Photojournalist At Wildlife Conservation Society

BACKGROUND

The WCS Congo has been a major actor in biodiversity conservation in the Republic of the Congo for 30 years. The WCS Congo has facilitated the creation of several major protected areas, including the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP): 4,000 square kilometers of continuous lowland rainforest in the heart of the Congo Basin, home to many endangered species such as the western lowland gorilla. In addition to managing this unique National Park, WCS Congo is active in the surrounding areas, working with communities, the government, as well as partnering with timber companies to promote sustainable levels of bushmeat hunting.

A few hundred kilometers to the south of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, WCS Congo manages, together with the Ministry of Foret Economy, Congo’s only Community Reserve, the Lac Télé Community Reserve (LTCR), created 20 years ago. The LTCR is home to around 20,000 people living in 27 villages, as well as outstanding biodiversity found in over 4,400 square kilometers of wetland savannahs, flooded forest and primary rainforest. Our vision is a space where people and nature coexist, where biodiversity is protected, and with local communities playing a central role in managing and benefiting from the Reserve’s natural resources, and the peatland keeping on playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change.

To continue its communication efforts, vital to supporting and publicizing its results and raise funds, WCS Congo is seeking to recruit a professional photojournalist to come to Congo in order to produce photos but also written pieces (articles, portraits, success stories, etc.) around our conservation activities on our two main intervention sites.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this assignment is to produce photos and stories of WCS Congo’s conservation work taking place in northern Congo. The content should focus on:

• Giving voice and representation to all stakeholders involved in our conservation efforts: communities, staff, partners, beneficiaries, etc.
• Promoting the work of our teams, highlighting their successes as well as their challenges.
• Reflecting the diversity of WCS Congo’s conservation activities in the northern Congo region (in NNNP, LTCR, as well as their periphery area).
• The upcoming celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the NNNP.

RESPONSABILITIES

1. Produce high quality photos and stories that promote WCS Congo’s mission

Working with the WCS Congo Communications officer prior to arrival in the country, identify compelling stories, events, and the most interesting program sites to visit that will best enable the content to be captured. Draft an itinerary for the mission.

1. Follow best practice in obtaining consent

Using the consent form template provided, ensure that consent is obtained from every non-WCS-staff member photographed or interviewed during the trip.

1. Edit and organize photos, draft and share stories while in country

The angle adopted for each story must be validated with the Communications officer beforehand. Each story must be the result of a professional and detailed journalistic work, including compelling quotes from relevant characters.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• The photojournalist will be moving between different field sites during his stay, made possible thanks to WCS support and logistics.
• The photojournalist will be given flexibility in contributing their expertise and experience in choosing the topics to cover, but will follow the directions of WCS staff to focus on certain key themes/sites as well as follow all security and safety protocols.
• The WCS shall own all rights, title and interest in any written material developed during the course of the assignment. The photojournalist will own and retain copyright to all photographic material created under the present agreement, but grants WCS a royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license to publish, use, distribute, reproduce and publicly display the images, to sublicense use of the images, and to create derivative works from the images, in perpetuity, in any print, electronic, digital or other format, in any media publications, channels, materials or exhibitions for purposes of promoting the Wildlife Conservation Society’s mission, including but not limited to editorial, advertising, publicity, and fundraising purposes, and any other use without payment of compensation. Whenever used, the WCS will use reasonable efforts to afford the photographer a credit in the following form: © First Name initial.Full last name/WCS. E.g: © F.Name/WCS

The photojournalist will be free to use the photos resulting from this assignment for his own purposes (appropriate location attribution will be used with all images where practical). In the event, that a use may conflict with WCS’s goals or materially benefit another conservation NGO, the photojournalist has to clear it with WCS beforehand. The photojournalist may in no case license the resulting photos to an image database.

• The photojournalist agrees to keep strictly confidential all information and material about or relating to the operations, research, projects and finances of WCS, its partners, donors or others or concerning WCS’s trustees, officers, employees and contractors, that is not publicly available.
• The photojournalist must comply with Congo’s laws, the WCS Code of Conduct, as well as health and safety protocols.

LOGISTICS AND COST

WCS Congo will cover the costs for:

• Per diem, food and lodging, as per WCS Congo policy*;.
• All transport within Congo.
• Visa and related costs

* At field sites the photographer may be required to stay in a tent.

The photojournalist will be responsible for:

• Bringing their own equipment.
• Health insurance and equipment insurance.
• Travel accident insurance.
• Ensuring they have any required personal medication, and all the required and recommended vaccinations (for entry to Congo and for gorilla viewing).

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

• Fluency in French and English.
• Professional level of photographic skills.
• Ability to find human-interest stories.
• Proven experience in journalism of an international standard.
• Experience working in remote areas in Africa.
• Ability to work in the field, often in challenging conditions.

EXPECTED LENGTH AND DATES OF MISSION

Six weeks (42 days), between March and May 2023.

DELIVERABLES

• Photos and stories must cover different thematic, at least: Research, Community Development, Livelihood diversification, Infrastructures & Logistics, Conservation Technology, and Anti-poaching efforts, in both the NNNP and the LTCR, as well as in their surrounding areas. The photojournalist and the Communications officer will work closely during the whole assignment on each production. A minimum of 2 full illustrated stories is expected from each site.
• Selected and edited photos should be handover in an easily-navigable database to the Communications officer at the end of the assignment.

Written pieces must be handover ready for publication at the end of the assignment, accompanied by relevant and captioned photos, in either French or English, depending on the language in which the photojournalist feels most