Regional Resource Hub Policy Officer

JOB DESCRIPTION

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES: The Policy Officer, BIOPAMA Regional Resource Hub for Biodiversity and Protected Areas will be responsible for coordinating the policy engagement across the region on protected and conserved areas to ensure that the products from the Regional Resource Hub for Biodiversity and Protected Areas are known and used, as well as expanding the networks of contributors and users in Eastern and Southern Africa. S/he will work with PA agencies and other relevant partners and institutions to ensure that the information from the RRH is used in relevant decision-making fora and can support protected and conserved areas in working towards and achieving high performance standards for protected and conserved areas. S/he will liaise closely with the relevant Regional Economic Communities (RECs), particularly the EAC Secretariat, IGAD Secretariat, IOC Secretariat and SADC Secretariat, as well as individual countries and partners in the region to help identify priority decision-making and capacity building needs to inform the further development of the RRH to meet the requirements of the region. S/he will support the Regional Resource Hub and REC Secretariats by delivering knowledge products that can be integrated into technical reports and presentations at relevant meetings, conferences and for a and will work with individual countries or RECs on implementing recommendations from these knowledge products. S/he will participate in and support the Resource Hub Steering Committee and other relevant regional governance or technical advisory structures as appropriate.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• More specifically the Policy Officer is expected to carry out the following duties;
• Work with the IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) Conservation Areas and Species (CAS) Programme's Senior Programme Officer (SPO), Technical Coordinator (TC), the EC-JRC, Resource Hub host, all REC Secretariats, relevant Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and relevant national and regional institutions and technical experts to identify priorities for protected area management effectiveness and governance and any emerging issues that may need monitoring;
• Provide leadership in the identification of required data product and service needs for the Regional Resource Hub to consider;
• Work with the IUCN ESARO CAS SPO, TC, EC-JRC, Resource Hub host and relevant technical experts to inform the development of appropriate protected area management effectiveness and governance assessment and decision support tools that are relevant to the ESA region;
• Support the implementation of a capacity building programme focused on protected area management effectiveness and governance, linked to feedback from RRH stakeholders;
• Develop a strategy to help institutionalize relevant protected area management effectiveness and governance assessments in at least three countries in the region over the project lifetime (2 years);
• Support the development of expert networks linked to the Resource Hub and in support of decision making on protected area management and governance, including sustainable financing as relevant;
• Support the development of State of Protected Area Reports for the ESA region in accordance with agreed priority needs of the region;
• Support the dissemination of the SOPACA in the relevant institutions in the region and assist as relevant with the uptake of the recommendations
• Stakeholder Engagement and representation;
• Assist in building and maintaining strong relationships with IUCN partners, donors, project participants and wider stakeholders and develop the Resource Hub network. More specifically: Assist and support the SPO in developing and managing the relationship between IUCN and the RECs, as well as relevant national government entities
• Develop and manage the network of Resource Hub users in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, ensuring that these stakeholders use the Resource Hub functions and inform development as relevant, in line with regional needs and requests;
• Engage with Members and Commissions in line with IUCN One Programme approach and integrate relevant expertise into the Resource Hub network as appropriate and feasible;
• Engage with other relevant IUCN projects and programmes to ensure uptake of RRH products and services and use of the RRH as relevant;Represent IUCN at internal and external meetings as required and approved.
• Programme management and implementation;
• Support effective and efficient implementation of the BIOPAMA project in Eastern and Southern Africa regions through timely implementation of pr
• project activities in accordance with the BIOPAMA workplan, project documents, supporting agreements (e.g. contracts, MoUs, etc.), annual work plans and the procedures of IUCN, Regional Resource Hub host and the relevant RECs;
• Ensure that project budgets are utilized and monitored in accordance with IUCN internal controls and donor agreements;
• Lead and ensure the collection, collation, and reporting of all project data and documents, and lead or assist with the submission of technical progress reports according to the agreed formats and deadlines;
• Provide technical support and facilitation to project activities, with support from the SPO, and ensure quality outputs that meet the satisfaction of donors, sub-grantees and project partners;
• Maintain project documents and regularly update summary sheets, project brochures and PowerPoint presentations in a format that is easily accessible to other members of the BIOPAMA IUCN, JRC, Resource Hub host and REC teams;
• Maintain appropriate and effective (timely, respectful and professional) communications with all IUCN, REC, Resource Hub host, and other programme stakeholders;
• Provide capacity strengthening to project partners to improve capacity to deliver on project activities and objectives; and
• Assume the line manager role for projects with field-based teams in the region where applicable.
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning;
• Support the development and implementation of Monitoring and Evaluation systems and support accountability and programme learning processes. More specifically: Support the development and effective implementation of M&E frameworks and systems for BIOPAMA in the Eastern and Southern African region. These should capture agreed upon, integrated impacts, in line with IUCN, the Resource Hub host and REC guidelines and procedures;
• Contribute to the development of a project wide M&E framework which captures the objectives of BIOPAMA in line with global objectives;
• Contribute to developing capacity for M&E within projects, as relevant;
• Ensure that all the information related to the implementation of projects is adequately filed, organized and updated for easy access;
• Identify and use lessons to inform practice;
• Document and share lessons and experiences, as appropriate, including taking the responsibility for specific knowledge products.

REQUIREMENTS

POSITION REQUIREMENTS: Education;

• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant field such as environmental management, natural resource management, conservation biology, or an ecology or natural science related discipline.
• Work Experience;
• At least 5 years demonstrated experience in working on national or regional policy-related issues and project implementation;
• At least 5 years work experience in Eastern and/or Southern Africa, preferably related to protected area management, governance and equity;
• Experience with results-based project cycle management including monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
• A good understanding of Management Effectiveness and Governance and Equity in protected areas and available tools to assess these;
• Experience in interacting confidently with diverse stakeholders including with government officials and local communities;
• Experience in training and mentoring, in particular on technical issues;
• Experience with organising and facilitating workshops and training;
• Hands-on experience with report writing;
• Experience in Remote Sensing and GIS/Spatial Analysis will be an added advantage.