Cocoa Sustainability Assistant

The role supports delivery of GCB Cocoa's sustainability programme, Good Cocoa & Beyond, working under the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager and alongside project teams in cocoa-growing regions. Day to day, this means drafting and reviewing project proposals and reports, moving papers and budgets through their cycles and keeping them accurate. The assistant reviews and prepares budgets, monitors expenditure and reports against them, so financial tracking is a core part of the job rather than an occasional task. A second cluster of duties concerns monitoring and evaluation. That involves gathering and collating project data, reviewing Key Performance Indicators, analysing programme effectiveness and preparing impact reports, while maintaining the databases and frameworks that hold this information. The assistant also handles policy and procedure drafting, contributes to strategy reviews and keeps accompanying strategic documents current. Supporting new project development and identifying funding opportunities, including preparing funding proposals, rounds out the programme side. Alongside these, there is a communications dimension. The assistant prepares presentations on sustainability strategy and delivers them to suppliers, customers and other audiences, and produces promotional material such as videos, brochures and social media content. The role also acts as a bridge to trading and marketing teams on sustainability commitments, and builds relationships with suppliers, customers, donors, civil society and industry bodies. In practice, the job combines programme administration, evidence building and outward-facing engagement in a single position.

The role sits inside a working sustainability programme rather than a communications function, so the learning is practical. Writing proposals, reviewing and preparing budgets and reporting expenditure gives hands-on experience in how sustainability projects are financed and justified, which many early-career profiles lack. Tracking KPIs and preparing impact reports under a MEAL framework builds monitoring and evaluation skills that are in demand across the sector. Exposure to origin teams in cocoa-growing regions is a further opportunity. This means learning how certification, traceability, living income and human rights issues are approached in practice, and how farmer-level data is collected and interpreted. Working with the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager also offers mentorship on strategy development, policy drafting and the design of new programme frameworks. Stakeholder work adds another layer. Dealing with suppliers, customers, donors and industry bodies teaches how commercial and development agendas are balanced in a commodity supply chain, and the communications tasks, from presentations to videos and social media, give experience in presenting sustainability work to audiences inside and outside the company.

The candidate profile points to someone with a degree in a relevant field, likely development studies, agriculture, environmental management or business, and probably a first job or internship in supply chains or sustainability. Project management experience is listed first, so previous coordination of a multi-partner project, even a modest one, will carry weight. Budget tracking and reporting are equally expected, which suggests they want a person comfortable with spreadsheets, not only with strategy documents. A master's degree, project management training and sustainability training are all desirable rather than required. More distinctive is the request for project design or implementation in rural or agricultural settings in Africa, Asia or Latin America. Anyone who has spent time in a farming community, collecting data or running a livelihoods project, has a real advantage. Knowledge of certification schemes, living income, human rights, climate change or traceability is also valued. Soft skills matter here because of the cross-functional nature of the job. The person needs to be a self-starter who can hold several deadlines at once and build relationships with suppliers, customers, donors and civil society groups across cultures. Fluent English is essential. French or Spanish would be a strong differentiator in cocoa origin countries.

Because the posting asks for a full application package sent to HR, treat the application itself as a small test of the project management you claim. Include a short covering note that walks through one project cycle end to end, from proposal and budget to data collection and impact reporting, and quantify the results where you can. Say clearly whether you have worked with smallholder cocoa or other cash crop farmers and in which country. Emphasise the practical tools rather than the vocabulary. Concrete evidence of maintaining a project database, building a KPI framework and reporting against budget will count more than general statements about sustainability. Mention any French or Spanish ability, and any exposure to certification standards such as Rainforest Alliance. These are listed as desirable and will narrow the field. Before an interview, look closely at the economics of cocoa. The pressure around farmer income, child labour and traceability is the backdrop to programmes like Good Cocoa & Beyond. Be ready to discuss how you would gather credible farmer data and report honestly when results fall short. The role reports to the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager, so show that you can work across cultures and time zones without close daily supervision.

The work centres on cocoa supply chains, and the programme name, Good Cocoa & Beyond, signals that farmer livelihoods and growing communities sit next to environmental concerns. The posting lists third-party certification, living income, human rights, climate change and traceability as thematic areas, so the assistant is likely to touch each of these through project reports and data work. Living income and human rights both carry social risk implications under governance, while certification and traceability are the mechanisms traced back to farm level. Because the position manages budgets, KPIs and impact reporting, the environmental and social goals become measurable questions. Tracking indicators may involve data on farmer income, training coverage, certification uptake or deforestation-free sourcing. The role does not sit in a factory operations team, so carbon accounting of the grinding plant itself is less likely to be the focus. The centre of gravity is responsible sourcing and the origin end of the chain. GCB Cocoa extends beyond this one plant, and the assistant supports group-level programme delivery. That means work can connect to origins beyond Indonesia and to customers and suppliers with their own sustainability commitments. The communications tasks, from presentations to social media, translate that origin-level work into material for commercial and external audiences, which is where the programme meets the market.

The clearest challenge is the scope. The role spans project management, budgets, monitoring and evaluation, communications, programme development and stakeholder liaison, all at assistant level. Balancing those priorities against limited bandwidth could be demanding, and the posting itself flags multi-tasking and competing deadlines as essential criteria. Second, this is a coordination position in a supply chain the holder does not directly control. Project outcomes depend on origin teams, suppliers and partners in countries across different time zones. Progress on goals such as farmer income or traceability is slow and shaped by market prices and weather, so someone expecting quick results may find the pace difficult. Third, communicating sustainability to commercial audiences has inherent tension. The role must liaise with trading and marketing teams on commitments while also presenting evidence to customers and donors. Maintaining credibility when data is incomplete or results are mixed is a real skill. Handling sensitive farmer-level data, including on child labour or income, adds a further layer of care.

A regular day likely begins with coordination across time zones. Because origin teams are spread across cocoa-growing countries, early or late calls with colleagues and project partners would be normal, alongside written updates on activities and progress. Much of the day then goes into desk work: reviewing a project report, updating a budget tracker, entering or checking data in a programme database, or drafting a section of a proposal or policy document. A portion of the week involves meetings with internal colleagues. Cross-functional contact with the trading and marketing teams about sustainability commitments, or with the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager on priorities, would be routine. There are also preparation tasks, such as building a presentation on programme progress for a supplier or customer, or producing a brochure or social media post. The balance shifts through the year. Reporting cycles and funding proposal deadlines bring concentrated analytical work, while visits or project launches bring more coordination with partners. Over a single day, the assistant might move from a spreadsheet of KPIs to a slide deck to an email thread with a donor, which is why the posting stresses flexibility and the ability to manage competing priorities.

As an assistant, growth builds mainly on exposure and trust. The role places you next to the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager and the origin teams, which means direct contact with programme strategy, budgets and reporting at group level. Someone who performs well can expect steadily broader ownership of specific projects or origin countries, likely with a clearer project manager title. GCB Cocoa is a mid-sized group, and the second grinding plant in Indonesia is a substantial asset. A person who learns how its supply chain connects to suppliers, traders and customers can move into trading, sourcing or certification roles, which are lateral options in a cocoa business. Programme development is another path, particularly for anyone who helps win funding or designs a new initiative. The relatively small team structure is a further factor. With around 61 employees at PT ACI, visibility to senior management may come faster than in a large corporation, and the range of tasks covered here, from policy drafting to farmer-facing projects, gives a wide base to specialise from later.

Internally, the role works with the global Cocoa Sustainability Manager, who sets direction and reviews the assistant's project and reporting work. It also connects regularly with sustainability project teams at origin, including the Indonesia operation, with trading and marketing colleagues on supply chain commitments, and with finance colleagues around budgets. The cross-functional liaison element means those internal relationships are ongoing, not occasional. Externally, the role faces suppliers and customers who receive sustainability presentations and updates, donors who may fund new projects, civil society organisations and industry bodies working on shared themes. Because GCB Cocoa grinds beans and sources from origin, suppliers and customers are commercial partners with their own expectations about responsible sourcing, and managing those relationships carefully matters. Interaction styles vary considerably. Some exchanges are operational, such as coordinating partners to deliver activities or gathering project data. Others are representational, such as presenting the programme, preparing promotional material or building relationships with donors. A candidate should expect a mix of routine coordination and occasional external visibility.