The Conservation Trust Fund Specialist will report to the Senior Director, Debt Conversions, NatureVest. Debt Conversions, also known as Debt-for-Nature-Swaps, involve negotiating the purchase of a country’s sovereign external debt, at a discount. The debt is purchased, via an in-country trust fund, with combination of loan capital, de-risked with credit enhancement, and/or grant funds. The debt is then restructured with the government to create funding to finance marine conservation and related activities in the country. Conservation Trust Funds are private, legally independent institutions, established at the national level to provide sustainable financing for biodiversity conservation and management through innovative finance mechanisms such as debt conversions, green/ blue bond issuances, and/or environmental fees. These entities play a fundamental role in the successful completion of debt conversion transactions. The Specialist’s role will be to work with local TNC staff to establish and operationalize Conservation Trust Fund’s that source and manage funding for conservation and management actions around the globe. This will include training local TNC staff to lead multi-stakeholder processes to determine objectives, establish operational documents and legal frameworks (in both common law and civil law countries) for operations, develop governance structures, and potentially identify and implement long-term funding mechanisms, as well as undertaking these directly. S/he will also be responsible for monitoring and evaluation of Conservation Trust Fund activities, conducting capacity building for local TNC staff and stakeholders, training and backstopping TNC staff in the region, and compiling and disseminating best practices across Conservation Trust Funds. The Specialist may also sit on the Boards of multiple Conservation Trust Funds to ensure long-term adherence to conservation objectives.
This will be a term limited position with the initial term being one year, with the possibility of extension based on available funding sources.
The Conservation Trust Fund Specialist will work with local TNC staff to establish and operationalize Conservation Trust Funds around the globe. The Specialist will collaborate with TNC Worldwide Office teams, TNC senior management, including NatureVest, regional teams (Arica region, Caribbean region, Asia-Pacific region), and Global Ocean Team staff. S/he will also collaborate with TNC partner organizations, such as multi-lateral and bi-lateral institutions, donors, investors, national governments, and local stakeholder groups in countries where we work. The Specialist will bring sophisticated business, financial, legal, and public affairs experience and expertise, including facilitation, cross-cultural communication, conservation finance mechanisms, and project management, to the design and implementation of this work. Initial focus of the position will be to establish and operationalize Conservation Trust Funds to support conservation in at least 3 countries.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Implements, manages, and trains local TNC staff toward the development of new and existing Conservation Trust Funds in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, West Indian Ocean, and Asia-Pacific regions.
- Manages and implements multiple global projects.
- Travel associated with this position is expected to be approximately 40% of the time.
- Ensures the programmatic work is collaborative and well-integrated across the organization, including staff from NatureVest, Africa region, Caribbean region, Latin America region, Asia-Pacific region, and Global Oceans Team.
- Makes independent decisions frequently based on analysis, experience and judgment.
- Ensures programmatic commitments, TNC policies and procedures, financial standards and legal requirements are met and managed for compliance.
- May direct or participate in negotiations for complex, high profile or sensitive agreements associated with the debt conversions.
- Experience developing and implementing complex projects and strategic initiatives in an unstructured environment.
- Experience leading and managing large scale projects, including working with both internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience communicating with and training staff and a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, trade associations, non-government organizations, and local community groups.
- Experience negotiating complex agreements.
- Willingness to travel internationally up to 40% of the time.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi-lingual skills and/or multi-cultural experience appreciated.
- Strong team player who can build relationships and work collaboratively across the organization and with Conservancy partners. Experience working with governments, multi-lateral, and/or bi-lateral institutions preferred.
- Ability to work effectively across teams and time zones and juggle multiple projects at once.
- Ability to successfully develop and implement complex projects in an unstructured environment.
- Outstanding analytical and project management capabilities.
- Superior written and oral communications.
- International work experience desirable.
- MBA, MPIA, Law, or similar degree with significant coursework in conservation finance.