Field Technician | LifeTree Bangladesh – Sundarbans

Job Description

Title: Field Technician | LifeTree Bangladesh – Sundarbans

Company Name: The Earth

Vacancy: 10

Age: 25 to 45 years

Job Location: Bagerhat, Khulna

Salary: Negotiable

Experience:

• 1 to 2 years
• The applicants should have experience in the following business area(s): NGO

• 1 to 2 years
• The applicants should have experience in the following business area(s): NGO

• Age 25 to 45 years

Required Qualifications

• Minimum Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC); a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Forestry, Environmental Science, or a related discipline is preferred.

• Educational requirements may be relaxed for candidates with strong, relevant field experience.

Required Experience

• Minimum of 2 years of field experience in agriculture, agroforestry, or community mobilization, with direct experience working with farmers or community members.

• Experience supporting nursery operations, agricultural production and tree planting activities, and farmer training is preferred.

• Experience working in coastal, saline-prone, or climate-vulnerable landscapes is an advantage.

Required Skills and Competencies

• Strong facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and rapport with farmers and communities.

• Working knowledge of climate smart agricultural production practices, agroforestry, seedling production, nursery management, and/or tree plantation practices.

• A strong willingness to be trained and mentored by the Technical Officer and Technical Specialist.

• Good organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to report accurately and on time.

• Basic digital literacy, with familiarity with smartphone-based data collection tools such as KoboToolbox preferred.

• Fluent in Bangla (spoken and written); working knowledge of English is an advantage.

• Willingness to travel extensively and work in rural, coastal, and saline-prone field conditions.

• Patience, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to work independently with minimum supervision.

Preferred Skills

• Prior experience with farmer field schools or participatory training approaches.

• Experience building capacity of women farmers or women entrepreneurs.

• Experience working with cooperative or Samity-based community structures.

• Familiarity with the Dacope/Khulna coastal context.

• Valid motorbike license or willingness to obtain one.

• Ability to travel by local transportation, motorbike or bicycle across rural, coastal terrain

The Earth Society (TES) is a youth-centric NGO working on climate action, green skills development, sustainable entrepreneurship, and advocacy in Bangladesh. Through its programmes, TES weaves together capacity building, ecosystem restoration, and livelihood development to nurture an inclusive ecosystem of resilience and regeneration.

Project Description

LifeTree Bangladesh – Sundarbans is a regenerative agroforestry and reforestation initiative implemented by The Earth Society, in partnership with Sundori Agro and Mother Trees, and funded by Ecosia. The project facilitates the plantation of climate-resilient trees through homestead agroforestry, live fencing, and social forestry across the coastal districts of Khulna and Bagerhat, along the ecological buffer zone of the Sundarbans — helping restore degraded landscapes, strengthen climate resilience, and build sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities.

Job Purpose

The Field Technician's main role is working directly with farmers: serving as The Earth Society's day-to-day point of contact for farmers, nursery staff, lead farmers, and community members participating in the LifeTree Bangladesh – Sundarbans project within their assigned working area.

The Field Technician is trained jointly by the Technical Specialist and their assigned Technical Officer, and in turn trains and supports farmers directly, with ongoing support and oversight from the Technical Officer. The Field Technician also supports the social forestry component under the direct guidance of the Technical Officer, who leads that component given its specialized technical requirements.

Day-to-day responsibilities include delivering hands-on training and coaching, supporting nursery and seed bank operations, conducting regular plantation monitoring and field data collection, and maintaining accurate field records.

Key Responsibilities

Farmer and Community Engagement

• Serve as the direct point of contact for farmers, lead farmers, and community members in the assigned working area, building and maintaining rapport with local leaders and communities.

• Support farmer identification, enrollment and formation of village-level groups of 25 farmers each (with at least 50% women), and orientation of participating households.

• Orient farmers and community members on the project's goals, eligibility criteria, participant selection process, and planned interventions.

• Facilitate family sessions to increase understanding of the program, the importance of agroforestry and its role in income and nutrition and ensure support of family members engaged in the program, especially women.

Farmer Training and Technical Support

• Deliver hands-on training and demonstrations to farmers, nursery staff, and lead farmers on agroforestry including species selection, planting techniques, tree maintenance, and climate smart agricultural practices, following the LifeTree Systems’ training content and guidance provided by the Technical Specialist and Technical Officer.

• Provide ongoing field-level coaching, troubleshooting, and technical assistance to farmers, and escalate technical challenges.

• Support lead farmers to serve as local resource people and facilitate peer-to-peer learning within their communities.

• Ensure training content is delivered in a practical, locally relevant manner, adapted to the conditions of coastal and saline-prone areas.

• Support the organization of transport, delivery, and distribution of project inputs (seeds, seedlings, tools, and/or other materials) to farmer groups and proper record-keeping of all asset transfers.

Nursery and Seed Bank Support

• Monitoring and supporting seedling production, including propagation, seed preservation, and basic quality checks, under the technical oversight of the Technical Officer.

• Maintain accurate nursery and seed bank documentation, including stock registers, species and distribution records, and share these regularly with the Technical Officer for review.

Plantation Monitoring

• Conduct regular field visits to monitor plantation progress, seedling survival, health, growth, and pest/disease issues in the assigned area, drawing on input from Lead Farmers who monitor their own groups.

• Identify and promptly report technical issues, delays, or risks affecting plantation quality and tree survival to the Technical Officer, and support replacement planting and corrective actions as guided.

Data Collection, Work Planning, and Reporting

• Collect and enter routine field data — including farmer enrollment, training attendance, plantation and nursery records — using prescribed formats and mobile data collection tools such as KoboToolbox. Photograph planted areas with geo-tags and timestamps and upload to KoboToolbox within 3 days of planting or monitoring visits.

• Prepare field visit and activity reports and share these with the Technical Officer promptly.

• Document lessons learned, farmer innovations, and success stories from the field to support project learning.

As per project policy