2021 Sustainability Fellowship: Natural Climate Solutions for Agricultural Businesses

UNH Sustainability Fellowships pair exceptional students from UNH and across the U.S. with municipal, educational, corporate, and non-profit partners in New England to work on transformative sustainability initiatives each summer.  Sustainability Fellows undertake challenging projects that are designed to create an immediate impact, offer a quality learning experience, and foster meaningful collaboration. Fellows work on-site (or online) with their mentors at partner organizations during the summer, supported by a network of Fellows, partners, alumni, and the UNH Team. 

 

A detailed description of one Fellowship follows. To learn more about the other Fellowships offered this year, and for application instructions, see the external link on Handshake.

 

·     Students and recent graduates who will have earned an undergraduate degree from ANY accredited college or university by May 2021 (current seniors, recent graduates, and graduate students).

Root Capital is an international non-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of rural farmers by investing in agricultural businesses that grow rural prosperity. We provide loans to enterprises whose credit needs are too big for microfinance and too small or risky for commercial banks. To help businesses grow and mature, we also provide customized training to strengthen businesses’ financial management, governance, and agronomic capacities. With right-sized capital, information, and support, agricultural businesses play a critical role in building resilient communities where livelihoods are more secure and opportunity exists for all. Through our unique value proposition—our proximity to rural communities, platform serving hundreds of enterprises annually, breadth of partnerships, and commitment to inclusion for women and young people—Root Capital has permanently changed the landscape of smallholder finance, demonstrating the bankability of agricultural enterprises and showing others opportunity where before they saw only risk. Over the last twenty years, we have deployed our innovative “credit plus capacity” model to provide $1.5 billion in financing to more than 725 enterprises and tailored capacity building to more than 1,500 enterprises, improving the livelihoods of over 2.3 million farming families (9.6 million individuals) across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The Fellow will work within Root Capital’s Impact team at our Cambridge headquarters, contingent on the pandemic and our ability to safely re-open our office this summer. If the pandemic prohibits in-person work, the fellow will work remotely from our virtual office. The Impact team is responsible for measuring and managing our impact through ongoing performance monitoring and periodic deep-dive impact evaluations. The Impact team also manages several initiatives to deepen our organization’s impact in key areas, including our Climate Resilience Initiative.

 

Climate change is the defining crisis of the 21st century. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, more extreme weather events, and other effects of a changing climate pose an existential threat to communities around the world. Those who did the least to cause climate change bear the brunt of its costs. Many smallholder farmers use planet-friendly, low-carbon practices like agroforestry that store carbon, protect biodiversity, and preserve ecosystems. Yet smallholder farmers are on the frontlines of climate change, among the first to experience negative impacts from shifting climate patterns and extreme weather events. Smallholder farmers can help mitigate climate change, but only if they have the resilience to withstand its effects. Rural communities are not just the most at risk; they are also critical partners in ecosystem preservation and climate change mitigation.

 

Root Capital believes that agricultural enterprises such as farmers’ cooperatives and associations, agro-processors, and aggregators are uniquely positioned to serve as a distributed platform for grassroots, locally determined, and timely climate action at scale. Root Capital has set forth a goal to double our lending to businesses committed to climate action in rural communities. By 2025, we aim to disburse $100+ million annually to at least 125 “climate action leaders” making substantial contributions to climate change mitigation and/or adaptation in their communities.

 

Root Capital’s 2020 Sustainability Fellow contributed to a meta-analysis of climate risk exposure of coffee and cocoa farmers across our global portfolio, which continues to inform how Root Capital delivers our Climate Resilience Advisory Service, specifically our climate vulnerability diagnostic and climate vulnerability workshops. The 2021 Sustainability Fellow will directly contribute to Root Capital’s Climate Resilience initiative through research and analysis related to natural climate solutions: “conservation, restoration and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in landscapes and wetlands across the globe.” Specifically, the Fellow will analyze primary data from Root Capital’s international coffee portfolio, collected through our Digital Business Intelligence services, to determine: a) the extent to which businesses and farmers are using natural climate solutions like diverse agroforestry management, and b) the estimated carbon benefits generated by these actors, likely using a carbon emissions calculator like the Cool Farm Tool[1]. The Fellow will also conduct secondary research on natural climate solutions relevant to other crops in Root Capital’s portfolio, such as maize and sorghum. The 2020 Sustainability Fellow’s work informed key services that enable Root Capital to support their clients in building risk-awareness to climate change, and this year we are excited for the 2021 Sustainability Fellow to contribute key data analysis that will enable Root Capital to identify and prioritize businesses engaging in meaningful climate action in their communities.

 

1.    The Fellow’s research and analysis on natural climate solutions across Root Capital’s portfolio will contribute to our goal to grow our lending to businesses committed to climate action in rural communities. Specific deliverables associated with this workstream will include:

a.    Analysis of farm- and business-level data collected through Root Capital’s Digital Business Intelligence (DBI) service to identify clients qualifying for an Agroforestry threshold (40%+ shade coverage, 10+ tree species), and identification of which clients could start collecting agroforestry threshold data through our DBI platform.

b.    Based on initial Cool Farm Tool (CFT) findings from a pilot project with Root Capital and the Cool Farm Tool Alliance, analysis and identification of soil management or other practices that are promising in terms of carbon benefits and that could qualify clients as Climate Action Leaders within Root Capital’s portfolio

c.    Based on initial Cool Farm Tool findings, analyze other internal inspection data from Root Capital’s Data Platform service to determine: a) at client level, degree overlap with Cool Farm Tool survey; b) at farmer level, likely performance on CFT, to the extent possible with data gap. This analysis would inform decision making on if and how to scale beyond the pilot project.

2.    The Fellow will also conduct secondary research on natural climate solutions relevant to other crops in Root Capital’s portfolio. Deliverables associated with this workstream would include:

a.    Research on intercropping Climate Action Leader thresholds for sorghum, maize, and other priority non-tree crop value chains

b.    Research Agroforestry or other Climate Action Leader thresholds for additional tree crops including cocoa, macadamia, and coconut.

 

Anticipated outcomes include an internal report (likely 5-10 pages in length) and presentation(s) on both current and potential natural climate solutions in Root Capital’s global portfolio, including recommendations on how Root Capital can better monitor these critical climate actions in our field work going forward. The Fellow will present their findings to an internal team working closely with the Climate Resilience Initiative and potentially with other stakeholders, such key partners from the Cool Farm Tool pilot project, as well.

 

1)   The Fellow will gain experience in applying analysis on smallholder agriculture and climate change in a real-world setting, to inform the work of an organization providing finance and training to confront climate change to hundreds of agricultural businesses around the world. The Fellow will gain a better understanding of the relationships between climate change, agricultural practices, and rural livelihoods; and will build skills in data analysis and program evaluation and improvement. Through Root Capital staff, the Fellow will be mentored by agriculture and climate experts and have the opportunity to learn from a network of 100+ international nonprofit professionals working at the intersection of finance, sustainable agriculture, and social entrepreneurship.

2)   This project will directly inform Root Capital’s services to vulnerable agricultural businesses in 2021 and beyond, enhancing our efforts to demonstrate the natural capital and climate mitigation benefits generated by producers supplying the agricultural businesses we work with. As part of our field-building agenda, we will share the learning gained from the Fellowship as appropriate, such as with key partners of the Cool Farm Tool pilot project, the impact management working group of the Council for Smallholder Agricultural Finance, and/or during climate-related conferences.

·     Academic Background

o  Graduate student with background in environmental studies, social sciences, public policy, or a related field (some quantitative background preferred)

·     Experience

o  Professional experience in data analysis and quantitative and qualitative research (desk or field-based), ideally in a non-profit or academic setting

o  Strong analytical abilities and quantitative skills; experience with data management, cleaning, and analysis. Proven ability to produce clear reports for both technical and non-technical stakeholders

o  Experience applying academic knowledge or research to real-world data

o  Ability to simplify complex data and analysis into clear, concise reports and presentations for colleagues

·     General / Soft Skills

o  Excellent research and data analysis skills

o  Excellent written and verbal communication skills

o  Attention to detail and very strong organization skills

o  Self-starter and ability to flexibly manage and prioritize tasks; ability to thrive in a dynamic and entrepreneurial team environment

o  Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate with diverse audiences

·     Technical / Specialized Skills

o  Spanish language (at least reading comprehension)

o  At least basic experience working with outputs of carbon accounting models (no climate modeling experience required or expected)

o  Proficient in Word and Excel 

·     Interests

o  Familiarity with impact investing, agricultural finance, climate change impacts, food systems research, and/or international economic development

o  Knowledge of agriculture and food systems, ideally including smallholder systems and/or tree crop supply chains (e.g., coffee, cocoa) in developing economies

o  Knowledge of climate change solutions relevant to or involving agriculture (e.g., regenerative agriculture)

Root Capital, 130 Bishop Allen Dr, Cambridge MA 02139

Work will be performed online.

Mentors: Elizabeth Teague, Associate Director of Social & Environmental Performance; Sabrina Kerin, Impact Analyst

Compensation:

$6500

(taxable and distributed on a two-week payroll cycle over the course of the fellowship)

·     Attend a mandatory orientation prior to the start of the fellowship term, June 1-3, 2021. 

·     Work full-time for the partner organization, June 7 - August 20, 2021

·     Complete 400 hours of work, including project work with host organization as well as UNHSI activities, between June 1 – August 20, 2021.

·     Complete a fellowship project according to the work plan.

·     Participate in weekly webinars and advisory group meetings.

·     Present work at mid-term and final poster sessions at UNH on July 15 and August 12.

·     Engage in additional professional development, networking, and advisory activities as offered.

·     Provide and receive feedback at the end of the fellowship.

Questions may be addressed to fellows.network@unh.edu.

[1] The Cool Farm Tool is an online greenhouse gas emissions calculator that enables producers, companies, farmer organizations, and other supply chain actors to measure their GHG emissions to better understand mitigation outcomes. Root Capital and the Cool Farm Tool Alliance, along with other with key industry stakeholders, are involved in a Carbon, Climate, and Coffee project that aims to assess net carbon sequestration in coffee farmer fields, illustrate how coffee, when organically cultivated as an agroforestry system, can function as a climate change solution, and to encourage collaboration in the face of the collective climate crisis across the coffee supply chain.