Community Engagement Specialist at WWF South Africa

Minimum Requirements

• Qualification a conservation or social science field, postgraduate qualification would be advantageous.
• Working knowledge of the Southern African conservation sector, with a focus on relationships and dynamics between local people and protected areas.
• Minimum of ten years’ experience in a senior community engagement related role in NGO sector.
• Ten years’ experience in managing projects in complex settings with culturally diverse groups. This should include a track record of successfully brokering/negotiating collaborations in a highly political / pressured environment with NGO’s, government, private sector and communities.
• Working knowledge of social and human-rights safeguarding processes and tools.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to communicate, advocate and influence debates amongst the diverse community of practitioners.
• Working understanding of South African land reform and rural development policies, guidelines and best-practices.
• Superior writing and verbal skills in English and ideally an African language. This should include superior report writing skills.
• Superior conflict management and mediation skills.
• Strong strategic planning, project management and administrative skills.
• Strong event planning and coordination skills.
• Ability to convene and build strong partnerships and interpersonal relationships with all levels of stakeholders from differing contexts and organisations.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and be flexible in the face of the unexpected, often in remote and rural areas.
• Diplomacy and political savvy.
• Self-efficacy and ability to work independently.
• Team-player willing to collaborate and regularly interact with other team members.
• A passion for environmental and conservation issues, and an understanding of the connection between social issues, local communities and the environment.
• Ability to undertake extensive travel is essential for this position.
• Valid Driver’s License and Passport.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Project manage all community-oriented initiatives implemented by consultants and partners, including all the aspects of the contract life cycle, and monitoring the achievement of deliverables according to standards of the highest quality.
• Conduct regular site visits (at least monthly) with project partners for all ongoing projects.
• Provide regular feedback regarding projects and consultancies (at least weekly) regarding challenges, opportunities and overall progress to Khetha programme management and relevant team members.
• Support seconded employees with their Khetha-related work and ensure they are optimally included in Khetha-related projects.
• Participate in the implementation of the GEF 6 program in areas that focus on community governance, training and community engagements
• Support and participate in the GEF 6 Fence Monitors program and play in a leadership role in the development of the EM programme, in close consultation with the GEF 6 leadership structures.
• Participate in Community Park Forums (as relevant to Conservation, Youth, Environmental Education, Wildlife Security matters, etc.) and other networks and forums focussing on protected area-community relations.
• Enable community-based solutions to safety, wildlife crime and human-wildlife conflict through the SAFE Systems approach.
• Support local communities to develop a game-meat value chain as part of efforts to develop innovative finance models in the Greater Kruger.
• Explore community-engagement and socio-economic development partnership opportunities with provincial conservation agencies, biosphere organisations, NGOs, CBOs and other partners.
• Build the capacity of Community Engagement Practitioners in the Greater Kruger and beyond through formal training and a flagship annual conference.
• Participate in existing efforts to promote restorative justice practices and victim-offender dialogues in context of wildlife crime in the Greater Kruger area.
• Participate in routine data collection, reporting and learning activities as part of Khetha’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) system.
• Support and contribute pro-actively to the work of Khetha’s Communication team.
• Support the development and implementation of the annual Khetha work plan.
• Assist with a wide range of routine and ad-hoc internal program administration – and management processes.