Senior Analyst - Forest Crime Investigations - Perú

Contract Duration

Fixed-term contract for one year with possibility of renewal

Language Proficiency

Spanish and English are essential, Portuguese is desirable

Experience

3 to 5 years' relevant experience

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 Perú to lead its regional-level investigative work on forest crime under the NICFI-funded “From Roots to Enrichment” initiative (2026–2029), and to serve as GI-TOC’s primary focal point for engagement with the Peruvian government counterparts on forest crime and related organized crime issues.

Peru's deforestation story is not primarily one of lawful land conversion. It is driven by criminal networks moving illegal timber through legitimate supply chains, by gold mining operations that scar the Amazon at an unprecedented scale, by coca cultivation and cocaine production that push the extractive frontiers deeper into the forest, by land-grabbing operations that launder stolen or irregularly titled concessions into agriculture and cattle ranching, and by corrupt officials, financiers, and intermediaries that are profiting from all these illicit markets. 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, with an emphasis on illegal mining and Perú's global role in illicit flows.

The role builds on an existing GI-TOC engagement with illicit flows in Perú, including investigative and community resilience work under the Andean Regional Observatory and GI-TOC´s Resilience Fund. The Senior Analyst will work closely with the Andean Regional Observatory, and GI-TOC’s partners in the NICFI project, which include civil society organisations working on deforestation, mining, private sector and Indigenous issues. The Analyst will also engage with and be supported by the environmental thematic leads in the global policy team. This is a role for an experienced Peruvian investigator or analyst who knows how the system works — and where criminals infiltrate it. At the same time, this role demands strong interpersonal skills, an ability to create and maintain networks across multiple government agencies and institutions, and excellent time-management skills to balance the demands of fieldwork, research and engagement in official settings.

Working closely with

• The Head of Forest Crime
• The Director of the Andean Region Observatory
• The Director of Extractives
• GI-TOC’s environmental crime, extractives, and multilateral engagement teams
• Consortium partners operating in Perú under the NICFI project
• Peruvian government counterparts across relevant ministries and agencies
• Civil society and investigative partners in Perú

Key Responsibilities

Forest Crime: Investigations (Primary Focus)

• Lead GI-TOC’s investigative work on criminally driven deforestation in Perú, with particular emphasis on illegal gold mining, illegal logging, narcotrafficking and land-grabbing networks
• Design and execute investigations that map the actors, routes, financial flows, and enabling infrastructure of forest crime networks — combining OSINT, satellite analysis, field research through trusted partners, corporate and land-registry tracing, and where appropriate, human source work
• Working with the Head of Forest Crime and Andean Regional Observatory, with the support of and in collaboration with the Director of Extractives and other GI-TOC staff as necessary, to mentor, review, and provide quality assurance on partner investigations
• Produce investigative outputs — intelligence reports, case studies, risk typologies — to the evidentiary standard required to support law enforcement action, prosecutorial interest, and private sector due diligence
• Ensure all investigative products are properly sourced, verified, and documented in the project case management system in line with GI-TOC evidentiary and security standards

Government Engagement and Law Enforcement Liaison

• Serve, as GI-TOC’s primary engagement focal point with Peruvian government counterparts on forest and related organised crime, maintaining working relationships across environmental, law enforcement, financial intelligence, and anti-corruption institutions
• Translate investigative outputs into formats and briefings useful to Peruvian enforcement and prosecutorial counterparts; pursue concrete enforcement uptake of GI-TOC evidence where conditions allow
• Track policy and enforcement developments relevant to forest crime and feed strategic analysis back to the Head of Forest Crime, the Andean Regional Observatory Director and the environmental crime and extractives teams.
• Represent GI-TOC in relevant government-convened forums, working groups, and bilateral engagements on forest and environmental crime, which may include mining forums.

Coordination and Integration

• Work with the ECO-SOLVE datahubs in Colombia and Brazil to identify points of operational and analytical overlap between wildlife and forest crime casework, and coordinate with the broader work of the Andean Regional Observatory and extractives teams.
• Coordinate with consortium partners operating in Perú 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, particularly on supply chains linking Peruvian forest-risk commodities to regional and global markets
• Contribute to project MEAL 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.
• Work closely with the Andean Regional Observatory to ensure complementarity of effort and political and engagement support as appropriate.

Required Experience and Qualifications

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

• Between 4–7 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
• Working knowledge of Peruvian’s law enforcement, prosecutorial, and environmental governance architecture — who does what, and what actually gets cases moved
• Demonstrated track record working on environmental crime, illegal mining, illegal logging, land conversion, or closely adjacent fields in Perú and South America
• Existing working relationships with at least some of the following: Peruvian enforcement agencies, prosecutors, environmental ministries, financial intelligence, anti-corruption bodies, or credible civil society counterparts in these spaces
• Fluency in Spanish and English, written and oral — interviews will be conducted in both
• Demonstrated ability to work in politically sensitive environments, maintaining productive relationships with a range of actors, without creating operational or reputational problems

Desirable

• Familiarity with the role of corporate actors — agro-industrial companies, smelters, commodity traders, financiers — in enabling forest crime
• Existing relationships with investigative journalists, academic networks, or civil society organisations working on forest and mining crime
• OSINT capability, including corporate tracing, land and concession registry work, satellite imagery interpretation, and open-source financial analysis
• Experience producing outputs that have been taken up by enforcement authorities or used in policy processes
• Proficiency in Portuguese

Personal Attributes

• Operationally resilient: you are comfortable running your own workload with remote support from the Head of Forest Crime, Andean Regional Observatory and extractives team, without requiring close supervision
• Investigative and self-directed: you run your own casework, ask the second and third questions, and know when to stop and verify
• Politically astute: you understand how to engage Peruvian 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 culture, priorities and sensitivities with professionalism and discretion
• Personable: you are confident and engaging in public and private settings, able to flex influencing and networking styles to different stakeholders, including internationally
• 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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