Community Conservation and Safeguards Coordinator

Reports to: Landscape Manager
Location: Bamingui National Park, Central African Republic
Country Program: WCS Central African Republic
Start date: As soon as possible
Position Type: Fulltime

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.
The Sudano-Sahel Region presents unparalleled opportunities for WCS to play a direct role in saving some of the last remaining intact wildernesses on the planet and to contribute significantly to the security of people and wildlife. The savannas, forests, and wetlands of the region support key populations of endangered elephant, northern giraffe, lion, and eland. Communities also depend on the land for their livelihoods through pastoralism, agriculture, fishing, and hunting. WCS has a significant presence in the Sudano-Sahel region, with a strong conservation history and proven success in protected area management. WCS currently has conservation initiatives in Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), and Cameroon. We work actively to support protected area management and wildlife law enforcement, local livelihoods, develop conservation-security partnerships, enhance anti-trafficking activities, and to implement our policy and scientific programs.

CAR Program Overview:
WCS has launched a CAR program in partnership with the government of CAR, including management of the Bamingui Bangoran and Manovo Gounda St Floris National Parks and greater landscape in northeastern CAR, creating one of largest protected landscapes in Africa at nearly 115,000km2; this is a multi-faceted long-term program including park management, law enforcement and community engagement.

Job Summary:
This is a full-time position, based at the Bamingui–Bangoran National Park headquarters with frequent travel throughout the landscape.

• Lead the implementation of ongoing community conservation programs and collaboration with Central African civil society organisations, through subawards and small grants.
• Document and report the community conservation programs in a timely manner.
• Lead and manage a team of highly motivated community team members, providing overall strategic direction for the community conservation program, technical input and mentoring of staff members.
• Develop and implement the socio-economic research and monitoring systems, the community conservation components of the Bamingui landscape program.
• Develop strategies to integrate and implement community and socio-economic related aspects of the overall program.
• Implement community conservation and social safeguarding frameworks and policies in close collaboration with the regional team and according WCS standards.
• Design appropriate Grievance Redress Mechanisms (GRM) and monitoring systems.
• Develop Free, Prior Informed Consent and Community Rights-Based Approaches to conservation.
• Design and roll out of community-led conservancies.
• Training of staff and partners in social safeguards.
• Roll out and monitoring of social safeguards across the landscape.
• Organize, arrange, and facilitate local meetings, workshops, and other participatory processes working with communities and local authorities, WCS staff, and other relevant partners to integrate community concerns into conservation, natural resource management and the land-use planning processes.
• Design research, oversee data collection and analyze baseline data on socioeconomics, community relations, people- wildlife interactions, and traditional land-use patterns in the region.
• Provide training, mentoring, and expertise to the WCS CAR Program staff and assist in training and mentoring of nationals in socio-economic data collection, analysis, community relations and engagement, and community awareness/outreach methods.
• Coordinate and oversee the WCS community conservation outreach teams.
• Work with international, national and local staff and organizations to create an awareness to promote wildlife conservation, sustainable natural resource management, and conflict resolution, and address particular land-use management issues.
• Advise on development priorities and work with other senior staff to plan and implement activities related to health, human rights, education, etc.
• Work with consultants and the WCS team to train for, implement and monitor a community livelihoods program (including the small grants program) that directly links with conservation, natural resource management, conflict mitigation, and climate change resilience.
• Promote capacity building of local communities, local authorities, local associations, sub-contractors and staff.
• Work with the WCS staff to integrate the socio-economic and land-use/tenure data into the relevant GIS databases to contribute to the overall natural resource, protected area, and zoning plans.
• As a senior member of the WCS CAR Program Team, participate in strategy meetings and the tasks identified to help ensure sound operations of the program.
• Work with the WCS CAR staff and Director to ensure on work plans, reporting, and budgets, organization of logistics, and responsibility for his section budget.

Qualification Requirements

• Master’s degree (or higher education level) in a relevant study of community conservation and natural resource management, wildlife management, etc..; technical knowledge of socio-economic research methodologies.
• Proven experience with international organizations in Africa (3+ years) in community-based conservation and natural resource management and experience in working with local communities.
• Efficient at coordinating multiple resources to get things done; can work on multiple tasks at multiple levels and switch between them; can foresee and plan around obstacles.
• Good technical, logistical and financial management of projects (planning, budgets, implementation, monitoring and evaluation).
• Proven experience in capacity building of partners.
• Commitment for wildlife conservation.
• Proven managerial and team building skills.
• French and English language fluency required, familiarity with languages and culture of CAR will be an advantage.
• Proven ability and comfortable with living and working in a multicultural environment in isolated areas, under difficult field conditions.

Preferred Qualifications:

Significant work experience in CAR, knowledge of Central Africa and Sudano-Sahel region environmental and political issues, and strong reputation in the CAR environment community.