Entrepreneurship in the territories: is it the right time?
CONTEXT
Would you like to work on projects that make sense and have a real impact?
Do you want to work towards a fair and sustainable energy transition? Then join us!
Set up in 1976, Geres is a French based international development NGO which works to improve the living conditions of the poorest and tackle climate change and its impacts. As a grassroots actor, Geres considers the energy transition as a major lever in all its actions. In order to drive societal change, Geres promotes the development and dissemination of innovative and local solutions, supports climate-energy policies and actions and encourages everyone to commit to Climate Solidarity by taking action and supporting vulnerable populations.
With 30 years of experience in Southeast Asia, Geres has introduced accessible and transferable energy solutions tailored to local needs, with a strong focus on wood and biomass energy. These efforts aim to enhance the resilience and livelihoods of rural communities, empower local stakeholders, and promote sustainable resource management. Currently active in Cambodia and Myanmar, Geres seeks to expand its activities in these two countries and initiate operations in other parts of the region.
In Cambodia, Geres has been implementing several initiatives, including promoting energy efficiency in the garment sector and advancing sustainable biomass sourcing for industrial use, particularly focusing on wood energy. These interventions are guided by principles of social justice and women’s empowerment, ensuring inclusivity and equity. Geres strives to make its efforts complementary to those of local civil society organizations (CSOs), such as the Cambodia Women for Peace and development (CWPD) and Live and Learn Cambodia (LLC), with whom we collaborate closely.
Since 2018, Geres' garment program has supported over 65 factories. Its technical interventions align with the priorities of key institutions in the sector, such as TAFTAC (Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association of Cambodia) and CGTI (Cambodia Garment Training Institute). To encourage the adoption of sustainable energy practices, Geres showcases replicable examples within the industry, while collecting, analyzing, and sharing lessons learned with stakeholders both in Cambodia and internationally.
Starting in 2025, Geres renewed its partnership with national academic institutions and ministries involved in energy policy and management. This collaboration focus on capacity building and skill development to strengthen local expertise and ensure the sustainability of energy solutions.
Geres is currently in a transition phase in Cambodia, implementing 2 projects: one related to capacity building on energy matters in the textile industry funded by Lichtenstein Development Agency (LED); and another one on cooling solutions for buildings based on its set of good practices developed in Mongolia and Tajikistan, and funded by Climate Works Foundation. A series of funding opportunities are also in the pipeline or identified for which steering/support will be needed.
CapCEE - Capacity for Cambodia Energy Efficiency (CapCEE)
Cambodia has experienced a significant increase in energy consumption, leading to obvious environmental impacts. Key national regulation, the National Energy Efficiency Policy (NEEP) aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030. However, there is a lack of local expertise to implement these policies effectively. CapCEE contributes to address this gap by training local energy managers and auditors through the Certified Energy Manager and Auditor Training (CEMAT) program at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). The project's objective is to improve Cambodia's energy efficiency capacity by equipping institutions (ITC) with the skills and infrastructure necessary to train qualified energy managers and auditors. In turn, this work will provide qualitative training on energy efficiency to the private sector and provincial departments of government agencies and put ITC in a position to sustainably strengthen both public and private sectors.
In the past, Geres has already collaborated with ITC to promote energy-efficient wood stoves and created the Biomass Energy Laboratory, which was then handed over to ITC to ensure long-term sustainability. The ITC continues to play a crucial role in the development and implementation of training programs, such as the CEMAT training launched in 2023. Together, Geres and ITC are working to strengthen energy efficiency capacities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aligning their efforts with Cambodia's national energy policies and contributing to the country's sustainable development goals.
CHILL: Cooling Homes - Innovative & Low-impact Living
In Cambodia's hot climate, climate change and poorly planned urban growth have increased residents' exposure to extreme temperatures, particularly in energy-inefficient housing. Over-reliance on air conditioning as the primary cooling solution significantly increases energy consumption, straining household budget for electricity and contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
The project aims to improve the living conditions and climate resilience of urban populations in Phnom Penh by implementing cost-effective energy improvements, solutions and practices for cooling. This pilot project will directly impact 100 households, 15 SMEs, 2 microfinance institutions, and 50 government actors and generate data, evidence and good practices for further intervention. The project will also directly reach 15,000 individuals through behavior change campaigns.
CHILL is funded by Climate Works Foundation and implemented by a consortium of 3 partners, Geres, LLC and ITC over a period of 24 months.
Live & Learn Cambodia (LLC) recently co-developed training modules and materials with Geres to raise awareness of climate issues and heat stress management. They have successfully conducted behavior change campaigns involving more than 6,000 people, focusing on developing interpersonal skills and supporting sustainable practices. LLC is responsible for contributing technical expertise, engaging the community, and providing local knowledge. LLC will also participate in monitoring field activities and collecting data to evaluate results at the community level.
The Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) is the leader of the passive cooling Community of Practice in Cambodia. They will be responsible for providing technical expertise, research support, and academic collaboration. ITC will also engage policymakers and stakeholders at the national and local levels to advocate for policy frameworks that support energy-efficient housing.
The project will directly support Cambodia's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target of a 29.7% reduction in electricity use for buildings by 2030 and the implementation of the National Energy Efficiency Policy (NEEP).
Mission
In cooperation with the Asia Regional Director, the Country Representative will be in charge of declining and unfolding Geres regional strategy at national level with the programme team. She/he will represent Geres in the country, lead fundraising efforts and oversee all projects/programmes in cooperation with managers and Finance and Admin department. She/he will primarily guide and support country office teams in achieving optimal office and project management. She/he will ensure compliance, quality of implementation, monitoring and reporting are performed properly.
In Cambodia, she/he will specifically support and coach the Programme Manager and other senior project staff as they are deployed, in overseeing Project Cycle Management and ensuring the quality & impact of the portfolio of projects.
She/He will work in close coordination with Financial Controller and key subject matters experts based in HQ.
She/he will liaise with donors, partners, the NGO and IO networks and coordinate Geres communication and advocacy towards national and local authorities.
activities
As Technical Assistant for CHILL and CapCEE
1/ Oversee Project Cycle Management
Lead and support project staff & partners in planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring activities
Support the monitoring and evaluation process, in particular by developing methodologies M&E tools to
measure the results and impacts of the projects
Smoothly tackle implementation constraints and put in place the necessary corrective measures in
consultation with stakeholders (including authorities, partners, and beneficiaries) and Geres management
Supervise and ensure compliance in the use of external service providers, internal support missions and other
suppliers
Ensure quality and timely preparation of internal and external reports
Ensure and maintain a knowledge management system, incl. archival and sharing
Ensure ownership and capacity building of the team across the entire project cycle management
2/Manage project partnerships
Monitor, assess and facilitate the work with the implementing partners. Understand their mandate and
agendas, nurture their involvement in the project
Ensure commitments of Geres towards its partners are dully filled and reciprocally, that project partners
abide by their respective commitments towards Geres
Prevent and, if need be, solve issues and disputes with partners
3/Supervise administrative, logistical, and financial management of the project
Develop and/or guarantee a framework of operations and responsibilities between the stakeholders in
accordance with the rules of the financial partners
Supervise the planning and delivery of financial expenditures and accounting flows in collaboration with the
Administrative and Finance Officer
Communicate to teams and ensure compliance with logistical, administrative, and financial procedures
As Country Representative
1/Lead and facilitate development of country strategy in coherence with Geres Regional Strategy
Analyse the country context, strengths/weaknesses/challenges/opportunities
Develop networks and identify strategic partnerships with donors, international NGOs, national CSOs, national and local authorities, private sector.
Implement the country strategy; evaluate and update if deemed necessary
Be active part to the regional strategy development
2/Fundraising & project/programme portfolio development in coherence with the country strategy
Perform prospective work and develop field understanding of the country, also beyond current zones/topics of interventions
Prospectively identify funding opportunities
Identify partnership opportunities in order to prepare swiftly concepts and consortium ahead of calls for proposals
Organise the development of funding proposals (narrative and budget) in country, following the existing procedure in close collaboration with the Regional Director and HQ
3/Overseeing the portfolio of projects
Coordinate the implementation of all projects/consultancies with managers/experts and teams assigned to action
Follow-up on indicators, activities/impact related objectives and deliverables. If needed, ensure challenges are identified and corrective measures taken
4/Representation of Geres amongst key stakeholders in-country and with the support of the Regional Director
Ensure proactive and regular communication with institutional partners and development stakeholders
Manage the external communication of Geres in- country, with the support of Comms officer and HQ Comms Department
Relay key relevant information to Regional Director and HQ
Integrate and maintain relation with relevant networks in-country (NGOs, Groupe Initiative, Energy related platforms and networks)
5/Supervision of human resources, administration & finance
Ensure the good management of the office related to Human Resources, logistics, administration, and finance/accounting. Make sure that the national legislation is duly respected.
Organise and regularly check the quality/consistency of the budget planning, disbursement plans, financial and accounting reporting.
Ensure that all practices and processes are in line with the rules and procedures developed by the Finance and Admin Department of Geres.
In line with Geres HR policy and for national colleagues, supervise the elaboration of the Country-level HR policy, submit it to Regional Direction/HR at HQ for validation
6/Management and animation of the team
Ensure hierarchical management of the Cambodia team (recruitment, on/off boarding, training, appraisal, workload, work planning and prioritisation of tasks)
Develop skills and competencies, support and include members of the Cambodia team
Maintain a team atmosphere and ensure information flows amongst the members of the team
Ensure the well-being and proper work conditions for the team
7/Management of partnerships
Monitor, assess, and facilitate project partnerships, including prospective and/or strategic partnerships.
Facilitate the identification and formalisation of partnerships at country level
8/Management of in-country Security
Continuously assess and analyse context, key actors, and incidents
Follow-up on these contextual analyses and liaise with Regional Director
Keep up to date the required security documents/processes, ensure proper diffusion to members of the team after Regional Director/HQ Security focal point validation
Ensure security and internal rules are respected in-country and by everyone
Manage incidents (in line with the Executive Director for critical incidents), relay key relevant information to Regional Director and HQ
Integrate relevant national security networks
