COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE – TANZANIA

WildAid is seeking a country representative to head up our conservation campaign in Tanzania. WildAid is a global pioneer in promoting human behavior change to reduce demand for wildlife products and increase awareness for habitat conservation. Since our founding, we have become the premier conservation organization focused on facilitating behavior change through world-class communications campaigns and in-country capacity building, while leveraging our funding’s impact through pro-bono media partnerships. WildAid’s communications and educational initiatives, featuring trusted influencers, annually reach hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Our campaigns have contributed to China’s ivory ban, an 80% decline in shark fin imports to China, an estimated 75% reduction in ivory and rhino horn prices in China and Vietnam, and a host of other conservation successes.

In Africa, our focus is on Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania and Gabon. WildAid works to increase local support for conservation, collaborate with local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict, support efforts to end the trafficking of illegal wildlife products and significantly reduce the bushmeat trade. Our key focus in Tanzania is on tackling human-wildlife conflict.

In Tanzania, we have already carried out successful awareness campaigns to end the illegal killing of elephants under the slogan “Poaching Steals From Us All,” and to support lion conservation under the slogan “Be The Pride”. We are now aiming to step up our operations in Tanzania with a new campaign to reduce conflict between humans and wildlife, to expand the financial benefits of wildlife, and to conserve key habitats of lions, elephants and other wildlife species. This will be conducted via a new partnership between WildAid, Honeyguide Foundation, the Community Wildlife Management Areas Consortium (CWMAC) and 15 countrywide community-run wildlife management areas (WMAs). WildAid will take the lead on communications, with the aim of changing the narrative from conflict and competition between humans and wildlife into successful co-existence. We want Tanzanians to be proud of their country’s conservation record and determined to build on it to counter the considerable threats wildlife and their habitats face today.

Key Competencies & Ideal Profile

We seek an entrepreneurial, outgoing person with strong communication and storytelling skills. Experience in journalism, either in television, radio or print, would be a considerable asset. A passion for wildlife conservation is essential. Contacts within the media and government would be useful, but can also be developed.

The successful candidate will be confident developing close relationships with government, other conservation organizations, and communities, while also recruiting and maintaining relationships with celebrities and opinion leaders to act as wildlife ambassadors. They will be willing to spend significant periods travelling within Tanzania and comfortable spending considerable time in rural areas conducting filming, radio production, and hands-on training in communities. They will be inspired by the opportunity to play a pivotal role in WildAid’s efforts to promote a sustainable model of humanwildlife coexistence.

All WildAid staff members must be comfortable in an entrepreneurial culture. Strong project management skills and the ability to prioritize multiple – often competing – demands are critical. The successful candidate must be able to work independently when needed, but also communicate and work closely with colleagues when required. They must also have excellent interpersonal skills to influence and collaborate with partners.

Minimum Qualifications & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, public relations, journalism, communications, conservation, development or a related field
• Five years related work experience in Tanzania
• Excellent writing and editing skills in Kiswahili and English
• Strong verbal communication skills in Kiswahili and English
• Competence and familiarity with MS Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.)
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Highly-organized multi-tasker
• Legal right to work in Tanzania

Job role

• Liaise closely with WildAid’s Africa Program Manager and East Africa Representative to support WildAid’s conservation goals in Tanzania and Africa.
• Work closely with consortium partners, Honeyguide Foundation and the Community Wildlife Management Areas Consortium (CWMAC), to support the model of sustainably run community wildlife management areas (WMAs).
• Assist in the development of a new national communications strategy for the CWMAC, promoting it to different audiences and stakeholders, in support of the agreed objectives.
• Support CWMAC in implementing its national communications strategy.
• Produce mini-documentaries about the project aimed at various audiences, including the Tanzanian public and political elite, potential tourism investors, policymakers, conservationists and the general public in other countries.
• Take the lead on developing communications strategies with 15 WMAs through in-person, capacity building and mentorship, and provide support for them to implement those strategies.
• Support WMAs to produce annual video reports on their activities, and social media content to be shown to those communities and to local government leaders.
• Promote the idea of human-wildlife co-existence and the WMA project in the Tanzanian media, collaborating with Tanzanian television, radio, print and online media, as well as local influencers.
• Strengthen WildAid’s relationship with the Tanzanian government, with a view to ensuring sustainably run WMAs form part of the government’s national development strategy.
• Recruit ambassadors as required to publicize conservation work in Tanzania and strengthen our relations with current ambassadors.

Location: Dar es Salaam or Arusha

Contract length and remuneration: Initial one-year contract, to be renewed every year based on performance. The project is expected to run at least three years, from 2023-25. WildAid pays competitive rates aimed at attracting high-quality candidates.