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 sensi