Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, November 25, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Community Conservation Lead – Eastern Kafue Nature Alliance
Little About Us
Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at unprecedented scale and providing food and water sustainably. One of our core values is our commitment to diversity. Therefore, we strive for a globally diverse and culturally competent workforce. Working in 72 countries, including all 50 United States, we use a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners.
The Nature Conservancy Africa program follows a holistic approach to protect vital lands and waters, transform the way natural resources are used and managed and inspire to equip others to contribute to the shared vision of a healthy and sustainable future for Africa’s lands, waters, wildlife and people. We use a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit www.nature.orq or follow @nature press on Twitter.
In Zambia, TNC has a primary geographical focus on the Greater Kafue Ecosystem (GKE). This is Zambia’s largest conservation landscape, a 66,000 sq. km complex of great biodiversity value, dominated by the 22,000 sq. km Kafue National Park and nine Game Management Areas (GMAs) under communal tenure that span an additional 44,000 sq. km. TNC is working with communities and diverse public and private stakeholders in and around this ecosystem to strengthen community tenure over natural resources, develop effective natural resource governance and management systems and create sustainable conservation and wealth generation models for the landscape. One key project which supports this strategy is a five-year $10m USAID-funded Global Development Alliance (GDA) project, the Eastern Kafue Nature Alliance which leverages private sector partner resources and expertise to achieve integrated and sustainable outcomes for biodiversity conservation, economic prosperity, sustainable agriculture, human well-being, and natural resource governance in the eastern sector of the GKE. The project is focused on delivering lasting outcomes for nature and people in and around Lunga Luswishi, Mumbwa, Namwala and Nkala GMAs.

Your Position With Tnc
The Community Conservation Lead – Eastern Kafue Nature Alliance shall be primarily responsible for the implementation and coordination of the project’s activities related to community-based natural resource management and governance. The position will be based in TNC’s Mumbwa Office and will report to the Chief of Party, with additional technical oversight and guidance provided by the TNC Zambia Community Conservation Manager. This is a 5-year term limited position, dependent on the duration of funding from USAID, and extension of tenure will be subject to performance and availability of funds.

Essential Functions
The Community Conservation Lead – Eastern Kafue Nature Alliance will provide expert technical support to the project’s primary target beneficiaries, being the local communities that depend on the landscape for their livelihoods and survival, and to the public and private collaborating partners and private market actors with which the project will engage. The Community Conservation Lead works as a part of the project implementation team and as part of the broader TNC Zambia’s conservation team, ensuring close communication, collaboration and learning with peers across project and teams. Specifically, they will provide hands-on strategic guidance and technical oversight for community conservation capacity building and practices for natural resource and land use governance, management, planning and sustainable utilization activities. These activities will involve strong liaison and collaboration with local community institutions such as the Community Resource Boards and Community Forest Management Groups, local natural resource Government agencies (Wildlife, Forest and Fisheries), private market actors and other NGOs in the landscape.

Responsibilities and Scope
• Cultivates and develops partnerships with key stakeholders in the landscape, including communities, government agencies, project implementing partners and private sector actors.
• Develops and strengthens community conservation institutions and provides direct support to community resource management planning and governance strengthening processes.
• Supports communities and their partners to develop, implement and enforce land and resource use plans and governance models related to forestry, fisheries and wildlife resources.
• Supports the engagement of communities and community governance structures with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, the Department of Forestry and the Department of Fisheries.
• Brokers the development of mutually beneficial commercial partnerships between communities and private market actors in the natural resources sector that can improve livelihoods and local economies through the inclusive development of the conservation tourism, forest carbon, forest products and fisheries markets.
• Oversees tracking of community conservation activities, ensuring activities and deliverables meet USAID requirements, identifying any implementation challenges and providing the necessary support to address them.
• Leads the recruitment, training, and oversight of chiefdom-based Community Liaison Assistants as they mobilize community institutions in project activities, facilitating cross-cutting activities with other project components.
• Contributes to developing terms of reference for community conservation-related subawards and contract and reviews reports submitted by relevant subrecipients.
• Works with the project’s monitoring, evaluation research and learning (MERL) staff to implement the MERL Plan, report on project activities, measure outcomes in accordance with project requirements and document key lessons learned from stakeholder engagements and community interactions.
• Ensures that all principles of participatory dialogue, planning and decision making include Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in natural resource governance and management are adhered to throughout the project management cycle.
• May require frequent travel to remote locations and evening and weekend hours.
• May work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations and under physically demanding circumstances.

Minimum Qualifications
• BA/BS degree in natural resource management, forestry or agroforestry or similar relevant field.
• 5 years’ practical experience in community-based natural resource management.
• Experience in conservation or natural resource management donor-funded project implementation.
• Experience in partnership development and management with government partners, non-profit organizations, private sector and/or community groups.
• Experience with community-based resource governance models and institutions.
• Experience in negotiating and conflict management.
• Communication skills in written, spoken and graphical means in English.
• Experience with computer skills (e.g. Excel, Word).

Desired Qualifications
• 5-7 years’ experience in conservation practice or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Knowledge of current trends and practices in the natural resource management and community conservation sectors in Zambia.
• Knowledge of natural resource management in the Kafue Ecosystem.
• Knowledge of best practice in sustainable agriculture in Zambia.
• Experience in resource stewardship e.g. managing and tracking budgets.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of conservation projects.
• Ability to communicate in the local languages spoken in the project area.
• Ability to work independently with strong self-motivation.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
To apply for job ID 50660, submit your materials online by using the Apply Now button at https://careers.nature.org/. Need help applying? Visit our recruitment page or contact applyhelp@tnc.org.
The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.
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TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to applyhelp@tnc.org with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.

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