Work With US

About the Initiative

forNature is collaborating with the Government of Panama to advance an international initiative for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Building on Panama’s leadership in recognizing the Rights of Nature at the national level, the initiative seeks to build diplomatic support, strengthen civil society engagement, and advance global conversations on ecological governance, international law, and the paradigm shift that Rights of Nature offers for a renewed relationship that properly balances humanity’s needs and the protection of Nature as a holder of intrinsic rights.

 

The initiative is being carried forward in close coordination with the Permanent Mission of Panama to the United Nations in New York, alongside allies from civil society, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, academic institutions, legal experts, scientists, and international partners.

 

Position Overview

forNature is seeking a full-time Initiative Coordinator based in Panama City to support the operational, strategic, and institutional coordination of the initiative to advance the adoption of a United Nations Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature.

​

The Initiative Coordinator will serve as the central coordination and implementation point for the initiative, helping ensure clear communication, timely follow-up, smooth institutional engagement, and effective management of priorities, deliverables, and workstreams under the collaboration framework between forNature and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Panama (MiAmbiente).

​

The Initiative Coordinator works at the intersection of internal team management and external institutional engagement, supporting the diplomatic, legal, and communications workstreams that advance this objective with Panama and partner States. 

​

This role will also be responsible for organizing and coordinating the broader initiative team, including attorneys, legal advisors, communications staff, PR teams, campaign consultants, and other collaborators involved in the initiative. The Initiative Coordinator will help ensure that all contributors remain aligned, informed, and organized around shared timelines, priorities, materials, and decision-making processes.

​

Key Responsibilities​

Initiative Team Coordination

• Organize and coordinate the broader initiative team, including: Attorneys, legal advisors, communications staff, PR teams, campaign consultants, design and digital communications consultants, civil society engagement leads, business engagement leads and institutional advisors.

• Serve as the central point of coordination across the initiative’s different teams and consultants.

• Ensure that all team members are clear on:

  • Roles and responsibilities

  • Priority workstreams

  • Deadlines

  • Deliverables

  • Internal processes

  • Approval pathways

  • Decision-making needs

• Convene regular team meetings and coordination spaces to ensure alignment across legal, communications, PR, campaign, diplomatic, and operational workstreams.

• Prepare agendas, notes, action items, and follow-up messages for initiative team meetings.

• Track assignments and follow up with team members to ensure timely completion of tasks.

• Support the preparation of terms of reference and scopes of work for consultants, and distribute assignments in a manner that balances workload across the team.

• Review consultant deliverables against agreed scopes and support performance evaluation processes as requested by forNature.

• Help identify where different workstreams need to be connected, including:

  • Legal drafting and public messaging

  • Civil society engagement and diplomatic strategy

  • PR planning and institutional announcements

  • Campaign materials and government communications

  • Business engagement and public-facing communications

• Support internal communication flow so that attorneys, communications teams, PR specialists, and campaign leads have the information, materials, and updates they need.

• Maintain centralized folders and coordination systems for the initiative team, including: Meeting notes, workplans, draft materials, final documents, communications assets, legal references, contact lists, approval trackers

• Elevate bottlenecks, gaps, delays, or conflicting priorities to forNature leadership in a timely manner.

• Participate in strategy calls, work-planning discussions, review processes, coordination meetings, and written reporting processes as reasonably requested by forNature or MiAmbiente.

​

Team Convening and Cross-Functional Alignment

• Act as the lead convener and organizer of the broader initiative team.

• Coordinate regular internal and external meetings, working sessions, briefings, and follow-up processes.

• Coordinate closely with MiAmbiente’s designated focal points to ensure that processes advance and materials are delivered in a timely manner.

• Bring together the different contributors to the initiative, including legal, diplomatic, communications, PR, campaign, civil society, business engagement, and operational teams.

• Prepare meeting materials, including: Agendas, briefing notes, meeting summaries, action items, follow-up communications

• Ensure that decisions, assignments, and next steps are clearly documented and tracked.

• Support alignment across the initiative’s different workstreams, including:

  • Legal strategy and drafting

  • Diplomatic engagement

  • Institutional coordination

  • Communications

  • Public relations

  • Civil society engagement

  • Business engagement

  • Design and digital communications

  • Operations

• Help ensure that attorneys, communications teams, PR specialists, campaign leads, and institutional partners are working from shared information and coordinated timelines.

• Identify bottlenecks, communication gaps, or coordination needs across teams.

• Elevate risks, delays, or strategic questions to forNature in a timely manner.

​

Institutional Interface with Panamanian Counterparts

• Serve as the day-to-day operational liaison with MiAmbiente, including the Office of International Technical Cooperation and designated focal points.

• Support coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on diplomatic instruments and procedural requirements.

• Manage the preparation, routing, and follow-up of institutional documents requiring ministerial review or signature, including through the Ministry’s document management systems.

• Maintain continuity of the initiative’s institutional relationships through changes in counterparts, focal points, and government personnel.

• Track pending institutional decisions and elevate blockages to forNature leadership and to MiAmbiente through the agreed escalation pathway.

​

Multilateral Process Support

• Support the preparation, execution, and follow-up of bilateral meetings with Member States, including briefing materials, talking points, and post-meeting records.

• Support Panama’s Permanent Missions in New York, Geneva and embassies with background materials, briefing packages, and coordination of follow-up.

• Support the design and delivery of briefing and training sessions for embassies and permanent missions so that the initiative is represented consistently across posts.

• Maintain trackers of State engagement, focal points, expressions of support, and pending follow-up.

• Support the preparation of diplomatic correspondence, including mission-to-mission notes and ministerial letters, for review and clearance by the relevant authorities.

• Monitor the relevant General Assembly calendar, resolution cycles, and multilateral environmental agreement processes, and flag developments affecting the initiative’s timeline.

​

Document Production and Knowledge Management

• Develop and maintain the initiative’s Operations Manual, covering workflows, roles, decision-making processes, coordination and approval protocols, reporting requirements, and document management systems.

• Draft, consolidate, and quality control substantive materials, including working briefs, concept notes, frequently asked questions, talking points, meeting records, and institutional correspondence, in English and Spanish.

• Maintain terminology consistency across languages and versions of the initiative’s materials.

• Manage differentiated versions of materials according to audience and confidentiality level, ensuring that materials intended for restricted circulation are not shared beyond their authorized audience.

• Maintain version control and centralized document management across the initiative’s shared systems.

​

For Nature Coalition of States

• Lead the operational follow-up with States toward the establishment and growth of the For Nature Coalition of States, serving as the day-to-day point of contact for interested and participating States and their missions.

• Maintain the engagement record for each State, including focal points, level of interest, internal clearance status, pending requests, and next steps, and drive follow-up so that commitments advance rather than stall.

• Support the institutional development of the Coalition, including terms of reference, participation instruments, onboarding materials for incoming members, and associated communications products.

• Coordinate the sequencing of outreach and announcements with forNature leadership and with Panama’s institutional counterparts, ensuring that the Coalition’s public profile advances according to the agreed strategy and timeline.

• Prepare the substantive and logistical elements required for States to join the Coalition at designated moments, including signing opportunities at high-level events.

​

Key Actor Engagement

• Establish and maintain working relationships with key actors whose engagement strengthens the initiative, including the private sector and business associations, academic and research institutions, international organizations and United Nations entities, development and philanthropic institutions, subnational governments, and professional, legal, and cultural bodies.

• Coordinate with the Campaign Strategist on engagement with civil society, Indigenous Peoples and their traditional authorities, local communities, and community leaders, ensuring that contacts opened by the Initiative Coordinator are linked to that workstream. 

• Map key actors, identify entry points, and propose engagement approaches for review by forNature leadership.

• Prepare tailored materials and briefings appropriate to each audience, in line with the initiative's confidentiality tiers and unified messaging.

• Coordinate collaboration documents with institutional partners in a manner that describes needs and modalities of cooperation, without presenting them as requests for direct financial transfers.

• Ensure that engagement across these constituencies remains consistent with the diplomatic track and does not run ahead of the institutional process.

​

International Events

• Coordinate the initiative’s participation in international events, including side event proposals, concept notes, official programme registration, accreditation processes, speaker coordination, and logistics.

​

Intercultural Approach and Political Sensitivity

The Initiative Coordinator will perform the role in a manner that reflects intercultural sensitivity and respect for diverse voices, Indigenous worldviews, and territorial knowledge systems relevant to the Rights of Nature movement. They will remain attentive to the political and diplomatic context in which the initiative is being advanced and will support implementation in a manner aligned with institutional relationships, sensitivities, and priorities.

​

Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong experience in project coordination, program management, institutional coordination, or campaign implementation.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, stakeholders, and priorities in a fast-moving environment.

• Professional proficiency in written and verbal communication in Spanish and English.

• Experience working with government institutions, international organizations, civil society networks, environmental initiatives, or multilateral processes.

• Excellent organizational skills, including experience managing calendars, trackers, workplans, shared folders, meeting notes, and reporting systems.

• High discretion and ability to handle sensitive political, diplomatic, legal, and institutional information.

• Strong intercultural awareness and respect for Indigenous leadership, territorial governance, and the broader Rights of Nature movement.

• Ability to work independently while remaining closely aligned with forNature’s leadership, project priorities, and coordination structures.

• Working knowledge of the United Nations system including multilateral environmental agreement negotiations.

• Familiarity with Rights of Nature, environmental law, or related normative frameworks is a strong asset.

• Demonstrated ability to draft institutional and diplomatic documents in both Spanish and English.

• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain institutional relationships across diverse constituencies, including government, private sector, academia, and international organizations.

• Experience working with Panamanian public administration is highly desirable.

• Valid passport and ability to travel internationally, including a valid United States visa.

• Availability to coordinate across time zones.

​

Location and Compensation

This is a full-time position, based in Panama City. The work will be conducted remotely with availability to attend meetings with Panamanian institutions. The Consultant may also be expected to attend additional in-person meetings, events, and international engagements as needed. This level of effort excludes any time spent traveling to perform the Services, including travel to or within the United States.

​

The Coordinator must remain available for time-sensitive assignments arising from developments in the initiative, including urgent coordination, drafting support, meeting preparation, institutional follow-up, and rapid-response operational needs.

The role will be performed in a manner consistent with the individual's status as an independent contractor, while remaining aligned with project priorities, timelines, and coordination structures established by forNature. For this role, "full-time" refers to the expected level of effort and time commitment under this independent contractor engagement; this position is not a direct employment relationship with forNature.

​

Compensation

forNature offers competitive industry compensation based on the candidate’s qualifications and years of relevant experience. 

​

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit the following materials:

• CV or resume

• Brief cover letter in English or Spanish

​

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled, with a preference for immediate availability. Materials should be sent to info@fornature.org with the subject line: Application – Initiative Coordinator.

​

Equal Opportunity Statement

forNature values diverse perspectives and strongly encourages applications from candidates from different backgrounds, disciplines, and lived experiences. International applicants and non-U.S. citizens are welcome to apply. Please note that the fellowship does not provide visa sponsorship or immigration support, and eligibility to work in the United States is required.