World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, seeks a Transboundary Leader for the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA). KAZA was created in 2011 by five southern African countries—Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe—and is the largest terrestrial transboundary conservation area in the world (520,000 km2). KAZA is renowned for its wealth of wildlife, including more than half of Africa’s elephants (225,000), 20% of the continent’s lions, 25% of all African wild dogs, and up to 40% of the world’s cheetahs.
The WWF Transboundary Leader will ensure that WWF actions align and support the KAZA vision through close coordination with the KAZA Secretariat, the five KAZA partner countries, communities, and other key funding and technical partners. S/he will secure additional funding and expertise, provide technical expertise, direct staff, oversee grants, and communicate results. More specifically, and in consultation and coordination with WWF Country Offices in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe as appropriate, s/he will:
Leadership
- Represent and coordinate WWF inputs into KAZA landscape and conservation planning exercises, including identifying and advising on the integration of other sectoral plans for the region;
- Coordinate WWF inputs into the development, implementation, and monitoring of transboundary species and natural resource management plans;
- Lead the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the WWF KAZA Strategic Plan;
- Support, at the request of the KAZA Secretariat and/or partner countries, the development of a regional transboundary conservation impact monitoring system working with GIS experts from WWF and Peace Parks Foundation (PPF);
- Oversee the design and implementation of transboundary grants to partners and WWF Country Offices;
- Provide technical expertise to partners, stakeholders and activities as appropriate;
Coordination:
- Coordinate the development, implementation, and monitoring of WWF KAZA annual workplans;
- Prepare technical progress reports in accordance with WWF or relevant donor standards;
- Communicate relevant highlights, successes and challenges to WWF KAZA Enabling Team and other stakeholders;
- Manage annual budget and other resources per the WWF KAZA annual workplan and Strategic Plan;
- Ensure coordination and alignment of WWF KAZA contributions and activities with the KAZA secretariat and KAZA partner countries;
- Provide programmatic leadership on fund-raising and identification of new partners;
- Work with WWF Country Offices and the WWF KAZA Enabling Team to identify and leverage additional resources, funds, and expertise internally within WWF and externally;
- Maintain excellent relationships with all funding-partners;
Supervisory Responsibility:
- Supervise WWF personal and consultants as required.
- A minimum of 12 years of leadership experience in developing and managing conservation and/or international development programs or projects of similar scale and complexity; and with the proven ability to effectively work and collaborate with governments, NGOs, donors and other stakeholders. Preference will be given to candidates with at least 7 years of experience in Africa, ideally in the southern Africa region.
- Demonstrated experience in international conservation, natural resource management including community and transboundary natural resource management, and/or landscape planning is critical.
- Strong communication and organizations skills, including high fluency in written and verbal English; basic understanding of Portuguese would be an added advantage.
- Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills, culturally sensitive, and ability to lead or work effectively as a team member.
- Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners, and the ability to lead multi-sector and multi-disciplinary teams.
- Demonstrated capabilities in high-level strategic visioning and leadership.
- Knowledge of WWF planning and reporting procedures, standards, and fund-raising processes are added value.