy to create practical solutions to key environmental challenges. Working in partnership with civil society and policy-makers, ClientEarth is committed to securing the rights of citizens and civil society to participation, information and justice in environmental matters. In Europe and beyond, ClientEarth’s 50 strong staff includes legal experts qualified in more than nine jurisdictions based in offices in London, Brussels and Warsaw. Our programmes cover biodiversity and ecosystems, climate and energy, and health and environment.

ClientEarth’s Climate and Forests Programme exerts a growing influence on the development and implementation of effective policies to address the drivers of deforestation. We aim to take law and policy forward, beyond narrow sectoral approaches which fail to link together the drivers of natural resource degradation, destruction and livelihood loss for forest peoples and other local communities. Instead, we look for coherent, integrated ecosystem and community rights based approaches to reforming governance of forest land tenure and related natural resources and the effective regulation of consumption patterns driving global deforestation and forest degradation