Analyst - Forest Crime - Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Contract Duration

Fixed-term contract for one year with possibility of renewal

Language Proficiency

French and English - essential

Experience

3 to 5 years' relevant experience

Location

Kinshasa, DRC

Background

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) is an independent civil society organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with a globally dispersed Secretariat working across 42 countries. Founded in 2013, GI-TOC brings together a global network of more than 750 independent experts and a team of over 130 staff dedicated to understanding and responding to organized crime. Through research, analysis, policy engagement and support to civil society actors, GI-TOC works to deepen understanding of organized crime and strengthen effective, rights-based responses. In 2024, GI-TOC produced 167 publications and reached more than 713,000 website users worldwide.

The GI-TOC works to:

• Identify, analyse and map criminal trends and patterns of regional instability, and their impact on illicit flows, governance, development, security, conflict and the rule of law.
• Connect and support civil society actors working on organized crime and corruption, and on their links to instability and conflict.
• Strengthen local monitoring and analysis of national, regional and international organized crime and insecurity trends.

Job Summary

The GI-TOC is seeking an Analyst based in Kinshasa to contribute to its investigative work on forest crime in the DRC under the NICFI-funded “From Roots to Enrichment” initiative (2026–2029).

The Congo Basin is the second-largest tropical forest on earth and the most significant remaining carbon sink among the world’s forests. In the DRC deforestation is driven by a wide range of factors, including  illegal timber exploitation, industrial agriculture, charcoal production at criminal scale, and land pressure, including that generated by conflict and displacement, particularly in the east. Mining also plays a role: a combination of artisanal and medium-scale mining — especially gold - and also large-scale mining of minerals such as cobalt, whereby mining expansion drives forest conversion.

Disrupting these networks requires sustained in-country investigative capacity, credible evidence, and relationships across enforcement, policy, and civil society that can translate intelligence into action. Focused on addressing criminally driven deforestation, the NICFI project aims to carry out and support direct interventions against this situation, focused on criminally driven deforestation, with a specific emphasis on illegal mining, and the Congo Basin’s role in illicit global flows.

This role establishes GI-TOC’s first dedicated in-country presence in DRC, supported closely by the Director of the Central African Observatory and the Head of Forest Crime in Latin America, who coordinates the NICFI project. The Senior Analyst will also engage with and be supported by the environmental thematic leads (environmental and extractives) in the global policy team. This role demands strong interpersonal skills, an ability to create and maintain networks across enforcement, civil society and partner organisations, and the time-management skills to balance fieldwork, research, and engagement in official settings.

Working closely with 

• The Head of Forest Crime (line manager)
• The Director of the Central African Observatory (Dakar)
• The Director of Extractives
• GI-TOC’s environmental crime and multilateral engagement teams
• Consortium partners operating in DRC under the NICFI project
• Law enforcement, environmental, and judicial counterparts in DRC
• Civil society, investigative journalism, and academic partners in DRC

Key Responsibilities

Forest Crime: Investigations (Primary Focus)

• Conduct GI-TOC’s investigative work on criminally driven deforestation in DRC, with particular attention to illegal mining as a driver of forest loss, illegal timber, and associated financial flows
• Carry out OSINT-led investigations that map actors, routes, corporate structures, and financial enablers of forest crime networks — drawing on corporate registry work, satellite analysis, trade data, and field research through trusted local partners
• Support the commissioning and oversight of field research and missions conducted by local partners and contracted investigators, in coordination with the Head of Forest Crime and the Director of the Central African Observatory
• Working with the Head of Forest Crime, Director of the Central African Observatory and other GI-TOC staff (including the Director of Extractives) as necessary, contribute to the review and quality assurance of partner investigations
• Produce investigative outputs — intelligence reports, case studies, risk typologies — to the evidentiary standard required to support law enforcement action, and private sector due diligence
• Ensure all investigative products are properly sourced, verified/triangulated, and documented in the project case management system in line with GI-TOC evidentiary, legal and security standards
• Contribute to Gabon-focused investigative work led from Dakar, including remote monitoring and analytical support and participation in occasional missions.

Law Enforcement and Institutional Liaison

• Act as GI-TOC’s working-level point of contact with law enforcement, environmental, and judicial counterparts in DRC — building and maintaining the relationships necessary to move investigative evidence into enforcement action where conditions allow
• Map the enforcement and prosecutorial architecture in DRC; identify credible counterparts and track where cases can actually be moved versus where institutional barriers make uptake unrealistic
• Translate investigative outputs into briefings, case files, and referrals tailored to the needs of specific enforcement counterparts; pursue concrete enforcement uptake of GI-TOC evidence where conditions allow
• Track policy, legislative, and enforcement developments in DRC and feed analysis back to the Head of Forest Crime and the Central African Observatory Director
• Represent GI-TOC in relevant forums, working groups, and bilateral engagements on forest and environmental crime in DRC, which may include mining forums

Coordination and Integration

• Work closely with the Central African Observatory to ensure complementarity of effort and political and engagement support as appropriate, and coordinate with the broader work of GI-TOC’s environmental crime and extractives teams
• Coordinate with, supervise and work closely with consortium partners operating in DRC under NICFI to ensure forest crime investigative activity is complementary, non-duplicative, and well-sequenced
• Feed country-level intelligence into cross-country analysis led by the Head of Forest Crime, in coordination with the environmental and extractives teams, particularly on supply chains linking Central African forest-risk commodities to regional and global markets
• Contribute to project monitoring, evaluation, and learning requirements, including documentation of evidence uptake by public and private actors
• Play an active part in the country-level civil society, academia and media sectors, leading discussions and debates and influencing and supporting others in this field

Required Experience and Qualifications

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following experience and skills:

• Minimum 3–5 years’ relevant experience in investigations, analysis, or intelligence work on organised crime, environmental crime, mining, corruption, or related areas — from within civil society, journalism, law enforcement, a think-tank, or regulatory body
• OSINT capability, including corporate tracing, satellite imagery interpretation, open-source financial analysis, and social media research
• Familiarity with DRC’s law enforcement, prosecutorial, and environmental governance architecture — who does what, and what actually gets cases moved
• Fluency in French and English, written and oral — interviews will be conducted in both
• Comfort working in politically sensitive environments, maintaining productive relationships with a range of actors, with sound judgement about risk to self, sources, and partners

 Desirable

• Demonstrated investigative or analytical track record on environmental crime, illegal mining, illegal logging, or closely adjacent fields in DRC, Gabon, or the wider Congo Basin
• Working familiarity with Gabon’s law enforcement, environmental, and judicial institutions
• Existing working relationships with DRC enforcement, environmental, or judicial counterparts, or with credible civil society counterparts in these spaces
• Lingala or Swahili language skills
• Familiarity with international trade flows — particularly gold, timber, and critical minerals — and the supply chain actors who intermediate them
• Experience producing outputs that have been taken up by enforcement authorities or used in policy processes

Personal Attributes

• Operationally resilient: you are comfortable running your own workload with remote support from the Head of Forest Crime, Central Africa Observatory and extractives team, without requiring close supervision
• Investigative and self-directed: you run your own research, ask the second and third questions, and know when to stop and verify
• Politically astute: you understand how to engage Congolese counterparts productively in complex institutional environments, and how to protect yourself, your sources, and your partners
• Discreet and security-conscious: you handle sensitive information and sensitive relationships with the judgement of someone who understands what is at stake if either is mishandled
• Relationship manager: you build and maintain trust with a diverse range of partners, including local NGOs, government, and international NGOs, navigating different cultures, priorities and sensitivities with professionalism and discretion
• Collegiate: you work well as part of a small regional team, drawing on the support of the Central African Observatory in Dakar and the Head of Forest Crime in Latin America without requiring close supervision
• A clear writer: you produce briefings and investigative outputs that hold up in front of prosecutors, partners, and policy counterparts

GI-TOC operates a flexible working environment and encourages staff to achieve a suitable work-life balance and supports professional development and learning. 

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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