UNDP Jobs - 65792- International Wildlife Crime Specialist

International Wildlife Crime Specialist

Location :

Brazzaville, CONGO

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

30-Apr-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

65 days

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

65 days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

In mid-2015, the Council for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved, as part of its "Programmatic Approach" titled Global Partnership on Wildlife Conservation and Crime Prevention for Sustainable Development, a Child Project Concept for the Republic of Congo with UNDP as the selected GEF agency. The project has the following titles and reference: UNDP-GEF Project Title: Integrated and Transboundary Conservation of Biodiversity in the Basins of the Republic of Congo (Congo Republic). Reference short title: PIMS 5612 Congo Wildlife Trade. See more information about the GEF’s Programme here:www.thegef.org/gef/project_detail?projID=9071. Refer to the approved Child Project Concept for Congo here:http://bit.ly/1OnqFjW.

The project’s target GEF funding is $3.1M and it has been duly endorsed by the Government of Congo.The full project to be developed on the basis of the Child Project Concept will be implemented by the Ministry of Forest Economy and Sustainable Development with support from UNDP and key management agencies at the focal PAs and landscapes (to be selected during the PPG phase).

The project’s objective is to build Congo’s capacity for protection of key persecuted species (such as forest elephants) and natural resources management through increased capacity and coordination of key law enforcement agencies (for wildlife and general crime) at both national and site level, and supporting sustainable rural development and conservation through a landscape approach in key poaching hotspots. This will be achieved through the delivery of three integrated components, including:

Improving the effective management of globally significant protected areas in the Congo Basic;
Strengthening capacity for effective PA and Illegal Wildlife Trade governance in Congo, and
Reducing poaching and illegal trade in threatened species [site level].

Project Preparation Process

The project responds to national priorities and its PRODOC needs to be prepared in alignment with international wildlife crime strategies and in close collaboration with key government partners in several institutions, financing partners, research entities, the private sector and in particular with the CSOs responsible for the management of targeted protected areas.In order to prepare the required documentation for the final approval of the project, a Project Preparation Grant (PPG) provided by the GEF is being implemented with clear and realistic targets and deliverables.

The GEF submission documentation to be prepared consists of a complete UNDP Project Document (PRODOC) and a CEO Endorsement Request form, to be duly filled in on the basis of the PRODOC, which takes precedence. These two key documents are to be accompanied along with co-financing letters, indicator tracking tools for the applicable GEF focal areas and social-environmental risk screening, using UNDP's methodological procedure. All PPG consultants share the responsibility of mobilizing co-financing and forging partnerships useful for the project. They are expected to work as a team to implement the following activities:

PPG Activity 1: Baseline review;
PPG Activity 2: Site-level engagements and assessments to strengthen wildlife protection against IWT;
PPG Activity 3: Design of a capacity-building programme for IWT law enforcement in Congo;
PPG Activity 4: Assess baseline investment, project risk, develop the strategy, budget and consolidate the project documentation for submission.

The PPG phase will be implemented between may 2016 and November 2016. Consultants are expected to start work in May 2016 and follow a detailed chronogram. The final deadline for delivering the complete and finalized UNDP-GEF documentation for the internal review by government, partners and UNDP is 30 November 2016. This deadline is non-negotiable.

Duties and Responsibilities

Function as the expert advisor in all matters pertaining to wildlife crime, working in close collaboration with the international Team Leader and consultants in Congo, with the main goals of ensuring that state of the art knowledge and science on wildlife crime is included in the overall GEF documentation.

Lead, with support from other PPG consultants, the implementation of the following PPG Activities for the Congo PRODOC:

Review of current means and modes (and capacity) of law enforcement with respect to wildlife crime.

Co-lead the implementation of the following PPG Activities:

Conduct comprehensive review of current policies, legislation and practices of forest and biodiversity conservation and management in Congo;
Assessment of other NPs (National Parcs?) in Congo to determine suitability/need for local establishment of Ranger Training Centres, Wildlife Crime Units and other law enforcement teams (for Component 3 of project);
Develop a National Strategy for Combating Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade and National Protected Area Management, including an Action Plan for the Strategy , in line with relevant international strategies (for Component 2 of project);
Design and cost activities to strengthen coordination and implementation of law enforcement (including investigation and intelligence, regional and trans-border collaboration, arrests, prosecutions and convictions) – at national level (for Component 2 of project).

Support other PPG consultants with the implementation of the following PPG Activities:

PPG Inception workshop;
Stakeholder engagement and baseline studies in significant protected areas in the Congo Basin and more specifically in Messok Dja PA – local councils, site managers, supporting NGOs, local communities, private sector;
Design and cost activities to strengthen law enforcement and natural resources management (community-based as far as possible) in selected sites (for Components 1 and 3 of project);
Stakeholder engagement for draft design and costing of activities to strengthen institutional capacity to reduce poaching and illegal trafficking of large mammals;
Financial baseline assessment;
Leverage the project’s co-financing;
Compose relevant and required chapters in the PRODOC for national validation;
PRODOC Validation Workshop;
Completion of project documentation in view of submission to the GEF.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1.

Competencies

Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Leverages multi-disciplinary, institutional knowledge and experience;
Creates and cultivates networks of partners to promote UNDP’s image;
Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
Leverages different experiences and expertise of team members to achieve better and more innovative outcomes;
Strong analytical and writing skills;
Ability to communicate effectively in order to communicate complex, technical information to both technical and general audiences;
Skills in negotiating effectively in sensitive situations;
Skills in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others;
Skills in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently and to resolve conflicts as they arise.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree in a relevant field such as social sciences, biodiversity, land use management and ecosystem services (either with ecological or socio-economic background) and with professional specialization in issues of biodiversity, sustainable landscape management and wildlife crime.

Experience:

At least 15 years of overall professional experience, with incremental responsibilities, preferably with some experience in the UN system;
Of which at least 7 years of experience and in-depth knowledge of biodiversity and sustainable landscape management issues in the context of project design, management or oversight at the international level, is an eliminatory requirement;
Demonstrated track record in the preparation of documents, project proposals, evaluation reports and, preferably also, publications within the theme of biodiversity, wildlife crime, ecosystem services and land-use is a highly sought qualification for this position;
Knowledge of environmental issues, policies and programs in Eastern Africa is preferred, but not required;
Specific experience with GEF project development, with a demonstrated track record in preparation of PRODOCs, is an eliminatory requirement.

Language:

Excellent mastery of written English is an eliminatory requirement;
Good working level of oral French.