Support Technician at Blue Ventures

Contract duration: Full time position, 12 month contract, with opportunities for renewal

Remuneration: Competitive salary based on experience

Summary job description

We are currently recruiting a Partner Support Technician to support our efforts assisting local partner organisations in East Africa, based in Kenya. The role will entail providing technical assistance to partner organisations involved in community-based fisheries management, and sharing technical and marine resource management experiences.
The successful candidate will provide bespoke training and technical support to local partners in all aspects of fisheries assessment and management, including monitoring and evaluation of landings − particularly in the design and use of mobile-based data collection systems − and supporting local partners in efforts to assist communities in the management of target small-scale fisheries.

Responsibilities

• Technical support and guidance for partner organisations
• Providing direct support to partner organisations in Kenya and East Africa with fisheries monitoring and management, identifying key capacity gaps and partner needs for technical support, and developing and reviewing work plans
• Liaising with UK-based partner support team to ensure correct and timely technical support is provided, and interacting with technical colleagues both within Kenya and internationally
• Coordinating monitoring plans and smartphone data collection systems using Blue Ventures’ fisheries monitoring framework, and adapting existing toolkits and methods to local contexts
• Training local partners and community resource monitors to manage mobile data systems with eventual handover and autonomous management of monitoring
• Supporting local partners and community members in discussions around improving local fisheries management practices, providing best practice insights and recommendations from other fisheries in similar contexts
• Facilitating learning and exchange
• Identifying opportunities for cross-learning and exchange within Kenya and internationally, and facilitating dialogue and the exchange of best practices around community-based octopus fisheries management
• Supporting the growth and development of a ‘community of practice’ around locally-led fisheries management and fishery improvement projects
• Identifying further opportunities for partnership development regionally
• Exchanging and interacting with Blue Ventures colleagues supporting similar fisheries elsewhere, including preparing for and managing domestic and international fisher exchanges where possible and appropriate
  Documenting learning & communication
• Gathering feedback from community partners to guide efforts to improve the performance and impact
• Evaluating and documenting key learning, best practices and relevant fishery/country information, including broader contextual learning around management experiences
• Working with partner organisations and Blue Ventures’ conservation team to plan and coordinate outreach and communication efforts around partnership activities, including blogs and news articles as required

Qualification

• Postgraduate level qualification in relevant subject (rural development, or environmental, fisheries or conservation science)
• At least five years’ practical experience in field-based conservation
• Experience of small-scale fisheries assessment, ideally through participatory (community-based) methods
• Strong analytical skills, and experience in data collection management and interpretation
• Experience of teaching and mentoring in data systems, analysis and interpretation
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office
• Experience of Android data collection systems (ideally including Open Data Kit)
• Experience of financial and budget management
• Experience of developing multi-sector partnerships, including with communities, fisheries authorities, and NGOs
• Sensitivity to partner and community needs and interests; humility and commitment to identifying needs and
• leading local capacity development for conservation
• Experience working with and reporting to donors, including corporations, trusts, foundations and agencies (desirable)
• Work experience in tropical developing contexts, including knowledge of marine environmental and Indonesia cultural contexts
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili (required)
• Excellent writing skills, with a proven track record in both report writing and ideally peer-reviewed publication
• Excellent communication skills and ability to give strong public presentations
• Experience of teaching and/or delivering training, both to groups and one-to-one
• Dynamic, enthusiastic, hardworking, efficient and proactive
• Excellent organisational skills, attention to detail and an ability to complete tasks to deadlines
• Self-motivated, confident and self reliant
• Ability to take initiative and solve problems quickly
• Enjoys problem solving and new challenges