Deputy Practice Leader and Innovation Lead at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Kenya

The Role:

• Support the Practice Leader in development, implementation and adaptation of the Practice strategy.

• Close engagement with the Practice Core Team, the Leadership Team and Focal Points to monitor and assess progress across the Practice strategy and identify potential issues that may inhibit delivery against the goals and outcomes.

• Provide a high level of technical and thought leadership within the Practice thematic area, in particular in relation to the specific Practice Goals and Outcomes of the Practice.

• Provide clear and powerful communication, both internally and externally, on technical issues related to the Practice Goals and Outcomes

• Work in close collaboration with the rest of the Practice Core Team and support them as and when required

• Build a strong culture of collaboration within the Practice via close engagement with Focal points and interested practice members to share current developments and feedback

• Work to change the behaviors and policies of key internal stakeholders if necessary and communicate the vision internally, to build commitment and action toward results.

• Create and manage a Practice innovation approach and process that ensures we are able to identify, surface, nurture, prototype new ideas from across the diverse WWF network and take best of these ideas to scale and global impact.

• Facilitate and foster internal and especially external relationships that will enhance development of new innovations and their journey to scale and impact.

Main responsibilities:

• Accountability for providing content agenda to the Network.

• Support Practice agenda development, jointly with Practice core team.

• Liaise closely with other Deputy Practice Leaders to facilitate integration with other Practice activities.

• Support Practice Leader in anchoring a shift from individual programming to a focused set of 2025 goals;

• In coordination with other Deputy Practice Leaders, ensure a network wide dialogue and interaction that enables the best ideas to rise to the surface

• Instil in the Practice team a culture of innovation and learning

• Develop a process of linking, selecting and nurturing the best ideas that show greatest promise of delivering transformative impact against our Goals and Outcomes;

• Manage this process through the phases of funding, potential evaluation, monitoring, reporting, network-wide sharing and scaling up.

• Support Practice success through Critical contributions at country level to Goals at global level

• Support Practice Leader with peer review, transparent external and internal reporting on all critical contributions and progress.

• Manage the Practice in the absence of the Practice Leader.

• Additional duties and responsibilities as required by the Practice Leader.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Competencies:

• Advanced University degree in International Relations/Development, Environmental/Conservation Science, or other related fields – or equivalent work experience;

• A thorough understanding of the environment/development interface;

• At least 7-8 years’ experience in a management function, with demonstrated success of managing multi-disciplinary teams

• Proven track record in Conservation delivery.

• Experience in managing organisational innovation processes will be of great advantage

• Perfect command of English language and any other language/s an asset.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to engage and connect with broad range of people, and work as part of a multi-dimensional team that cuts across the WWF Network.

• Management/mentoring skills to motivate and develop team members.

• Clarity of thought, able to take decisions and provide content leadership in the Practice.

• Energetic and passionate about conservation. Knowledge that crosses field programs, policy and markets;

• Able to navigate complex issues and organizational complexity and executes high quality work in a timely way;

• Powerful internal representation and ability to galvanize the Network and broader community around a shared agenda;

• Capacity to innovate and adapt for maximum scale and impact;

• Decision making skills with strong business acumen and drive for results;

• Excellent oral and written communication skills;

• Adheres to WWF’s values, which are: Knowledgeable, Optimistic, Determined and Engaging.