Deputy Head of Programs, Okapi Wildlife Reserve At Wildlife Conservation Society

Location: Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR), Epulu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Reports to: OWR Head of Programs

Direct Reports: None

Start Date: 15 November 2021

Position Type: Full-time

About WCS

The Wildlife Conservation Society is an international NGO headquartered at Bronx Zoo in New York City working to save wildlife and wild lands and to meet global challenges in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the world’s oceans. The Africa Program is the largest of WCS’s field programs, with approximately 1,100 staff in 12 country programs focused across three major regions (Central Africa, Sudano-Sahel, Eastern Africa, Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean).

Our MISSION is to save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education and inspiring people to value nature. Our VISION is a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. Our GOAL is to conserve the world’s largest wild places in 16 priority regions, home to more than 50% of the world’s biodiversity. Our VALUES are Respect, Accountability and Transparency, Innovation, Diversity and Inclusion, Collaboration, Integrity.

About OWR

Created in 1992, the OWR, at just under 14,000km², is the single largest protected tract of intact lowland tropical forest remaining in the Africa. OWR is situated in the larger Ituri landscape, comprising more than 40,000km² of contiguous forests. The Ituri forests are home to the a rich diversity of peoples and the global significance of ecosystem services and biodiversity of the area and the OWR in particular is widely recognised. The OWR was inscribed on the list of Natural World Heritage Sites in 1996, and the OWR is also listed as a Key Biodiversity Area.

Under the auspices of a ten-year management agreement between the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) that delegates the management of the reserve to WCS, the OWR management will contribute to the long-term goal of bringing peace and well-being to the people indigenous to the forests of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve while ensuring that the forests are intact, healthy and full of life, and the rivers are clean and flowing. This will be achieved by implementing solutions that will overcome the root causes to the threats to biodiversity, ecosystem services and ecological processes, and also to overcome the barriers to an effectively managed reserve.

The program does this in exceptionally challenging circumstances: the Okapi Wildlife Reserve is a large area of lowland, tropical rainforest in an area of the world renowned for its insecurity, and weak governance and institutions. The program will achieve its goal and outcomes through four pillars of activity: 1) Improved security and reduced criminality through developed capacity; 2) Improved management effectiveness through developed capacity and operationalisation of the management agreement; 3) Improved well-being of rights-holding people – through a multi-pronged approach including: well managed access to and use of natural resources, strengthened institutions and institutional capacity, efficient and effective partnerships, economic development that functions within an environmentally and socially sound framework; and 4) Sustainable financing of the management, operation and development of the reserve achieved through a suite of innovative and traditional financing mechanisms and tools.

Purpose:

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is seeking a dynamic, adaptable, creative and experienced Deputy Head of Programs (D-HOP) to provide technical, administrative and program implementation support to the OWR Head of Programs for a large and complex protected area. A significant component will be on providing program support to the USAID funded “Building effective management and sustainable financing of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve through a Public-Private Partnership” (USAID EPP Program). The USAID EPP Program provides core support to the work of WCS in the management of the OWR. The program spans four targeted outcomes: 1) Improved security and reduced criminality; 2) Improved management effectiveness through developed capacity and operationalization of the reserve’s management agreement; 3) Improved well-being of rights-holding people – through a multi-pronged approach including: well managed access to and use of natural resources, strengthened institutions and institutional capacity, efficient and effective partnerships, social protection and development that functions within an environmentally and socially sound framework; and 4) Sustainable financing of the management, operation and development of the reserve achieved through a suite of innovative and traditional financing mechanisms and tools.

In addition to the USAID EPP program, the successful candidate will provide programmatic support as needed, including timely reporting and grant administration and project onboarding, across all other areas of OWR project implementation. S/he will report directly to the Head of Programs (who also serves as the USAID EPP Chief of Party) and s/he will provide regular updates to the OWR Management Unit – that is chaired by the Reserve’s Director and that is the executive body in charge of all day-to-day management activities and personnel in the OWR.

Candidates will need to demonstrate that they have the necessary experience and skills to work within a challenging, dynamic and complex program in a remote location. They will need to demonstrate that they are able to grasp the complexities of situations as they arise and adapt work accordingly. They will have to work within a culturally diverse and challenging work environment. Finally, they will have demonstrated experience in at least one of the four areas that are articulated as targeted outcomes of the USAID EPP Program.

The D-HOP, is based full time on-site at the OWR headquarters in Epulu, Ituri Province.

Core Responsibilities:

USAID project support

Work with the Chief of Party to:

• Coordinate with WCS and OWR field teams to ensure that project objectives are achieved to a high standard and on schedule.
• Determine annual priorities, develop work plans, prepare annual reports and interim progress reports, and ensure activities respond to changing conditions and operating environments.
• Ensure that internal WCS stakeholders are kept regularly up to date on project activities, deliverables and events.
• Ensure documents are submitted to USAID on time and with sufficient review
• As needed, represent WCS at project external stakeholder meetings
• Ensure appropriate filing processes are in place to identify and archive relevant project documentation, donor communications, and evidence of program implementation (MoV, clearing house etc.).
• Understand and manage to expected results, including monitoring of ongoing activities as part of a collaborating, learning, and adapting approach.

Responsibilities:

Overall programmatic support

Work with the Head of Programs to:

• Assist with the process of coordination and oversight among partners working across various fields and sectors within the reserve.
• Provide implementation oversight and onboarding assistance for projects to manage and operate the OWR.
• Provide oversight to consultants (and their outputs and outcomes) who are contracted to carry out work within the context of WCS’s work in OWR.
• Provide training and mentoring to the OWR team – especially in the areas of results-based management, workplanning and budgeting, report writing, learning and adaptation, and communications.
• Co-facilitate regular Pause and Reflect sessions to capture learning, introduce improvements and adaptations, and achieve meaningful results.
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Adaptation and Learning (MEAL) team to monitor and evaluate of ongoing activities as part of a collaborating, learning, and adapting approach.
• Work closely with the teams to develop annual workplans and budgets aligned with annual and life of project targets.
• Work to ensure that all donor and government reports (in addition to USAID) and grant compliance documents are produced to a high standard and submitted in a timely fashion
• Assist with concept development and proposal preparation as needed
• Ensure that internal WCS stakeholders are kept regularly up to date on project activities, deliverables and events.
• Ensure appropriate filing processes are in place to identify and archive relevant project documentation, donor communications
• Assist with the process of recruiting staff for the Reserve – including the development of Terms of Reference, and the screening, interviewing and selection of applicants.
• Build and maintain constructive relationships, under the guidance of the Reserve Director and the HOP, with government officials, project partners, sector leaders, donors/collaborators, and others as appropriate.
• Represent WCS to external donors and stakeholders as appropriate

Qualifications and Requirements:

WCS is looking for a candidate who has:

• Either an advanced degree (Masters) in the fields of natural resource management, conservation, development, social sciences or similar, or a first degree (Bachelor’s) with demonstrated and appropriate experience.
• Demonstrated experience (>5 years) within one of the four areas targeted by the USAID EPP Program (improving security and combatting criminality; protected area management and capacity development; development and well-being of rights-holding people; sustainable financing and investment in protected areas)
• Demonstrated knowledge of USAID project management including USAID rules and reporting requirements
• Experience working in the project/program cycles of design, implementation, M&E, reporting, workplanning and budgeting
• Experience working, coordinating and collaborating with diverse sets of stakeholders – such as local NGOs, government officials, donor representatives and the private sector.
• Demonstrated openness and sensitivity to the socio-cultural environment of OWR
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, working capabilities in French; knowledge of Swahili an advantage
• Ability to live and operate in remote areas under challenging conditions
• Energetic, flexible, adaptable, creative and ambitious, with a drive to get things done