Environmental Policy Advisor, Mano River Union, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Salary: USD 42,000

Start Date: As soon as possible

Duration of contract: One-year fixed-term contract with potential to extend up to a maximum of four years, subject to business need and availability of funding

Location: The position is based at the MRU office in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) protects threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. Operating in more than 40 countries worldwide – mainly in the developing world – FFI saves species from extinction and habitats from destruction, while improving the livelihoods of local people. Founded in 1903, FFI is the world’s longest established international conservation body and a registered charity.

To achieve its mission in Africa, FFI has adopted an innovative approach based on local partnerships that helps give prominence to the socio-economic elements of effective conservation. In all its projects in Africa, FFI seeks to:

· Build local partnerships with African conservation and community development organisations;

· Strengthen institutions to bring sustainability and added value to projects;

· Maintain long term relationships;

· Reconcile conservation goals with the needs of local people;

· Incorporate sound science in decision-making.

Named after the Mano River which begins in the Guinea highlands and forms a border between Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Mano River Union (MRU) is an international organisation established on 3 October 1973 as a customs union by Presidents William Tolbert of Liberia and Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone and signed in Malema, Sierra Leone. The then People’s Revolutionary Republic of Guinea joined the Union on 25 October 1980 thus transforming the Union into a three-country instrument for multi-lateral cooperation for sustainable development. The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, which had indicated interest in joining the Union and had also been attending meetings of the Union as an observer since 2004, formally joined the Union on 15 May 2008 thus making it a four-state Union.

The goal of the Union is to foster economic cooperation among the member states to promote trade and a unified tariff and customs policy with the attendant objective of establishing a firm economic foundation for lasting peace, friendship, freedom and social progress through the following aims and objectives:

· Expand trade by the elimination of all barriers to mutual trade; by cooperation in the expansion of international trade; by the creation of conditions favourable to an expansion of mutual productive capacity, including the progressive development of a common protective policy and cooperation in the creation of new productive capacity;

· Secure a fair distribution of the benefits from economic cooperation.

Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West African Region Development or STEWARD is a USAID-funded biodiversity, climate change and sustainable livelihoods program managed by United States Forest Service-International Programs. Since 2009, it has supported efforts within the Upper Guinea Forest region (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana) to scale up best practices in community-based conservation, community forestry, sustainable forestry, market chains for key forest products, public-private alliances for conservation, and harmonised trans-boundary policies. The goals include:

· Conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods in critical trans-boundary landscapes

· Produce harmonised policies and legal frameworks for NRM in a regional context

· Contribute to national strategic plans on climate change in the Mano River Union states and promote resiliency in the face of climate change

· Share and exchange knowledge and information through communications products on key topics geared to specific local, regional, and international audiences

· Develop regional capacity for climate change adaptation and mitigation

· Improve Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene in rural communities

STEWARD has begun its third phase (STEWARD III) with a four-year programme that works closely with partners and media specialists in the following priority zones:

· Outamba-Kilimi National Park/ Guinea’s Madina Oula, Soya, and Ouré Kaba sub-prefectures;

· Mount Nimba and Nimba Nature Reserve; and

· Taï National Park/ Grebo National Forest.

As part of this four-year programme, STEWARD has asked FFI to establish and run the position of Environmental Policy Advisor to be based at the MRU office in Freetown.

FFI is seeking an Environmental Policy Advisor who will take forward STEWARD’s policy work, which until today has entailed working with the Mano River Union to identify the obstacles faced by stakeholders in natural resource management and to assess the need for harmonisation in legal and regulatory frameworks related to the management of wildlife and other natural resources. The work plan of the MRU includes the following priorities:

· Elaborate and approve a trans-boundary biodiversity resources management policy by the authorities of the partner countries.

· Review and analyse existing policies/legislation for synergies and opportunities for cooperation.

· Propose and validate a sustainable trans-boundary biodiversity management legislation bill.

· Present the Management Plans for validation by the decision-makers.

· Validate the status of proposed Trans-boundary intervention zones.

· Prepare and transmit proposal for legislative enactment.

· Assure surveillance & enforcement (laws and regulations permitting mixed patrol) action.

STEWARD will continue working with the MRU to support this work plan and STEWARD’s own objective of promoting biodiversity conservation in the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem. The Environmental Policy Advisor will assist in all areas related to policy harmonisation/improvement and will work closely with the MRU and policy makers from all of the MRU countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire) and Ghana to help establish and encourage enforcement of policies and legal frameworks related to sustainable management of forests, wildlife, climate change, and water supply.

For further details and to apply please visit:
www.fauna-flora.org/ourvacancies.php

The closing date for applications is Monday 4^th June 2012. No agencies please.

FFI values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity