Forest Policy Expert

The Forest Policy Expert strengthens WWF‑Romania’s influence on forest‑related public policies by translating technical forest expertise into clear policy positions, advocacy strategies and institutional engagement. The role ensures that forest priorities are accurately reflected in national, regional and EU policy processes, and contribute to broader organisational influencing on biodiversity, climate adaptation, restoration, land‑use and governance.
Reporting directly to the Public Advocacy Lead, the position ensures that forest‑related inputs are consistent with WWF‑Romania’s overall advocacy framework and supports efforts to promote financing mechanisms that enable sustainable forest management and community stewardship. Through a dotted-line connection to the Forest Manager, the role ensures that all policy outputs are grounded in robust technical and scientific expertise.
The role acts as a bridge between the Forest Programme, the Public Advocacy Unit, and WWF network advocacy processes, ensuring coherence between technical evidence, policy objectives, and institutional engagement.

Your duties will include:

• Draft policy briefs, position papers, legislative recommendations, and analysis notes for forest-related topics.
• Monitor national and EU legislative processes and identify influencing opportunities.
• Prepare forest-related arguments, messages, and engagement materials for meetings with public authorities.
• Work with other Policy Experts to integrate forest perspectives into cross‑thematic advocacy (biodiversity, adaptation, restoration, climate‑nature).
• Ensure alignment with WWF‑CEE and WWF‑EPO advocacy frameworks and contribute to joint positions, consultation responses, and coordinated advocacy initiatives at regional and EU level.
• Advocate with Romanian institutions and contribute to EU‑level influencing for the creation and operationalisation of financing instruments that support forest conservation and sustainable management, including incentives, subsidies and funding tools benefiting private forest owners and forest‑dependent communities.
• Provide policy framing, context and advocacy needs for technical analyses and studies developed by the Forest Programme.
• Provide policy framing and advocacy-relevant content for communication materials (key messages, briefing notes, Q&A, public statements).
• Support coherence between WWF‑Romania’s public positions and the Forest programme’s scientific and technical foundations.
• Provide policy framing and advocacy-relevant content for communication materials (e.g. key messages, briefing notes, Q&A, public statements).
• Review communication drafts to ensure policy accuracy and alignment with WWF‑Romania’s forest advocacy positions.
• Collaborate with the Forest Communications Expert on planning visibility and communication moments linked to forest policy advocacy.
• Provide policy inputs for project concepts, proposals and donor submissions, ensuring forest priorities and advocacy pathways are clearly reflected.
• Work with project managers to implement policy- and advocacy‑related project deliverables and ensure they are consistent with WWF‑Romania’s influencing priorities.
• Contribute to project implementation by delivering policy‑ and advocacy‑related activities (e.g., policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, advocacy moments)
• Contribute to the design of forest policy objectives, influencing pathways, and indicators within advocacy strategies and project frameworks.
• Support tracking of policy outcomes, institutional responses, and advocacy impact related to forest issues.

We expect from you:
Adhere to the WWF mission, as well as LIVE in line with the WWF Values: Courage, Integrity, Respect and Collaboration

Knowledge:

• University degree in public policy, environmental policy, political science, environmental governance, environmental law, or public administration.
• Degrees in forestry, environmental sciences, or natural resource management are also acceptable if supplemented with demonstrated experience in policy analysis or advocacy.
• Additional training in EU environmental governance, nature conservation, or forest policy is an advantage.
• Good understanding of Romanian and EU environmental policy, especially related to forests, land use, biodiversity, restoration, or climate adaptation.
• Familiarity with forest governance challenges in Romania and EU forest‑related legislation (EUDR, EU Forest Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy, Nature Restoration Law).
• General understanding of forestry, sustainable forest management, certification (FSC) and community forestry, or willingness and ability to learn quickly.

Experience:

• Good understanding of Romanian and EU environmental policy, especially related to forests, land use, biodiversity, restoration, or climate adaptation.
• Experience working with public authorities, river basin institutions, NGOs, or research institutions is an advantage.
• Experience in project development and reporting is a plus.

Skills and Abilities:

• Strong policy analysis, synthesis and writing skills.
• Ability to translate technical content into policy-oriented materials.
• Strong relationship-building skills with institutions and stakeholders.
• Familiarity with advocacy, public affairs, or political engagement.
• Ability to work effectively in a matrix environment with multiple deadlines.
• Fluency in Romanian and English.
• Proficiency in MS Office / Google Workspace.
• Ability to use or learn policy monitoring tools

We offer

• The opportunity to make a difference – for Romania and WWF
• Challenging and fulfilling work in one of Europe’s most exciting eco-regions
• A friendly and highly professional working atmosphere in an international context
• Varying tasks and an independent work style
• A pleasant working atmosphere and a great learning environment

If you are interested in joining the global WWF team, email your application documents, including your CV and cover letter (in English) to [email protected]. Application deadline: 13.03.2026. Please understand that we can only reply to short-listed candidates.