Qualification Requirements

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in social sciences, anthropology, rural development or equivalent;
  

• 5 to 10 years’ field experience with international organizations in Africa working on community engagement;
  

• Experience in managing the delivery of activities funded by donors focused on community engagement
  

• Proven ability to manage, motivate, and train a team of field personnel
  

• Proven ability at developing work plans and budgets, and producing project progress reports
  

• Proven ability to work sensitively with diverse groups of people such as those of different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds
  

• Experience in designing and delivering socio-economic research in international development contexts
  

Responsibilities

Community and Stakeholder Relations 

• Develop and maintain relationships with local communities, traditional and local authorities, partner organizations and other stakeholders as required, building a strong constituency of support for conservation initiatives. 
  

• Implement a stakeholder engagement strategy, ensuring clear communication channels. 
  

• Facilitate local employment opportunities within the Protected Area to build goodwill. 
  

• Support and build capacity of community institutions in governance and participation in PA management
  

Community Conservation Strategic Implementation. 

• Lead the implementation and adaptive management of a community conservation strategic implementation plan based on agreed strategic priorities, including but not limited to:
  

• Lead, develop and oversee human-wildlife conflict mitigation measures
  

• Lead consultations and engagement with communities relating to PA management activities (e.g. species recovery efforts)
  

• Implement initiatives with partner organizations where appropriate, to incentivize and engage communities in conservation (e.g. scholarship programs, skills development)
  

• Support land-use planning or other initiatives for Ishasha to mitigate pressures on the PA and park-people conflict
  

Management and Coordination

• Manage and mentor an inclusive and diverse team of staff to achieve community conservation objectives
  

• Encourage a culture of participatory learning and adaptive problem-solving so that team members reflect and design effective field interventions that deliver biodiversity and community outcomes
  

• Coordinate closely with the other departmental leads to ensure the work of the community conservation department is well integrated with other efforts (e.g. law enforcement, biodiversity management, logistics, security), enhancing overall PA management