Secondment Opportunity

Posted on 23 May 2019_

DRC Head of Conservation ad interim (secondment) Open to WWF staff only

**WWF-DRC** is looking for a
**Head of Conservation **ad interim for its
**National Program** to help achieve its new ambitious goals, and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.
Location**:Kinshasa, Democratic of Republic of Congo.**

Duration of the assignment: six months

The Role:
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the conservation organization, has a large and growing conservation programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), implementing a large number of projects under four main strategic pillars, namely Forest and Agriculture, Wildlife and Protected Areas, Energy and Infrastructure and Governance, the latter being crosscutting. The Head of Conservation will ensure WWF-DRC’s vision is implemented by attaining its conservation objectives.

The Head of Conservation supports the delivery of transformational and lasting conservation impact by building and leading WWF DRC’s Conservation Programme, ensuring coherent integration of thematic and geographical programmes as presented in the Country Strategic Plan. He/she provides advice to the DRC Country Director on pertinent conservation issues in the country. He/she leads the tactical direction of DRC’s Conservation Agenda in partnership with key international, governmental and local partners. As the Conservation Governance Practice focal point for WWF-DRC, he/she will lead the empowerment of Congolese civil society to take ownership of the future of natural capital management in the DRC. By doing so, he/she will support the further embedding of WWF-DRC in the DRC civil society, thus, enhancing its relevance in Conservation and Development work in the country.

Working closely with the Country Director, he/she supports the engagement with multilateral and bilateral institutions to influence policies around key conservation areas. He/she also mediates the WWF network’s engagement (through the Practices) to maintain the alignment of WWF-DRC critical contributions to the WWF Global Goals.
Major Duties and responsibilities
- **Conservation Strategy implementation**:

- Lead the implementation of the Country Conservation Strategy, programme design, and ensure alignment with WWF’s Global Goals.
- Lead in the development and management of a holistic programme and ensure strong coordination between the different strategic (thematic) pillars and the geographical programmes (landscapes).
- Ensure active participation of WWF’s partners in the Conservation Programme and its development as well as strengthening partners’ capacities in pre-identified areas.
- Develop synergies between WWF’s partners to ensure experience sharing and strengthen lobby / advocacy capacity at the national level.
- Coordinate with WWF National Offices and partners on conservation-related issues (policy, advocacy, programmatic) and concerns, facilitating effective working relations and ensuring “one voice” from the network to strengthen the governance of natural capital in DRC.
- Ensure WWF-DRC’s representation in strategic technical internal and external conservation forums.
- Ensure thorough planning for the implementation of WWF DRC’s Conservation Strategy is developed, maintained and respected, and that “lessons learned” are available for future reference and use by WWF.
- Establish linkages between WWF’s vision and conservation objectives of the DRC Government as well as those of the donor community.
- Stay on top of conservation and development trends (e.g. SDGs, OBOR, INGA, and SE4A) and inform colleagues and partners of new conservation initiatives, approaches, strategies, etc. for better integration in WWF-DRC’s Conservation Strategy.
- Coordinate the preparation of strategic documents, guidelines, and other materials required to guide the conservation vision of WWF-DRC’s programmes.
- **Programme Accountability, Monitoring and Evaluation**:

- Manage performance and build capacity of Programme Coordinators, and provide technical advice as appropriate.
- In collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, ensure regular on-site visits to monitor project alignment and implementation progress.
- Ensure planning of thematic programmes is maintained and respected by working closely with the Programme coordinators, and compile lessons learned for future reference and use by the WWF.
- Ensure necessary human resources are in place to deliver on the Conservation Strategy by coordinating the elaboration of job descriptions and terms of reference for new conservation staff and consultants with Programme coordinators and participate in recruitment processes.
- Ensure human rights are embedded in WWF-DRC’s Conservation Programme delivery across landscapes.
- Play a leading role in the development of the WWF-DRC annual operational plan, the preparation of annual budgets and other reports to submit to WWF-ROA and to DRC official