Sustainability Officer

I.                   Background Community Kitchens have boomed and evolved worldwide in the past 20 years. The descriptions of these kitchens in the literature vary considerably with some focusing on food production and cooking skills, and others prioritizing the social aspects of these units. In Lebanon, the Community Kitchen concept is gradually evolving with a number of women-led cooperatives or associations, in rural and urban areas, currently producing different types of food. With our partners, the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and the American University of Beirut’s Environment and Sustainable Development Unit and Center for Research and Population Health, we have been involved in the establishment of several community kitchens. In an attempt to ensure the sustainability of these kitchens, we are planning to initiate a network of Community Kitchens. This network would aim to share best practices, and provide training, certification and monitoring in food safety and hygiene standards to ensure safe food production and increase trust in food produced by these community-based kitchens. The network would also examine the possibility of collective fundraising, marketing and catering. II.                Summary The Sustainability Officer will assess and develop a sustainable business model to scale up the current CK model. III.             Responsibilities and Essential Functions -          Develop detailed profiles for each kitchen (Profiling & Situational analysis) -          Conduct an analysis of the current policies, cost and benefits associated with the kitchens -          Create an overarching strategy for sustainability of the kitchens in the network -          Build short and long term operational plans -          Develop a system to measure the progress of the initiative  -          Initiate sustainability activities/events with existing kitchens -          Develop and provide fundraising training for implementing partners in the CKs -          Coordinate with the different partners and CKs -          Perform other duties as required or assigned   IV.             Qualifications Knowledge, skills and abilities: -          Excellent management and leadership skills. -          Strong problem-solving skills. -          Good organizational and time management skills. -          Excellent communication, interpersonal and team building skills. -          Good report and proposal writing skills. -          Proficiency in Microsoft Office. -          Dynamic personality. -          Diplomacy, confidence and ability to support and train groups. -          Capacity and willingness to travel to the field. -          Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English; French is a plus. Experience: -          A minimum of 5 years’ work experience in food marketing, or food management.