Senior Social Safeguards Officer

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works in around 100 countries to save, protect, and transform lives, serving people in need regardless of race, religion, or nationality. Through trusted local partnerships, CRS delivers relief and development programs in emergency response, disaster risk reduction, health, agriculture, education, community savings, livelihoods, and peacebuilding.

CRS began working in the Philippines in 1945, making it the longest-running continuous CRS country program in the world. Today, CRS Philippines implements programs in emergency response and recovery, disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, livelihoods, and peace and development. With more than 70 staff across Manila, Cotabato City, Tagbilaran City, Iloilo City, Virac, and Malaybalay City, CRS works closely with church and civil society partners, government agencies, and other organizations to serve vulnerable communities across the country.

The Innovative Climate Financing - Philippines Carbon Finance Pilot is an 18-month initiative (April 2026 – September 2027) which seeks to assess and advance the readiness of indigenous peoples’ ancestral domains in Bukidnon and Davao del Norte for participation in high-integrity forest carbon markets while delivering biodiversity, livelihood, and governance co-benefits. It likewise aims to support overall investments readiness by ensuring robust technical requirements are complied with, particularly on establishing the baseline and baseline, and calculation of project removals in line with the industry’s standards. CRS works with the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) as the local implementing partner, the IP organizations, government agencies, and local stakeholders, to support IP governance strengthening, forest restoration, agroforestry and livelihoods skills strengthening, FPIC processes, biodiversity assessments, land and carbon suitability assessments, safeguarding, and the development of investment-ready carbon project opportunities.

Job Summary

The Senior Social Safeguards Officer shall work closely with the Philippine Eagle Foundation in the design, implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement of social safeguard systems for community-based conservation, restoration, and carbon finance initiatives. The position ensures compliance with Philippine laws governing Indigenous Peoples' rights, including the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA), as well as applicable international standards on Indigenous Peoples, Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), social inclusion, stakeholder engagement, human rights, equitable benefit sharing, grievance redress, and community participation.

He/She serves as the project's focal point for social safeguards and rights-based approaches, ensuring that project activities are implemented in a manner that respects Indigenous Peoples' rights, promotes meaningful participation, safeguards vulnerable groups, supports equitable benefit sharing, and aligns with requirements of voluntary carbon market standards and international best practices.

The Senior Officer will work closely with Indigenous communities, NCIP, government agencies, local governments, civil society organizations, technical teams, and project partners to ensure that social safeguard obligations are integrated throughout project baselining, feasibility assessment, and design and pre-implementation activities.

Responsibilities

Roles and Key Responsibilities

1. Indigenous Peoples Rights, FPIC, and Community Consent

• Lead technical oversight and quality assurance of FPIC processes implemented by the Carbon Pilot.
• Ensure compliance with IPRA, NCIP Administrative Orders, and applicable international Indigenous Peoples standards.
• Review FPIC plans, consultation records, resolutions, agreements, and supporting documentation.
• Assess whether consultations are culturally appropriate, adequately disclosed, free from coercion, and representative of affected communities.
• Support meaningful participation of women, youth, elders, and vulnerable groups throughout decision-making processes.
• Monitor risks related to exclusion, elite capture, stakeholder conflict, or inadequate disclosure.
• Maintain records demonstrating compliance with project consent requirements and safeguard commitments.

2. Social Safeguards, Inclusion, and Community Protection

• Lead implementation of project social safeguards frameworks and procedures.
• Assess project conformity with applicable social safeguard standards, including Indigenous Peoples, human rights, and social inclusion requirements.
• Integrate Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) considerations into project activities.
• Identify and assess potential social risks, vulnerabilities, and unintended impacts.
• Develop safeguards mitigation measures and monitor implementation.
• Ensure project activities do not adversely affect vulnerable households or marginalized sectors.
• Provide technical advice to PEF and project teams on social risk management and safeguard compliance.

3. Community Engagement, Governance, and Stakeholder Relations

• Develop and oversee project stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Support the project in facilitating meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities, local governments, NCIP, DENR, and other key stakeholders.
• Conduct stakeholder mapping and institutional assessments.
• Assess Indigenous governance structures and decision-making systems relevant to project implementation.
• Support strengthening of community institutions and leadership structures.
• Facilitate dialogue among stakeholders to address emerging issues and concerns.
• Promote transparency, accountability, and community participation in project planning and implementation.

4. Social Due Diligence, Benefit Sharing, and Carbon Project Readiness

• Lead with PEF social baseline assessments, community profiling, and socioeconomic analyses.
• Assess community readiness and governance capacity for participation in carbon projects.
• Support development and review of equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms.
• Identify social risks associated with carbon finance implementation.
• Contribute to safeguard requirements for prefeasibility, feasibility, and project design studies.
• Support preparation of stakeholder, safeguards, FPIC, and social sections of carbon project documentation.
• Provide inputs to validation, verification, and third-party due diligence processes.

5. Grievance Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting

• Establish and oversee project grievance redress mechanisms.
• Ensure grievance systems are accessible, transparent, culturally appropriate, and responsive.
• Track and monitor complaints, concerns, resolutions, and corrective actions.
• Develop and monitor indicators related to FPIC, safeguards, inclusion, and stakeholder engagement.
• Conduct safeguard monitoring and periodic compliance reviews.
• Prepare safeguards monitoring system or guide.
• Maintain organized records and evidence required for audits, assessments, verification, and certification reviews.
• Provide recommendations for adaptive management and continuous safeguards improvement.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Anthropology, Sociology, Community Development, Development Studies, Environmental Planning, Public Administration, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, or related field. Master's degree in a relevant field is an advantage.
• Minimum of five (5) years experience in FPIC, indigenous peoples engagement, stakeholder engagement, community development, participatory approaches, conflict-sensitive programming or related fields. Experience in the application of the international standards in carbon or related projects is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with indigenous peoples and local communities in natural resource management, climate change, conservation, forestry, carbon finance, or rural development projects.
• Experience facilitating consultations, community engagement processes, and grievance management systems.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Understanding relevant social safeguard requirements highly preferred;
  • IPRA
  • NCIP Administrative Orders
  • UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
  • IFC Performance Standards, particularly PS1 and PS7
  • Equator Principles
  • Voluntary carbon market safeguard standards and requirements.
• Strong knowledge of social safeguards, stakeholder engagement, grievance redress mechanisms, social risk management, and community development approaches.
• Understanding of indigenous peoples' rights, FPIC processes, social inclusion, gender equality, and participatory development.
• Excellent facilitation, training, and capacity-strengthening skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities and capacity to recommend practical risk mitigation measures.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver quality outputs within deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, networking, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong report writing, documentation, and presentation skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and project management tools.
• Ability and willingness to travel frequently to project sites and engage with communities in remote areas.

Required Languages:

• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Working knowledge of Bisaya is highly desirable.

Travel: Must be willing to travel up to 50% of the time to Malaybalay, Bukidnon and/or Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

Key Working Relationships: TBD

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship