Job Description
Position Objectives:
The Wildlife Conservation Society seeks a motivated and experienced leader to direct this region and drive conservation programming across the Sudano-Sahel region. The successful candidate will be expected to guide and implement a regional strategy that delivers effective protected area management as part of landscape approach to the sustainable management of this fragile zone. The position requires sector-level expertise and experience working at the nexus of environment, people, climate and conflict, a proven experience in program development and operations, and strong leadership and communication skills.
Specifically, the candidate will ensure:
- Development and implementation of a regional strategic vision
- Management support and strategic guidance to country programs in the implementation of this vision
- Build-out and management of a lean but highly targeted regional technical and operational support team
- Strategic partnership development with government, bilateral, multilateral agencies and partner institutions in the region in order to enhance and enable the regional vision
Overall Responsibilities
• Generating and delivering a bold, broad, and forward-looking vision for conservation in the region, accompanied by a holistic strategy that incorporates fundraising, people, and operational plans to achieve it
• Building effective and strategic regional partnerships that complement and enhance our conservation delivery and ensuring strong regional representation to governments, donors, partners and policy processes
• Actively contributing to the WCS Global Leadership Team and creating nodes of engagement for other global departmental and cross-regional exchange and engagement
• Together with organizational stakeholders, develop a powerful communication approach aimed at engaging prospective donors, trustees, partners, and the general public
• Leading the region to address threats and opportunities that are both common across countries and too large for individual country programs to address alone
• Improving and enhancing operational support to Country Programs to increase impact in our protected area landscapes, coordinate capacities and manage expansion
• Strengthening internal systems to better position the region to compete in a world of larger scale and more complex grants and policy initiatives. This includes overseeing the development of operational, business development and administration improvements to our programs.
• Ensuring that a system of accountability and knowledge management for programs within the region is in place with which to share results, evaluate progress and encourage critical peer review
• Promoting and facilitating opportunities to enhance the work of country programs through strong and effective connections between WCS global thematic program expertise and country programs that are fully aligned with regional priorities
• Lead and hold leadership accountable for cultivating a work culture that aligns with WCS Core Values and enables the team to attract, develop, and retain top talent.
Internal Qualification Requirements
• At least 10 years relevant work experience in building and delivering effective programs in at least one of the following sectors: biodiversity conservation, community livelihoods, climate resilience and conflict
• Experience managing complex or multiple projects, including staffing, workloads, and finances under deadlines
• Proven experience of operating and delivering successful programs in challenging field conditions
• Strong team leadership skills and supervisory experience for large or multiple teams
• Strong fundraising track record and familiarity with relevant bilateral and multilateral donor agencies operating in the sector
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills and demonstrated success in working with diverse partners, including national governments, to achieve common objectives.
• High level negotiation and influencing skills, and the capacity to develop and maintain strong relationships with governments, donors, not-for-profit, scientific and political communities or corporate sectors
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and proficient in French
• Familiarity and experience of working with the conservation context and governance context of the Sudano-Sahel an advantage
• Willing to undertake significant travel
• Commitment to WCS’s mission and Core Values, which are: Respect, Accountability & Transparency, Innovation, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Collaboration, and Integrity
Attributes that will make your application stand out
• Impact-orientated, with program-building and fundraising skills
• Strong leadership and team building skills
• Track record of operating effectively in challenging local contexts with a diverse set of partners