Resilient Watersheds Coordinator, Africa at Nature Conservancy

WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE TOGETHER

The Resilient Watersheds (Water Funds) Coordinator provides day-to-day management, general operations, and programmatic support while leading the stakeholders network and coordinates learning platform and resources sharing from within and outside TNC. They will bring much needed technical support in the following categories to our regional program: Source Water Protection community of practice; Africa Water Funds Network growth and operational management including serving as secretariat to its steering committee; Social media presence and content generation as well as sharing; Conducting training needs assessment and organizing trainings and following up to ensure effectiveness of the trainings and resource use; Managing bi-monthly webinars for the network’s members and stakeholders as well as content generation and cultivating high level leaders from across the 15+ Water Funds in region, to make presentations. This is a two-year contract position, renewable subject to availability of funding, and shall be based where TNC has a registered office in Africa, Angola, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania or Zambia. No employment visas or assistance is being offered with this position except for the local labour employment requirements. The position reports to the Africa Water Funds Director.

WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU

The position holder will ensure well-coordinated support across all the water funds in region, tracking and reporting of their implementation progress including grant funding reporting and other relevant communication within the TNC system and with partners in region. This will include information sharing through scheduled webinars, electronic multi-lingual newsletters and other channels of communication. Read more on Water Funds on the link below. The ideal candidate will;

• Coordinate and track multiple project work plans and workstreams across teams, including coordinating project teams, setting deadlines, track status via a project management software.
• Oversee project management for the program, using TNC’s Highly Effective Teams and any other approaches to effectively manage key projects and support the work of cross-functional, cross-geographic teams towards the desired outcome.
• Provide support during proposal development and ensure timely submission of proposal related documentation.
• Ensure programmatic commitments, Conservancy policies and procedures, financial standards, and legal requirements are met and managed for compliance; decisions that may bind the organization financially or legally.
• Development of documents, presentations, and other materials, and coordination of events and consultancies with external partners.
• Circulating and following up on the review of technical reports by the program team and technical leads.
• Oversee document management systems that all Water Funds team members can access.
• Coordinate project budget management and tracking of Program intermediate results and progress.
• Leads the water funds network and coordinates a steering committee of Africa Water Funds network including membership and scheduling of meetings and agenda setting.
• Reach out to resource persons with the global water funds team and conservation training resource persons to gather materials and information needed.
• Manage consultants, support drafting and tracking contracts for the program and ensure prudent management of contracts and vendors for timely service delivery that guarantees value for money.
• Provide administrative support to the program staff in crafting presentations and slide decks, planning complex trips, preparing meetings with partners and donors.
• Responsible for coordination of donor and learning trips to source water protection projects within the region.
• Ensures integrity of both data collection and management relating to conservation projects and project statistics.
• Under limited supervision acts independently, resolves complex issues within the program area and may act as a resource to others.
• Complies and shares the data needed for public information channels and key partner organizations.
• May work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain and under physically demanding circumstances.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Bachelor’s degree and 3 years’ experience in natural resource management, Ecology, Agricultural Economics, Forestry, Environmental Science, Law or similar field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience managing Interns.  
• Relationship building experience to work closely with a variety of partners, i.e., media, government officials, internal scientists. 
• Experience completing tasks independently with respect to timeline(s).
• Experience with communication via written, spoken and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
• Experience using common software applications such as Word, Excel, web browsers, etc.
• Experience in training.                   
• Experience coordinating multiple programs and projects in multiple locations. 
• Experience coordinating and managing multiple priorities, with assignments sometimes coming from several sources and work independently.
• Experience completing tasks independently with respect to timeline(s).
• Experience coordinating multiple projects.
• Experience handling standard business communications via written, spoken and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
• Experience with report writing. 

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
• Over 5 years’ experience in natural resource management, similar field or equivalent combination of education and experience. 
• Ability and willingness to apply science to decision-making and guide activities.
• Familiarity with principles of land acquisition or similar asset acquisition.
• Knowledge of ecological land management principles.
• Knowledge of current trends and practices in conservation, land management and natural resource preservation.
• Ability and willingness to apply science to decision-making and guide activities.
• Knowledge of current trends and practices in environmental conservation, climate change and adaptation, land management and natural resource preservation.
• Extensive experience in program coordination and support to several projects across multiple locations and countries in Africa 
• Experience working in conservation or climate related projects in the NGO world is preferred. 
• Experience supporting teams during resources acquisition, project implementation and monitoring and evaluation of projects and reporting. 
• Qualifications and experience in project management is preferred. 
• Strong administrative skills including attention to detail and numerical ability.  
• Experience with planning, administering, and recording results of work-team meetings and activities.
• Demonstrated experience in relationship building experience to work closely with a variety of partners and stakeholders.