Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, RECOFTC Thailand

RECOFTC is an international nonprofit organization working towards a future where resilient communities with respected rights thrive in forest landscapes that they manage sustainably and equitably. We take a long-term, landscape-based and inclusive approach in supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods and foster gender equality. We have almost 40 years of experience working with people and forests and have built trusting relationships with partners at all levels. As a trusted, honest broker, we occupy a distinct position as an international organization that supports, informs and brings together governments, communities, businesses, academia and civil society organizations. Our innovations, knowledge and initiatives enable countries to foster good forest governance, mitigate and adapt to climate change and achieve the UN Global Goals.

We operate in the Asia-Pacific region, with country offices in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Viet Nam.

In Thailand, RECOFTC works closely with government agencies, communities and partners to advance biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest landscape management, including through the Integrated Forest Landscape Management for Strengthening the North-eastern and Eastern Forest Corridors (IFLMS-NE&E) project. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) serving as the GEF implementing agency. RECOFTC holds overall executing and technical responsibility for the project as the operational partner, with FAO providing oversight and technical support, and the Royal Forest Department (RFD) serving as the lead government partner agency.

The project focuses on four forest complexes along Thailand's eastern border: Phu Phan, Phanom Dongrak–Pha Tam, Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai and the eastern forest, which together span 6.5 million hectares of globally significant wildlife habitat, home to species such as the Asian elephant, the Indo-Chinese tiger and the Great Hornbill. These landscapes are under growing threat from forest degradation, land-use change and habitat encroachment and fragmentation, which increasingly expose wildlife to human activity. The Government of Thailand has recognized that protecting these habitats requires a landscape approach, since the effectiveness of protected areas depends heavily on what happens in the surrounding lands and waters, shaped by the actions of communities, private landowners and government agencies.

The project’s primary goal is to strengthen biodiversity conservation across these four complexes by improving forest landscape management. This involves strengthening government policy, institutional arrangements and capacities for conservation within and between protected areas, mainstreaming biodiversity objectives into the management of forests, agricultural land and plantations, and reducing human-wildlife conflict. The project also contributes to broader national policies and laws on land degradation, gender equity, rural development and climate change.

Delivery of the project draws on a wide network of partners at the national, provincial and local levels, including government departments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and academic institutions. More than 30 stakeholder groups are engaged across the four target forest complexes, including provincial government departments, local authorities, local administrative organizations, forest plantation owners, community forest users, local communities and academic institutions.

• Develop and implement project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, plans and tools to track progress, outcomes and impact
• Design data collection processes and collect, analyze and report quantitative and qualitative data linked to project outcomes and indicators, to inform decision-making and learning
• Ensure data quality, validity and reliability through regular verification and validation exercises
• Lead the design of meetings and workshops related to the project’s M&E plan, including for gender, environmental and social safeguards strategies, and the stakeholder engagement plan
• Conduct baseline spatial analysis of the project area, along with baseline socio-economic and environmental surveys, using participatory processes and relevant tools
• Coordinate with project partners to establish a Sub-national Land Monitoring System (SLMS) platform for the four forest complexes, ensuring it is populated with baseline data
• Oversee the continued management and operation of the SLMS platform throughout the project, including regular data updates
• Prepare a report on land-use change over the project timeframe, including an assessment of impacts on biodiversity, climate and social indicators
• Coordinate and facilitate monitoring and evaluation-related workshops, training and meetings with internal and external stakeholders
• Prepare project implementation reports in compliance with annual work plans and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks and support the mid-term review and final evaluation, including updating tracking tools
• Document and disseminate M&E findings, lessons learned and best practices to relevant audiences
• Work with the RECOFTC Thailand MEL focal point to ensure project data feeds into RECOFTC’s broader MEL tools and requirements