Community Conservation Manager

Reports to: Field Operations Manager

Location: Mbatamila, Niassa, Mozambique

Country Program/Sector: Mozambique/ Eastern Africa, Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Region

Position Type: Full-Time

Application deadline: 31 March 2021

Manages: Sustainable Development Manager, HWC team, Institutional Governance Manager, Community Monitoring team, Small grants team, Environmental education team)

Internal liaison: Senior member of the NSR management team (with the NSR Project Manager, Field Operations Manager and other departmental heads)

Expected travel: As required, the occupant of position can travel within the Niassa Special Reserve as well as nationally and internationally whenever necessary

Organization Background:
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt, private organization established in 1895 that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe, WCS has amassed the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant, wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct utilization of natural resources.

Mozambique Program Overview:

WCS has accumulated biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant places, with flora and fauna, thrive together with local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, this knowledge is applied to address issues of management of species, habitats and critical ecosystems to improve the quality of life of rural poor people, whose livelihoods depend on the direct use of natural resources.

WCS created a national program in Mozambique in 2012, with two main objectives:

• Increase the protection of the Niassa Special Reserve (NSR), a vast landscape in the north of the country and improve the conservation status of its elephants through co-management of the Reserve; and
• Strengthen the management of protected areas at the national level, contributing to improving policies and strengthening the government’s capacity to implement legislation on crimes against wildlife through the strategic involvement of government agencies in Maputo.

WCS Mozambique continues to work towards these objectives but has also commenced projects related to sustainable financing of conservation through the development of mechanisms for biodiversity offsets, the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and marine/coastal conservation.

Resolution 01/2020 of the Council of Ministers of 9 June approved a 20-year co-management agreement between the National Conservation Area Administration (ANAC) and WCS for NSR. Under this arrangement, programs exist for conservation comprising law enforcement, community development, conservation management and tourism development. These efforts are supported by a variety of donors, including the European Union (EU), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the French Development agency (AFD).

Position Objectives:

This position relates to components of donor-funded projects for community engagement and livelihoods development that support the wildlife and ecosystem conservation objectives of NSR in order to achieve the following specific objectives:

• Reduced community-based threats to wildlife and other natural resources
• Improved relations between local communities and NSR
• Human-wildlife conflict mitigated
• Conservation-compatible livelihoods development
• Operational small-grants scheme
• Strengthened community institutional capacity to manage community finances
• Improved community governance of community conservancies, wildlife and other Miombo products

Principal Responsibilities:

• Oversee the Community Program Team
• Oversee environmental and conservation awareness raising in communities
• Lead the development of institutional capacity of NSR communities
• Establish natural resource management capacity
• Promote the establishment of community development activities
• Maintain positive and productive relationships with all key stakeholders and strategic partners
• Coordinate Planning, Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting
• Ensure that Gender and Indigenous Peoples (IP) Issues are Fully Incorporated into all Aspects of NSR’s Socio-economic Program

Other Duties

• Carry out any other duties as may be assigned from time to time

Minimum Requirements:

• A minimum of a master’s degree in social or environmental sciences; PhD preferred
• At least 5 years’ field experience designing and implementing socioeconomic development projects in conservation areas.
• Strong staff management and team-building skills.
• Experience in designing annual work plans and budgets, coordinating reporting and field personnel.
• Experience in managing large bilateral or multilateral donor projects on socio-economic development.
• Ability to work and report in English; Portuguese / Kiswahili is an advantage but not a requirement
• Good analytical and reporting skills.
• Skilled in building consensus with conservation partners and other stakeholders, such as local government officials, community leaders and concession operators.
• Self-motivated, disciplined and able to work in rudimentary and remote camps for long periods of time.
• Flexibility, optimism, good humor, passion for excellence, self-motivation in reaching a collective end.