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Closing Date: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Technical Coordinator
Forests and Climate Change,
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I.OVERVIEW OF THE ESARO FORESTS
& CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAMME
The IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional
Office (ESARO) operates in twenty two countries
in the Horn of Africa, east Africa, southern
Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
Eastern and Southern Africa
is home to a wide range of forest and woodland types which are
endowed with a considerable diversity of flora
and fauna. They range from the arid and semi-
arid lands to a mix of tropical high forests and
savanna woodlands and coastal forests. Some of
the dry savannah woodlands are biodiversity
hotspots.
Forests and woodlands are critical for both human
well-being and biodiversity in this region.
They contribute to socio-economic development
through trade in timber and non-timber forest
products such as medicinal plants. They also
contribute important environmental services such
as the protection of water sources and carbon
storage.
The vision of IUCN ESARO in relation to Forests
& Woodlands is to bridge the environment and
development agendas in pursuit of a just world
that values and conserves the forest goods and
services on which people depend. The Programme's
framework draws upon IUCN growing
recognition of the dynamics, complexities and
links between biodiversity conservation and
sustainable development. It is informed by a
thorough assessment of the key challenges and
transformation needs to better understand the
relationship between livelihoods, sustainable
forest management, improved forest goods and
services and the economies as a whole.
The forest programme strategic areas are:
(i)
Restoration and maintenance of Forest related
species diversity and ecosystem functions;
(ii)
Livelihood security, equality and sustainability of
development at local, national and regional
levels;
(iii)
Enhanced capacities of actors and groups
influencing forest and woodland species and
ecosystems; and
(iv)
enhance institutional
frameworks including polices and forest,
governance.
Alongside Forests and Woodlands - Climate change
is a priority programme area for IUCN
globally . IUCN - is primarily concerned with the
impact of climate change on the world's
biodiversity and on people's livelihoods, as well
as the impacts of actual or proposed mitigation
and adaptation measures.1-
1 Shaping a sustainable future: The IUCN
programme 2009-2010.
Within IUCN's eastern and southern Africa region, IUCN has initiated pilot projects that
seek to
develop the body of knowledge and influence
policy around issues pertaining to community and
ecosystem based adaptation, with adaptation being
viewed as an integral component for overall
poverty reduction and closely linked with
sustainable management of natural resources. IUCN
ESARO has also started to actively engage in
dialogues on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Degradation).
Recognizing the significance of climate change
within eastern and southern Africa; IUCN ESARO
seeks to further develop a holistic and
programmatic approach to supporting its members and
other stakeholders in the region to i) better
integrate biodiversity concerns into climate change
mitigation and adaptation policies at all scales;
and ii) support the adoption and implementation
of natural resource management policies and
strategies to adapt to the impact of climate
change.
II. RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS
·
The Technical Coordinator for Forests & Climate Change reports directly
to the IUCN ESARO
·
Regional Programme Coordinator (RPC). The Technical Coordinator is
responsible for: i) Guiding
·
the strategic direction and development of the thematic area, including
development and
·
marketing of project proposals with donors; ii) Ensuring that programmatic
activities within the
·
thematic area are effectively and efficiently implemented; iii) Promoting
learning, knowledge
·
generation and innovation within both the thematic area and in relation to
the ESARO
·
Intersessional Programme and Strategy; and iv) Ensuring that progress and
performance of the
·
Thematic programme is regularly monitored and evaluated.
·
The Technical Coordinator is also a senior member of the ESARO Technical
Coordination Group
·
(TCG) and, accordingly, works with the other members of the Group in
strategic planning;
·
monitoring and evaluation; and learning, innovation and knowledge
generation at the overall
·
Intersessional Programme level. This includes (when requested) contributing
to the
·
development of and adhering to IUCN/ESARO policies and procedures related
to both
·
organizational and Programme management.
·
The Technical Coordinator is also a member of the Global Forest Team and is
therefore required
·
to participate in global processes and engage closely with and ensure
linkages with the IUCN
·
Global Forests and Climate Change Programme (GFCCP).
A. Strategic Guidance
·
The Technical Coordinator is directly responsible for leading the strategic
direction ESARO in
·
relation to Forests & Climate Change, in line with the ESARO
Intersessional Programme and
·
Programme Strategy (which is ESARO's contribution to the IUCN global
programme)
·
positioning IUCN as a lead technical body in the region. Successful
strategic leadership is the
priority for the position. More specifically,
this will involve:
·
Ensuring that IUCN's work in the
region is of high technical quality, based on good science and drawing upon state
of the art thinking and knowledge
·
Leading the strategic development
of the Thematic Programme, including periodically conducting situation and
scoping analysis to develop/refine the Thematic Area's strategic framework,
ensuring that priorities identified are relevant to IUCN's members and partners
and aligned with IUCN's value proposition;
·
Working closely with GFCCP to
maximize synergies between the global and regional Intersessional Plans and
Annual workplans;
·
Leading fundraising and resource
mobilization for the Thematic Area through the development of proposals and
maintaining good relationships with donors and funding agencies so as to ensure
the financial viability of the Programme. This work requires coordination with
the regional team, global programme heads and the IUCN strategic partnerships
unit;
·
Acting as a focal point for
facilitating and supporting the involvement of IUCN Commissions, Members and
other members of the Secretariat in the development and implementation of
programmatic activities;
·
Developing and maintain strong
strategic partnerships with global programme units, members, commissions,
policy bodies and donors;
·
Developing, coordinating and
supervising a Forests & Climate Change Thematic Programme team (including
programme and project officers) to ensure that individuals work together as an
integrated team, that there is coherence and consistency in programmatic
outputs and a high quality of technical advice is given to IUCN global and
regional programmes, field programmes, projects, members and partners;
·
Providing evidence based support
and facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues on emerging issues and policy
debates, as requested by and under the Delegation of Authority by the Regional
Director; and
·
Representing IUCN ESARO in Global
and Regional Forums related to Climate Change and Forests, including the UNCCD.
B.Day to day operations
Accountable for overseeing the effective and
efficient implementation within ESARO of
contracted projects/programmes, and the planning
of the implementation of new projects
during negotiation phases with donors. This
includes:
Providing technical advice, guidance and support to projects, country
offices as well as other Technical Thematic Coordinators, delegating
appropriately;
Ensuring that project/programme strategies and workplans are developed
and implemented according to plan and commitments to partners and donors
(including
assuring quality of performance & progress, timing and budget);
Working
closely with the Finance and Administration as well as Human Resource
Departments to ensure that projects/programmes are financially viable and have
the necessary human and other resources necessary for effective implementation;
and
Ensuring
that contractual obligations and IUCN's policies and procedures are efficiently
adhered to.
C. Learning
Supporting learning processes and contributing to
ensuring that ESARO utilizes lessons,
experiences and new knowledge to adapt and
strengthen practices and approaches over time.
More specifically, this will involve:
·
Establishing mechanisms and
guidelines to enable lesson learning and sharing within the thematic area,
where relevant;
·
Identifying and using lessons to
inform practice;
·
Working closely with GFCCP to
facilitate local to global (and vice-versa) learning and knowledge uptake;
·
Coherent and consistent
communication of lessons learnt to key decision-makers and other stakeholders
within the region and globally as appropriate, including via the web, print and
media; and
·
Establishing and utilizing
mechanisms to encourage innovation both within the Programme and the
Organization
D.Monitoring and Evaluation
Supporting the development and implementation of
monitoring and evaluation systems and
processes at Programme and project level. More
specifically, this will involve:
Contributing to the development of the ESARO Intersessional Programme
Monitoring and Evaluation Framework;
Ensuring that all projects develop and effectively implement M&E
frameworks and systems, in line with the overall Component M&E framework;
and
Contributing to developing capacity for M&E within the country
office and projects within the country portfolio.
III. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
·
At least 10+ years of proven experience with:
·
An advanced degree in natural
science related to Forests and Woodlands or related fields;
·
Demonstrated experience in
working with Forests & Climate Change issues in the region;
·
Demonstrated experience in
working with international/regional organizations
·
Proven high level of knowledge
about policy and political issues in the region related to forests and climate
change with demonstrated experience in engaging with regional Forest and
Climate Change Forums and other policy processes ;
·
Familiarity with established and
emerging relevant conservation and natural resource management approaches,
methodologies and processes - including Landscape/Ecosystem based approaches ;
·
An in-depth understanding of the
ESARO region, particularly in relation to Forests & Climate Change and
Disaster Risk Reduction
·
Demonstrated fundraising,
budgeting and programme planning abilities and past performance, including
experience of development and successful marketing of project proposals with
donors, and subsequent delivery and reporting;
·
Experience with result based
portfolio and project cycle management, monitoring and evaluation methodologies
and principles and facilitation skills;
·
Strong interpersonal, management
and supervisory skills and experience, with a minimum of 5 years' experience in
managing organizations and/or teams;
·
Demonstrated experience in
facilitating the establishment of networks and multi-stakeholder participatory
processes;
·
Excellent verbal and
communication skills in English is essential, with ability to communicate in
Arabic, French and/or Portuguese as an added advantage;
·
Computer literacy in relation to
office applications (word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint) use of internet
and online communication tools; and
·
Be willing to undertake frequent
travel (approx 40% of their time) and interact with different stakeholders from
diverse cultures.
Applications:
Applicants are asked to submit their CV in
English and a supporting letter of
motivation along with the names and contact
details of three referees, one of
whom should be a recent employer by e-mail before
28th March, 2013: IUCN
Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office
Email: earohr@iucn.org IUCN is
an Equal Opportunity employer
ONLY SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE CONTACTED
