Agroforestry Field Coordinator

Full Time

Based in Lusaka with regular travel to project areas

Reports to: Global Forestry Programs Coordinator

About the Role

About Community Climate Solutions

Community Climate Solutions (CCS) is a organization developing holistic, trusted carbon offset projects that benefit both the climate and rural subsistence. Headquartered in Lusaka, we have a team of over 100 people serving more than 35,000 across Zambia.

Our model empowers to reduce and remove carbon emissions from their own land — centered on (i) reducing uncontrolled bush fires and (ii) restoring the Miombo ecosystem. We monetize the resulting carbon storage on the voluntary carbon market and pay directly for the carbon they remove, turning them into self-motivated eCO2preneurs. Our projects sit within an integrated ecosystem of vocational education, microfinance, and affordable housing so that community payouts compound across generations.

Community Climate Solutions is scaling its agroforestry and reforestation footprint across Zambia, with a near-term target of planting millions of seedlings annually in partnership with smallholder communities. As the programme matures, we need senior field leaders who can take end-to-end ownership of specific project areas — not just execute against a centrally-set plan, but plan, deliver, and answer for results on the ground.

The Agroforestry Field Coordinator will fully manage project areas, acting as the coordinating role in those areas. You will own nursery operations, recruitment and training, planting execution, survival monitoring, and community relationships across your areas — and you will be directly accountable for the agroforestry outcomes those areas deliver. We are looking for someone with the technical depth and judgment to run a portfolio of project areas with limited day-to-day supervision. We are constantly building new projects and standardizing current ones. Equally central to the role is building capability: you will design and deliver training and coach the Community Development Officers (CDOs), field officers, and lead who carry out nursery and planting work on the ground, blending remote support with regular in-person field visits.

Key Responsibilities

1. Direct Project Area Ownership

Serve as the accountable lead for assigned project areas, owning nursery output, planting delivery, and survival results in those areas.

Build and maintain a deep, personal working relationship with the communities, traditional leaders, lead, and local government stakeholders in your areas.

Translate annual organisational targets into area-level operational plans, budgets, and weekly delivery schedules.

2. Nursery and Seedling Production

Manage all nurseries within your areas end to end — siting, propagation, watering, pest and disease management, hardening off, and dispatch.

Hit area-level seedling production quotas on time, on quality, and on budget; minimise seedling and consumable loss.

Trial and roll out improvements in nursery technique, including decentralised nursery models where appropriate.

3. Field Execution and Outcomes

Lead recruitment, training, and planting execution across your project areas, including out-planting extension and survival follow-up.

Own survival rate as a primary KPI: design and run the monitoring routines that catch problems early, and intervene directly when they appear.

Ensure rigorous collection of quantitative and qualitative field data — germination rate, seedling survival, precipitation data, and planting compliance — and use it to drive operational decisions in your areas.

Embed climate-smart agriculture and agroforestry best practice in how in your areas plant and tend trees.

4. Team Leadership, Training and Capability Building

Recruit, manage, coach, and develop the nursery and field teams in your areas, including Community Development Officers (CDOs), lead, and seasonal staff.

Set weekly and monthly targets for your teams and hold them — and yourself — accountable to those targets.

Design and deliver structured training for Community Development Officers (CDOs), lead, and field teams — covering nursery management, propagation, planting, tree care, and climate-smart agroforestry — through a blend of remote sessions and hands-on field coaching. 

Build and maintain training materials, standard operating procedures, and refresher curricula, keeping them current with agroforestry best practice.

Assess competency in the field, identify skills gaps, and coach your teams until the standard is consistently met — lifting delivery quality and survival outcomes season over season.

5. Reporting and Cross-functional Coordination

Provide accurate, timely weekly and quarterly reporting on production, planting, survival, and budget for your areas.

Coordinate with the carbon, MRV, community engagement, and finance functions to align area execution with organisational goals.

Contribute lessons learned from your areas back into the broader agroforestry programme.

Career Growth and Development

We invest in our people. You will have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and technical training, and structured feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months to discuss your aspirations and growth path. As CCS continues to scale, coordinators are a natural feeder pool for regional and program management roles.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

Bachelor's degree in Forestry, Agroforestry, Agriculture, Horticulture, Environmental Science, or a related field; a relevant postgraduate qualification (e.g., MSc in Agroforestry, Forestry, or Environmental Science) is strongly preferred.

Minimum 6 years of experience in agroforestry, nursery management, or forestry extension, with at least 3 years managing multiple sites, teams, or project areas concurrently, including responsibility for other supervisors or coordinators.

Demonstrated track record of delivering against seedling production and planting targets at scale (a million or more seedlings per planting season).

Recognised expertise in agroforestry systems relevant to Zambia, including indigenous and Miombo woodland species, plant propagation, soil management, and pest and disease control — demonstrated through a sustained track record of leading agroforestry programmes at scale, technical advisory roles, or specialist professional standing.

Strong people management experience leading multi-tier teams — including supervisors and junior coordinators, not only field staff — through recruiting, coaching, and accountability.

Proven experience designing and delivering structured training programmes for field teams through both remote and in-person formats, including curriculum development, competency assessment, and post-training follow-up.

Proven experience owning sizeable operational budgets and multi-area operational plans, and reporting against them to senior management.

Proven ability to represent the organisation independently with traditional leaders, district government, and external partners, exercising senior judgment with minimal day-to-day supervision.

Fluent in English and at least one relevant local language (Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, or Lozi depending on assigned areas).

Valid motorbike licence, or willingness to obtain one, and willingness to be field-based with frequent travel within and between project areas.

Expertise in Microsoft Excel, powerpoint, word, QGIS, ArcGIS, and comfortable with mobile data collection tools; namely KOBO

All academic and professional certificates should be certified by the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA).

Desirable:

Prior experience with carbon project, reforestation, or smallholder agroforestry programmes in Zambia or the wider region.

Experience setting up decentralised or community-run nurseries.

Familiarity with MRV (monitoring, reporting, verification) requirements for voluntary carbon market projects.

Track record working with gender-sensitive, participatory community engagement approaches.

Experience with remote tools (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) for delivering virtual training to geographically distributed field teams.

Job Location

Office-based in Lusaka. Regular travel to project areas as needed.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Eligibility

Open to citizens and permanent residents of Zambia.

Terms & Conditions

Position: Full-time, six days per week. Initial contract of one year, with the expectation of renewal subject to performance.

Package: 12,000 – 20,000 ZMW per month depending on experience, plus health insurance and paid time off. Field allowance and motorbike provided for project area travel.

Application Deadline

We review applications on a rolling basis and will close the role once a suitable candidate is hired. Early applications are encouraged. Please mention the job title in the subject of your email.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

CCS is committed to building a team where all staff feel valued, represented, and connected. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, or gender identity. Women and candidates from communities where we operate are especially encouraged to apply.

A Note on Recruitment Fraud

CCS never asks candidates to pay money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Please report any suspicious communication to our official channels and do not send application materials to any address other than the one listed in the official posting