Extension Officer: Conservation Champion Programme at WWF South Africa

Minimum Requirements

• A tertiary qualification in agriculture science, conservation ecology, natural resources management, environmental management, or relevant field (e.g. economics, land use planning, viticulture, GIS expertise); or at least five years’ experience in an environmental management position.
• The successful candidate must be skilled in communications (written and verbal) with strong report writing skills.
• Excellent planning skills with strong analytical, administrative and project management skills.
• Experience collaborating with farmers and landowners, and understanding of challenges facing them, is essential.
• Good people skills, interacting with variety of role players and comfortable public speaking is important.
• An interest or background in botany/ ecology with an experience in plant restoration is an advantage.
• Passion for the conservation of nature and the involvement of people and businesses in the implementation of practical solutions to the challenges facing the environment.
• Collaborative spirit and ability to work in team settings across cultures and internally within a diverse institution.
• Innovation, flexibility, and self-motivation are important aspects for this job.
• Be able to work unsupervised and under pressure and meet project deadlines
• Working knowledge & experience of the different Conservation Stewardship models & relevant partners in the landscape.
• Computer literacy in (MS Office suite). Good working knowledge of Excel, Word and online meeting platforms.
• Experience in using Cape Farm Mapper, Google Earth Pro and or GIS software is an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills in both English and Afrikaans.
• Valid driver’s license and own transportation essential.
• Be physically fit and able to work outdoors, conduct field work in arid environments
• Must be a South African citizen or hold a valid permanent residency permit.
• Duties and Responsibilities
• The WWF Extension Officer will work closely with and report to the Senior Extension officer, with key performance indicators related to the following activities:
• Review and provide technical input to the WWF Conservation Champion wine farm assessments:
• Effective planning of the annual farm visit schedule to ensure that all 60+ farms are visited at least once a year.
• During farm visit, complete the environmental assessment in collaboration with the representative from the farm which focuses on providing sound advice on the effective mitigation of any emerging environmental risks, updating the biodiversity management plans, tracking progress against previous annual targets and supporting the proactive conservation efforts of the farm – thereby ensuring that the WWF Conservation Champion criteria are maintained.
• Negotiate and conclude the signing of WWF Landowner Agreements with all WWF Conservation Champion farms as well as identified priority stewardship properties falling within WWF stewardship focus areas.
• Maintain positive relationships with key staff members/landowners and update team internally to ensure effective communication across various levels of engagement.

Communication:

• Stakeholder engagement with targeted partner organisations (such as Landcare, CapeNature Stewardship, Conservation at Work, Upper Breede Collaborative Extension Group) and/or broader fruit & wine industry bodies.
• Coordination, planning and facilitation of learning exchange events or technical training workshops on a variety of topics and using a number of tools such as iNaturalist, carbon calculator and miniSASS, Cape Farm Mapper to name a few.
• In collaboration with the Communications unit provide support for WWF Conservation Champion sub-brand marketing, communication and media liaison including collating footage and content from the farms to feed in to newsletter, blogs or social media copy.
• Ensuring the brand usage is correct and integrity of the messaging is in line with the WWF Guidelines with the Conservation Champions and marketing partners.
• Provide support to the programme manager by providing input into fundraising and reporting to key funders and partners.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (including GIS)

• GIS project oversight, data management and standardised map development for the Conservation Action or Biodiversity Management Plans per farm;
• Monitoring and Evaluation to track improved land management over time (including GIS spatial analysis of areas under agriculture and conservation as well as additional M&E metrics or METT analysis) ;
• Conduct biodiversity surveys in selected areas where required and capture the data in formats for internal M&E as well as user-friendly informative format for the farms to use.
• All aspects of project management and administration (updated membership information, contact details, conservation stories, annual review of management plans)

Stewardship:

• Utilizing your working knowledge & experience of the different Conservation Stewardship models & relevant partners in the landscape to support landowners wanting to undertake stewardship commitments.
• Attendance and contribution to key stakeholder forums (such as Cape Nature Stewardship review committee) to report on relevant WWF stewardship agreements & landowner engagement processes.
• Where relevant, convening and/or chairing of quarterly meetings with the conservancies and landowner associations that WWF has facilitated within the WWF Sustainable Food System priority focus areas.