Peatland Programme Coordinator, WCS-Congo At Wildlife Conservation Society

Organization: WCS – Wildlife Conservation Society – Congo-Brazzaville

Title: Peatland Programme Coordinator, WCS-Congo

Reports To: Senior Climate and Biodiversity Policy Advisor, WCS-Congo

Coordinates with: WCS-Congo ROC Country Director and WCS-Congo Technical Director, RCLT Chief Technical Advisor, Forest Advisor, Central Africa, and Gulf of Guinea Regional Office, WCS Forests & Climate Change Director for Science.

Location: Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (with frequent travel to the field)

Start date: ASAP

Position Type: Full time

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.

Program Overview

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s largest country program has been working to save Congo’s wildlife and wild places for almost three decades. Protecting this astonishing biodiversity means saving wild places that sustain the local people, protect natural resources, and buffer global climate change.

Our approach is specifically tailored to each area we work in and its protection status to enable lasting conservation of these areas while improving the livelihoods of the communities surrounding them. WCS is developing and implementing actions for effective wildlife protection; community based natural resource management; ecological monitoring; scientific research; and environmental education. WCS has developed strong relationships with government, private sector, and local community actors required to make conservation happen. WCS is working to expand protections for peatlands in the Republic of Congo, aligned with the goals of the Congolese government to protect this critical ecosystem.

WCS and the Government have formalized partnerships in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) and the Lac Télé Community Reserve (LTCR) to ensure that the protected areas are managed in accordance with international standards. In terms of biodiversity, the Lac Télé Community Reserve (RCLT) is home to several types of plant formations, in particular swamp forests to the north and floodplain forests to the south. In terms of climate, the peat deposits located in the swamp forests of the Congo Basin (Congo-DRC) store 30.6 gigatonnes of CO2, or 29% of the carbon sequestered by tropical peatlands worldwide.

Job Summary:

The position is responsible for leading the development of a peatland protection roadmap to support the Republic of Congo government expressed interest in elevating protection status of peatland in Congo. To achieve this, the Peatland Programme Coordinator will work closely with WCS-Congo technical teams – particularly the LTCR Chief Technical Advisor to manage the implementation, evaluation, and operations of WCS’s portfolio of peatland projects. The portfolio focuses on improving and expanding peatland conservation and management at site level (LTCR) as well as at national level, and includes multiple projects supported by multilateral, national and philanthropic funding agencies – some of which include partner organizations as well as WCS.

Primary Responsibilities:

Partnership

• Serve as WCS’s point of contact with WCS Congo peatland project partners and be responsible for the overall operation and performance of the various projects, including partner projects providing co-funding, and to regularly exchange best practices or lessons learned to harmonize approaches.
• He/she will support the development of a roadmap on peatland protection to support the Republic of Congo government expressed interest in elevating protection status of peatland in Congo including research, analyze and present information gathered from a variety of sources.
• Engage with the Ministry of the Environment, Sustainable Development, and the Congo Basin (MEDDBC) to ensure close coordination and collaboration with their services.
• Responsible for planning and facilitating workshops related to development of roadmap on peatland protection, including proposing agenda topics, and providing substantive input, identifying participants, preparing papers and presentations, and other tasks to ensure outcomes.
• Leading resource mobilization efforts by identifying and meeting with potential donors and preparing and submitting project documents to potential donors.

Programmatic

• He/she will coordinate with LTCR Chief Technical Advisor and relevant staff within the project teams based in Brazzaville, as appropriate, on implementation of the work plan of the various LTCR peatland projects to ensure delivery of a national roadmap for improving peatland protection.
• Coordinate the development, implementation, and evaluation of WCS Congo’s peatland portfolio projects; monitor and analyze the development and implementation of these projects; review relevant documents and reports; identify problems and issues to be addressed and initiate corrective actions; liaise with relevant stakeholders; ensure follow-up actions.
• Coordinate the design of the participatory monitoring system for the various peatland projects and be responsible for the overall management, monitoring, and evaluation of implementation.
• He/she is responsible for supervising external consultants hired to conduct policy analysis, including review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or other research and studies
• Organize and prepare written materials, e.g., draft briefing papers, analyses, sections of reports and studies, contributions to publications related to peatland protection in Congo.
• Carry out regular missions to monitor and ensure the proper implementation of peatland project activities in Congo.
• Prepare technical and financial reports within the required deadlines, as requested by partners, WCS and donors.
• Performs other duties as required.

Required Qualifications:

• An advanced degree in forestry, natural resource management, environmental science, or related field.
• At least five (5) years professional experience in forestry, conservation, policy, environment, sustainable development, forest, or deforestation-related agricultural commodity supply chains.
• Fluency in English and French.
• Knowledge of climate finance and carbon markets an advantage.

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically.
• Able to inspire and motivate others with strong communication skills.
• Strong coordination and facilitation skills, and adept at facilitating knowledge sharing, learning and capacity building.
• Strong analytical and organization skills and ability to engage effectively across multiple issues.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and a decentralized, multi- national network (or programme).
• Excellent knowledge of, and passionate, about global forestry, conservation and peatland issues, policy, and trends.
• Demonstrated experience in building strategic relations and partnerships with various stakeholders, including private sector, funding institutions and NGOs.
• Adheres to WCS’s values, which are: Integrity, Accountability, Transparency, Respect, Diversity, Inclusion, Collaboration, and Innovation.