International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is looking for a project officer – Biopama, Burkina Faso

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is looking for a project officer – Biopama, Burkina Faso

Major responsibilities :

The Technical assistant will contribute to the day-to-day technical implementation BIOPAMA including the Action Component that are the responsibility of the IUCN West and Central Africa Regional Office, under the direct supervision of the project regional coordinator and in close working collaboration with the oversight provided by the IUCN Global BIOPAMA program.

Enhancing the visibility and effectiveness of the Call for proposals :

• Promote the call for proposals in the region by publishing details of the call on websites and through other relevant means ;
• Support proposals preparation. Provide technical advice and support to the applicants during the proposal preparation stage. Conduct capacity building events for applicants ;
• Ensuring efficient Proposal evaluation, selection and award ;
• Establishing the Regional Advisory Committee in their respective region ;
• Identifying suitable experts ;
• Contracting the Regional Advisory Committee experts ;
• Convening the Regional Advisory Committee experts following the close of each call for proposals to undertake ;
• Conduct technical assessment of Grant Concept Notes/Full Proposals to assess alignment with BP II objectives ;
• Conduct technical evaluation of full proposals against agreed selection criteria ;
• Conduct ESMS and due-diligence on grantees ;
• Compiling a ranked list of the proposals submitted according to their score in the technical evaluation ;
• Keeping project datasheets updated ;
• Monitoring payment requests and transactions ;
• Ensuring effective implementation of projects by grantees ;
• Assisting in monitoring project progress, assessing project management and implementation effectiveness according to monitoring guidelines ;
• Supporting beneficiaries by providing advice and guidance on implementation issues ;
• Ensuring that projects report on schedule by reminding them of upcoming deadline ;
• Undertaking a detailed review of all project technical and financial reports and associated deliverables/outputs ;
• Checking that the grantees have uploaded any requested supporting documents to the Portal and that documents submitted correspond to those requested ;
• Identifying any significant project related issue or events, successes that can be shared (e.g. on the Portal news page or in the Newsletter) ;
• Liaise with grantees to ensure timely provision of expenditures information ;
• Providing initial feedback to the proponents on how to enhance the quality of their proposals ;
• Plan provision of capacity development to potential grantees ;
• Preparing and submitting a regional technical assessment on the implementation of grants ;

Support the project implementation :

 Contribution to Administrative and finance support :

• Support procurement process, interact with service providers, and monitor deliverables ;
• Liaise with PACO Finance Officers regarding compliance with donors’ contractual and financial requirements ;
• Support the provision of financial reporting to donors by providing the Coordinator with the relevant project/program information on a timely basis ;
• Support the Coordinator to regularly review, analyze and monitor the project financial reports and communicate any over/under expenditure observations to the Technical Coordinator on a timely basis ;
• Inform on a permanent basis the program coordinator and PACO management team of all development in the execution of the program.

Monitoring and evaluation :

• Ensure that all data pertaining to the program’s activities are collected and analyzed at sufficient standard ;
• Ensure that the project develops and effectively implements an M&E framework, in line IUCN guidelines and procedures as well as that required by the donor ;
• Ensure that all the information related to the implementation of projects is adequately filed, organized and updated for easy access ;
• Manage the submission of technical and financial reports from grantees, and verify completion of products, deliverables, and short-term impacts by grantees in order to eview the efficiency and efficacy of project implementation ;
• Identify and use lessons to inform future practice ;
• Document and share lessons and experiences, as appropriate ;
• Contribute to the BIOPAMA West and Central Africa learning and capitalization strategy ;
• Contribute to building functional synergies with other projects ;
• Assist the grantees in integrating data from their project in the regional observatories ;

Fundraising :

Working closely with the other PACO staff to support the development of project proposals with a particular focus on leveraging additional funds related to Protected Areas initiatives.

 Specific duties :

The technical assistant is expected to assist the project coordinator by :

• Develop a thorough understanding of the BIOPAMA including the Action Component mechanism in West and Central Africa ;
• Provide guidance to the global team on regionally tailored approaches for an effective communication program to promote and explain the grant mechanism opportunity to stakeholders across the region ;
• Work effectively with the BIOPAMA regional and global team to deliver regional BIOPAMA communication products and communicate results ;
• Provide regular technical advice to the BIOPAMA regional coordinator and assist in work planning and the preparation of reports ;
• Support the establishment and running of the BIOPAMA protected areas Observatories for West and Central Africa ;
• Identify key regional and national networks and organizations and develop and maintain contact lists and liaison ;
• Provide advice on due diligence assessments and screening of applicants in consultation with the global team ;
• As necessary, provide direct technical support for capacity building, particularly of local-level civil society organizations and mentor applicants and grantees through aspects of grant management, from the initial proposal design and submission process, to assisting with project monitoring and evaluation ;
• Convene meetings and workshops to enable information sharing, capacity building and exchange between grantees and other stakeholders ;
• Monitor performance through communication with grantees and through site visits where appropriate ;
• Ensure close synergies between the grants program and the regional observatories’ roles in BIOPAMA particularly in regard to management effectiveness assessments and activities that will improve the quality of baseline PA information and ensure that relevant information derived from grant projects is accessible to the sub regional  ;observatories ;
• Contribute to project publicity, promotion, updates and knowledge products suitably branded and attributed ;
• Support the Protected Areas Coordinator as required through engagement on regional network groups, task forces and committees ;
• Representing IUCN and BIOPAMA at relevant fora, meetings and workshops at all levels; contribution to IUCN PACO program planning forums, advisory committees and, project reviews ;
• Contribute to information sharing, lessons learning and documentation of project and program experiences ;
• Draft contracts and terms of reference as requested by the project’s coordinator or the unit’s coordination for consultancies and workshops ;
• Contribute to organizing event ;
• Perform other duties as may be assigned from time to time.

Please Note : The above TORs contain the main responsibilities and duties of this position. However, in an ever evolving organization such as IUCN staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular TORs. Where any task becomes a regular part of staff member’s responsibilities, the TORs should be changed in consultation between the manager, the staff member and the HR Unit. Any one of the three may initiate the consultation.

• University Degree in environmental management, Natural Resource Management, Ecology, conservation, natural science related discipline or a relevant field ;
• At least 5 years of experience in biodiversity conservation and/or protected areas management, ideally involving terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, at national and/or regional levels ;
• Experience in communicating and collaborating with management agencies, academic institutions and local, national and regional stakeholders to achieve agreed collective outcomes ;
• Proven experience in project administration ;
• Demonstrated experience on small grants management ;
• Demonstrated experience in capacity building and working as a facilitator or trainer in a multi-cultural setting ;
• Sound French and English (verbal/written) with excellent communication and presentation skills ;
• Proficient in using office applications (MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint) and other web-based management systems.

Applicants are requested to apply online through the HR Management System, by opening the vacancy announcement and pressing the “Apply” button.

Applicants will be asked to create an account and submit their profile information. Applications will not be accepted after the closing date. The vacancy closes at midnight, Swiss time (GMT+1 / GMT+2 during Daylight Saving Time, DST). Please note that only selected applicants will be personally contacted for interviews.