Head, Policy, Wildlife at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Kenya

As a results driven policy specialist, lead and coordinate the WWF network to achieve specific policy and advocacy ambitions, drive efforts to ensure effective policy implementation, conduct analysis and research on strategic policy issues, develop related and innovative policy solutions. Take responsibility for the positioning of the Wildlife Thematic Programme in the context of broader policy fora.  

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and facilitate WWF’s Wildlife policy agenda with focus on strategic thought leadership, advocacy, capacity building, planning and implementation.
• Lead and coordinate WWF’s engagement at key Multilateral Environmental Agreements, with a particular focus on CITES, CMS, IWC[1], and other fora, as deemedstrategic.  Coordinate with other units to achieve wildlife policy outcomes at additional fora, including CBD[2].  Explore and accelerate opportunities for impact in regional policy fora, working closely with WWF regional policy specialists. 
• Develop and implement a targeted roadmap to support offices with the implementation of global and regional policies, relevant to the delivery on the ground and in the water of the Thriving Biodiversity objective and the wildlife strategy.
• Promote regular interaction with policy leads in other Thematic Programmes and Practices to drive cross-practice policy coherence and deliver greater impact through integration.
• Facilitate the development of network policy positions and advocacy strategies related to the achievement of the Wildlife Thematic Programme’s objectives.
• Lead WWF’s external engagement at key policy intervention points, including relevant events and meetings.
• Coordinate the professional, coherent and effective network engagement of diverse WWF teams at appropriate policy dialogues relevant to Wildlife content
• Identify policy levers and enabling conditions which need to be addressed to achieve the wildlife elements of the Thriving Biodiversity objective of Roadmap 2030, in alignment with the Biodiversity Practice Playbook and in coordination with other Roadmap objectives, in particular ‘Elevating Nature’.
• Advocate with decision-makers on critical conservation issues relevant to Wildlife Thematic Programme content.
• Support capacity building of colleagues in the WWF network to develop skills and experience related to effective achievement of the Wildlife Thematic Programme’s policy objectives.
• Provide a research and radar capacity on external policy developments relevant to the Wildlife Thematic Programme content.

PROFILE

Required Qualifications;

• Ideally at least 7 years professional policy experience in conservation, environment and/or development.
• Experience with CITES strongly preferred.  Experience with CMS, IWC and/or CBD also of value.
• Strong track record of delivering policy impact
• In-depth understanding of global and regional environmental, natural resource and geopolitical governance
• Experience working in complex organisations.