Regional Community Conservation Coordinator Mid level

Position:         Regional Community Conservation Coordinator
Location:        Kigali, Rwanda with travel around the region
Reports To:    Regional Director
Collaborators: Regional Program Management Team
Start date:       Immediate
Duration:        Full-time contract

Background
The Wildlife Conservation Society is an international NGO headquartered at Bronx Zoo in New York City, USA, working to save wildlife and wildlands and to meet global challenges in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the world’s oceans. WCS believes that the conservation of nature and natural resources is essential to life on earth, the future of humanity, and the well-being and cultural identities of Indigenous Peoples and traditional and local communities.

Program Overview
The East Africa, Madagascar, and Western Indian Ocean Region is one of WCS’s 13 Global Regional Programs, spanning Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. This is a rapidly growing program with a diverse and expanding portfolio of donors, partners and projects. The region presents a set of complex conservation challenges to biodiversity and their habitats and WCS field programs are addressing these through several initiatives including protected area management, community engagement, sustainable livelihoods, policy reform and sustainable financing. WCS recently formally established its regional hub in Kigali, Rwanda which hosts a growing team of technical specialists and regional management to support our country programs and field offices.

Purpose
The overall objective of the Regional Community Conservation Coordinator is to lead the region in the implementation of a rights-based approach to conservation while ensuring an enabling environment for strengthening the role of communities in conservation solutions.  This position will work within the WCS regional framework, and under the guidance of the Regional Director, will closely collaborate with global thematic teams Right+Communities, Forests+Climate and Marine.

Leadership & Program Development

• Provide leadership and guidance on the development and implementation of community conservation initiatives across the region using a rights-based approach
• Encourage a culture of adaptive and innovative problem-solving in community conservation teams throughout the region
• Contribute to project proposal development to reflect and advocate for initiatives that promote inclusive and rights-based community conservation approaches
• Contribute to technical report writing to ensure community conservation activities are accurately and appropriately reflected
• Build country program capacity on rights-based community conservation approaches, and support the involvement  of community conservation teams throughout the region
• Work with country program, regional and global staff to encourage new or refined approaches and research involving communities around protected areas that specifically address conservation threats

Technical Support & Program Implementation

• Work closely with site managers and community conservation teams in the region in the development of community conservation strategies, or where strategies already exist, assess and update them as necessary
• Provide technical support and guidance in key thematic areas, including but not limited to:

• Natural Resource Management
  • Support field teams in the development of NRM plans that are in alignment with sustainable conservation objectives and a rights-based approach that involves the full and meaningful participation of local communities
  • Where relevant, assist site-based teams in implementing a step-by-step process to set up zoning and management plans in and around protected areas throughout the region, utilizing consent and FPIC principles as necessary
• Governance
  • Guide community conservation teams on designing, implementing and supporting inclusive and effective governance structures in the communities where we work
  • Support teams to ensure that resource users are actively engaged in decision-making activities with the incorporation of local institutions, customary or traditional practices, and local knowledge systems
• Livelihood and Socio-economic activities
  • Work with site programs to incorporate a participatory and inclusive approach to livelihood and socio-economic activities, ensuring that livelihood programming reflects the diverse needs and interests of men and women from local communities, as stated by them
• Social Science
  • Develop action plans for effectively incorporating conservation social science into community conservation activities throughout the region
  • Support community conservation teams in the application of qualitative and quantitative social science techniques to improve conservation outcomes, including data analysis

• Lead on the development or facilitation of training materials, including providing input for the content of the training materials regarding the themes listed above
• Strengthen the capacity of our field teams, including mentoring of site-based community conservation managers and regular training of staff

Requirements

• Post-graduate degree in social or environmental sciences (a background in social and cultural anthropology is an added advantage)
• 5 to 10 years of field experience with international organizations in Africa working on community-based conservation and natural resource management
• Proven ability to deliver research related to the human dimensions of conservation in international development contexts
• Proven ability to contribute to capacity-building activities
• Knowledge of social safeguards and/or social science in the context of conservation
• Demonstrated experience successfully working with diverse groups of people such as those of different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English (local languages, French, or Portuguese an advantage)
• Proactive, resilient, team-oriented, creative, and ambitious work ethic
• Willingness to live in a multicultural environment

Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, skills and experience, should apply through the application tab by January 31, 2024.
The organization provides equal employment opportunities for all qualified candidates. The organization does not discriminate for employment based on age, color, disability, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by laws and regulations

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

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