Marine Program Officer – Western Indian Ocean at Nature Conservancy

The responsibilities and scope for this position are:

• Provide project management support, leading desk-based research and analyses, and co-leading local and international training workshops with country programs.
• Provide technical support towards strengthening or building successful community-led governance models (e.g. fisheries Beach Management Units, Community Conservancies, Community Forest Associations, Shehia Fisher Committees, fisher cooperatives, etc) for sustainable fisheries and coastal management
• Lead development of program-level Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework for the fisheries and coastal community-led conservation initiatives.
• Establish and implement locally managed marine areas and community-based natural resource management plans
• Ensure creation of incentives that drive community benefits, sustainable management and livelihoods that build lasting support for conservation.
• Ensure development and implementation of coastal community-led conservation and fisheries strategic initiatives in Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, South Africa and the greater WIO region with particular focus on Coastal Fisheries (including FishPath approach), Large-Scale Fisheries and Sustainable Aquaculture Programs as well as strengthening policy frameworks that contribute to preventing and deterring Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing at national and regional levels for effective fisheries and ocean governance.
• Contribute to the development, reporting and management of the Africa Fisheries Strategy.
• Building partnerships and working with fishermen and fishing communities, internal and external scientists, and with seafood industries and NGO partners to enhance collaboration and synergy in implementation of the Conservancy’s Africa Ocean Protection and Resilience Strategy.
• Foster cross project learning and strengthen a Community of Practice for the sharing of best practices and lessons learned for adaptive management.
• Ensure development and management of work plans and large project budgets
• May involve working in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain, and under physically demanding circumstances.
• The position will involve frequent travel domestically and internationally, evening and weekend hours.

What You’ll Bring:

• BA/BS degree in natural resources management, conservation, or another related field of study with 5 years of related work experience in conservation practice, project management, policy, fundraising or other related experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience on community-led conservation, fisheries management and marine science and conservation
• Experience conducting or working on fisheries-related scientific research, ecosystem interactions and coastal zone management.
• Experience in developing supportive and collaborative partnerships with other non-profits, community groups and/or government agencies.
• Demonstrated experience in developing monitoring and evaluation approaches and frameworks
• Excellent communication skills via written, spoken, and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
• Knowledge of key actors and current trends, threats to fisheries and marine biodiversity in the WIO, and practices related to management and protection at a national and regional scales.
• Strong technical writing and data analytical skills, interpretation, and presentation of information to a broad range of audiences and stakeholders.
• Experience in analyzing data and using statistical packages such as Excel and other analysis tools

Desired Qualifications

• Advanced degree and 10 years’ experience in conservation practice or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience working with the coastal fishing communities.
• Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural experience are appreciated. Fluency in Swahili is an added advantage.
• Willingness and ability to undertake extended periods of field travel (at least 40%) domestically and internationally.
• Politically savvy.