World Wide Fund Technical Advisor, Dzanga Sangha Programme

World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, the global conservation organization, active in almost 100 countries, has been working in the Congo Basin in Central Africa for more than 20 years, with a focus on forest conservation through developing and managing protected areas, while promoting sustainable forestry practices and community conservation for the benefit of the populations.

Location:

The position is based in Bayanga, Central African Republic.

Under the supervision of the WWF Principal Technical Advisor, Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic, the Technical Advisor’s major duties and responsibilities are:

I Main functions:

The main roles of this position are 1) to provide technical assistance, oversight and leadership to the conservation activities of WWF-APDS and 2) to assist the WWF PTA in delivering the broader goals of WWF, APDS and the TNS in line with WWF’s Regional Central Africa Programme Office conservation strategy for 2012 to 2015 called the Green Heart of Africa (GHoA) and the resulting WWF CAR country conservation strategy and annual operational plans.

The TA will serve as an advisor to the National Warden (NW). The TA’s main function is to transfer his/her technical and managerial knowledge and experience to the NW and other conservation programme staff and to support the PTA.

The TA will be based at the programme site in Bayanga and may visit other sites that relate to the programme’s advancement including the protected areas of the Sangha Tri-National landscape-TNS (Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo and Lobéké National Park, Cameroon).

II. Major duties and responsibilities:

Ensures effectiveness of the Dzanga-Sangha conservation programme (60% effort)

• Works as counterpart and technical advisor to National Warden (NW). Provides technical support as needed to NW and other conservation staff. Supports the NW to plan, manage, monitor and report all aspects of the conservation programme
• Participates in and supervises day-to-day field operations, manages the delivery of the conservation programme
• Supports the NW to supervise all staff associated with the conservation programme; participates in staff recruitment, development and evaluation
• Identifies training needs and develops proposals and budgets accordingly to ensure that conservation programme staff receive appropriate training
• Develops a working rapport with local communities through collaboration with informants, and collaborates with and, when appropriate, supports the TA Community Development, with rural development, health and education activities and conservation-related education programmes
• Conducts periodic visits to different sectors and guard posts of the Reserve and Park and to the TNS anti-poaching Brigade (Lutte Anti-Bracconage – LAB) to support and assess patrol activities and to survey and monitor natural resource utilization.
• Actively collaborates with tri-national partners on the development and implementation of anti-poaching strategies, law enforcement and other conservation-related activities
• Ensures reporting as defined by project contracts/agreements and WWF Programme Management standards. Submits to the PTA and APDS National Director (ND), in collaboration with NW, a quarterly report outlining conservation programme activities.
• Remains well informed of legislation, policies and procedures that could impact conservation management. Contributes to the formulation of Programme policies.
• Ensures that essential conservation-management-driven data are collected (such as monitoring of bush-meat and other natural-resource based extraction).
• Coordinates the collection and analysis of MIST data and other data informing WWF on impact monitoring of conservation action to ensure that they are used in a timely way to inform, evaluate and adapt management.
• Ensures that conservation staff use equipment in line with WWF policies and procedures
• Programme oversight, planning, and management (20% effort)
• Contributes to the development of annual Projects work plans, proposals and budgets Plans for expenses for the conservation programme, on a quarterly basis or more frequently as necessary.
• Helps programme direction ensure appropriate communication with all of its key target audiences including local community, national government and partners, regional partners, tour operators, and international visitors;
• Assists the PTA to ensure accountability of Projects funds according to project planning and contractual obligations in collaboration with the F&A Manager
• Contributes to the implementation of the APDS Management Plan and contributes to the development of other plans (e.g. Business Plan)
• Supports the PTA in organizational issues of the APDS
• Acts as Landscape Assistant (20%)
• Supports the PTA in helping ensure that information relevant for CARPE-USAID reporting is collected, analysed and presented in a timely fashion
• Contributes to designing CARPE-III as appropriate
• Assists in other aspects related to the TNS landscape as requested, including RAPAC , CAWFHI and other FTNS-related programmes for APDS -TNS
• Assists the PTA and TNS partners in capitalizing TNS World Heritage status

III. Working Relationships:

Internal: National Warden, National Director and APDS staff, WWF programme technical advisors, Liaison Officer, F&A Manager, CARPO teams and WWF network
External: local and regional authorities, community representatives, commercial partners, Sangha Tri-National partners, and donor representatives.

IV. Minimum Work Requirements:

The TA must have:

• Practical knowledge of forest, wildlife and protected area management and monitoring; environmental law enforcement; and community involvement in natural resource management;
• Minimum of a MSc in a conservation or environmental management related field;
• At least five years of experience working in conservation, protected area, or natural resource management;
• Extensive field experience in Africa, ideally in Central Africa;
• Field orienteering skills with Global Positioning Systems (GPS), compasses, and maps;
• Experience with wildlife monitoring and law enforcement monitoring systems;
• Excellent field data collection, summary, and analysis skills;
• Good computer skills, Excel, and Word, and other software; skill in GIS an advantage;
• Excellent logistical planning and organizational skills;
• Project management experience (personnel, financial and administration);
• Good communication skills and ability to work across cultures;
• Fluency in French and English.

V. WWF's Mission and Values:

It is part of every staff member's terms of reference to contribute to WWF's mission.

WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:
- conserving the world's biological diversity
- ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
- promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

It is also part of every staff member's terms of reference to embody WWF's values, which are: Knowledgeable, Optimistic, Determined and Engaging.

Interested candidates who meet the above requirements should send a cover letter, 3 references, and a detailed CV torecruitcarpo@wwf.panda.org by September 15, 2012. The subject should read "Technical Advisor, Dzanga-Sangha”