The Earth Society (TES) is a youth-centric NGO working on climate action, green skills development, sustainable entrepreneurship, and advocacy in Bangladesh. Through its programmes, TES weaves together capacity building, ecosystem restoration, and livelihood development to nurture an inclusive ecosystem of resilience and regeneration.
Project Description
LifeTree Bangladesh is a regenerative agroforestry and reforestation initiative implemented by The Earth Society, in partnership with Sundori Agro and Mother Trees, and funded by Ecosia. The project facilitates the plantation of climate-resilient trees through homestead agroforestry, live fencing, and social forestry across the coastal districts of Khulna and Bagerhat, along the ecological buffer zone of the Sundarbans — helping restore degraded landscapes, strengthen climate resilience, and build sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities.
Job Purpose
The Technical Specialist is the overall technical lead for all implementation under the LifeTree Bangladesh – Sundarbans project, covering both the social forestry/mangrove restoration component and the homestead agroforestry (farmer) component.
The Technical Specialist holds overall responsibility for the technical integrity of the project's training approach, including developing and adapting training curricula and materials. The Technical Specialist supervises and trains and builds the technical capacity of the three Technical Officers, and works jointly with the Technical Officers to train Field Technicians — who in turn train farmers, with ongoing support and oversight from the Technical Officers and Technical Specialist.
The Technical Specialist provides higher-level technical oversight and guidance across all field-level activities, spot-checks the quality of monitoring data and nursery/seed bank records collected primarily by Field Technicians and reviewed by Technical Officers, and engages directly on technically complex issues — including adapting and developing training materials, leading training of trainer workshops, supporting social forestry implementation and providing inputs for the technical training for nursery entrepreneurs and other small business participants — as needed.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership – Agroforestry, Social Forestry & Plantation
- Provide overall technical direction and quality assurance for homestead agroforestry, social forestry, mangrove restoration and application of climate smart agriculture across the project.
- Review and provide technical recommendations on farm-level agroforestry and social forestry designs.
- Identify key technical risks affecting seedling establishment, growth, and survival, and recommend mitigation measures.
- Provide higher-level oversight and guidance on plantation progress, survival rates, and replacement needs, based on monitoring conducted by Field Technicians and supervised by Technical Officers, and support timely corrective action on significant or recurring issues.
Nursery and Seed Bank Management
- Supervise the manager of the central nursery and seedbank, providing technical training, support and spot check monitoring, ensuring quality seedling production and germination/survival standards, as well as proper seed storage.
- Spot check monitor nursery-based micro-entrepreneurs with technical guidance on propagation, seed preservation, and record-keeping, primarily through the Technical Officers.
- Periodically spot-check nursery and seed bank documentation (stock registers, species inventories, distribution records).
Training and Capacity Building
- Hold overall responsibility for the technical integrity of the project's training approach, including developing and adapting training curricula and materials for agroforestry, social forestry, and mangrove restoration and climate smart agricultural practices.
- Develop and adapting supportive supervision tools and standard operating procedures for program delivery and provision of materials, etc.
- Coordinate with Mother Trees technical staff on training content, technical guidelines, and adaptive management decisions; flag significant field-level technical issues for Mother Trees review.
- Hold overall responsibility for the integrity and consistent application of the LifeTree badge assessment system; train Technical Officers on scoring criteria and oversee annual badge assessment rounds across all enrolled farmers.
- Train and build the technical capacity of the Technical Officers as trainers and supervisors to support capacity development of field technicians and farmers.
- Work jointly with Technical Officers to train Field Technicians, ensuring consistent technical quality.
- Facilitate monthly progress review meetings with technical officers and field technicians to address program implementation challenges and jointly find solutions to achieve program deliverables.
Technical Documentation and Reporting
- Support the Project Manager in preparing annual workplans and making budget adjustments based on field experience.
- Contribute to the development of implementation manuals, and monitoring frameworks.
- Review monitoring data and program results and technical reports prepared by Technical Officers, and recommend corrective actions where needed.
- Document successful agroforestry and social forestry practices, farmer innovations, and technical lessons learned, including brief case studies to support knowledge-sharing within TES and with project partners.
- Support the preparation of technical sections of donor reports and project progress reports.
- Ensure all technical documentation meets Ecosia donor reporting standards and NGOAB requirements, and flag documentation gaps to the Project Manager promptly.
Required ExperienceMinimum 3–5 years of relevant field experience providing technical advisory-level inputs in agroforestry, with both tree production and a focus on climate-smart or restorative agriculture, with direct knowledge of seedling production, nursery operations, community-based plantation, and/or homestead agroforestry.Demonstrated experience in training and mentoring technical staff as well as farmers and field-level project staff on agroforestry, plantation, and nursery practices. Experience developing and/or adapting training materials, work plans, standard operating procedures, and other implementation materials.Experience providing trainer-of-trainers training to technical personnel.Experience supervising staff.Experience collecting and analyzing relevant data such as food security, nutrition, agricultural practices and/or tree survival rates, etc.Experience coordinating with key stakeholders including community leaders, local government officials, school committees and/or other entities on collaborative efforts.Experience working in coastal, saline-prone, or climate-vulnerable landscapes is an advantage.Required Skills and CompetenciesStrong technical knowledge of agroforestry systems, social forestry, plantation management, nursery operations, and tree establishment.Strong knowledge of native, climate-resilient, and salt-tolerant tree and agricultural species relevant to coastal Bangladesh.Ability to assess site conditions and recommend appropriate species and planting designs.Strong practical training and facilitation skills, with the ability to develop and adapt training curricula and materials.Ability to translate technical concepts into simple, practical guidance for Technical Officers, Field Technicians, and farmers.Strong field-based problem-solving and diagnostic skills.Ability to assess seedling and plantation quality and recommend corrective actions.Strong mentoring and team-capacity-building skills, including experience supervising or training technical staff.Ability to prepare technical guidelines, training materials, field checklists, and technical reports.Strong technical report writing skills in both Bangla and English.Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and digital/mobile data collection tools.Familiarity with GIS, GPS-based field mapping, KoboToolbox, or similar tools will be an advantage.Willingness to travel extensively throughout Khulna and Bagerhat and work in rural and coastal field conditions.Preferred SkillsSupervision and leadership.Technical advisory services.Capacity building, collaboration and coordination.Nursery-based seedling production and quality control.Community-based forestry and social forestry.• Homestead agroforestry and diversified farm systems.Seed collection, preservation, and community seed banks.Farmer field schools and participatory training approaches.Experience with women-led agroforestry or tree-based livelihood initiatives.
https://bdjobs.com/h/details/1522916
Technical Coordinator | LifeTree Bangladesh - Sundarbans
Category:Diploma & Technical
Published:19 Aug 2026
Deadline:24 Aug 2026