African Parks Network Ethiopia Job Vacancy

Job Overview:

The Strategic Projects Manager (SPM) is in charge of assisting park management with overall coordination and management, providing strategic support, developing new initiatives deemed necessary to support Gambella National Park operations, and overseeing the implementation of special projects. This position will also provide proactive, high-quality, and comprehensive executive assistance to the Park Manager, as well as general support responsibilities for all teams in the region’s present and prospective parks.

Required abilities, competencies, and experience for this position.

• A BA degree is required, but an MA degree in project management, natural resource management, diplomacy, or a related discipline is desirable.
• 8 years of experience developing, directing, and managing projects in conservation, natural resource management, international development, and related topics.
• Proven experience creating documents and coordinating in a multi-stakeholder setting.
• Experience in strategic alliances, fundraising, and fund management.
• Experience offering executive support to a senior manager.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate complicated concepts to a varied audience while also establishing or maintaining relationships with other stakeholders.
• Understanding and appreciation for key natural conservation challenges, especially in the West African environment.
• High level of integrity and professionalism.
• Ability to preserve confidentiality and discretion.
• Strong organizational skills to optimize and prioritize conflicting demands in a hectic environment, meet deadlines, and complete tasks.
• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and the capacity to take initiative
• Excellent self-management skills, including the capacity to operate well without direct supervision, as well as managing and organizing shifting workloads in often stressful situations
• Ability to personally handle ambiguity and change.
• Fluency in French is required, while English is a plus.
• Dedicated to the principles of African Parks

Required Skill:

Project management.

Ability to create long-term influence plans based on program data.

Desired Skill:

Strong project management knowledge.

Main responsibilities

1. Administrative and coordinating assistance for AP activities in Gambella.

• Assisting with the overall coordination of administrative processes (such as approval processes, investment permission forms, contracts, and so on) to support the parks and strategic partners.
• Support the planning and coordination of all meetings and platforms set up to ensure operational success and record keeping.
• Providing the Regional Director of Operations with monthly briefings on critical issues and centralized park needs, as well as ensuring that directions are implemented.
• Keep track of critical suggestions, conclusions, and action items from board meetings, steering committees, strategic and internal operations meetings, risk register updates, internal SOP audits, and so on, and send out reminders to ensure their execution.
• Support the development and consistent coordination of unique projects that benefit the parks and the region (e.g., park-specific projects, feasibility studies, priority response plans, incubation partner support, etc.).
• Provide assistance with fundraising campaigns, proposal drafting, and donor compliance.
• Create creative tools and methods to increase park teams’ knowledge of and compliance with SOPs.
• Develop and oversee the execution of new initiatives judged necessary to assist operations using adaptive management review learning.
• Identify and offer solutions, and assist with the implementation of new operational processes and change management.
• Provide technical support for planned studies, surveys, and inventories in the parks in accordance with the parks’ and region’s key objectives.
• Support the conservation landscaping process in Gambella as part of the management delegation.

2. Strategic support to increase regional impact.

• Analyze incoming and outgoing memoranda, submissions, and reports, and create and coordinate the authoring and filing of summary notes and strategic reports to help with decision-making.
• Assist in preparing lobbying and advocacy briefings as needed to support operations on the national or regional levels.
• Conduct research as needed; create and maintain a database of African Parks’ strategic partners and potential/active organizations in Gambella.
• Create strategic briefings on African Parks’ contributions to national and regional policies and obligations, including multilateral environmental treaties.
• Coordinate participation in strategic events and help due diligence processes for new developments in Ethiopia.
• Establish and manage thematic working groups and strategic platforms as part of Gambella National Park activities.
• Consolidate lessons gained and best practices from Gambella National Park operations to create engaging presentations and briefing notes that highlight the AP model.
• Support the expansion of African Parks’ conservation impact in Ethiopia.

Working in the African Parks Network Ethiopia.

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that assumes full responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term administration of national parks in collaboration with governments and people. We presently manage 23 national parks and protected areas in 13 countries, including Angola, Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, totaling over 20 million hectares.

Gambella National Park, which covers 4,575 km², was declared as a protected area in 1973. It serves as the northern anchor of a much wider contiguous system, which includes protected areas in southern Ethiopia and bordering South Sudan. The park is home to various wildlife species, including a significant Nile Lechwe population, Ethiopia’s largest elephant population, strong lion populations, one of the world’s most endangered giraffe populations, and a shoebill population. Gambella is also part of the white-eared kob migration from South Sudan to Ethiopia, which is the world’s largest land mammal migration, with over 6 million animals.

African Parks is a non-profit conservation group that works with governments and local communities to manage protected areas throughout time. African Parks oversees 24 protected areas in 13 countries, including Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, totaling more than 20 million hectares.

African Parks supports a number of schools surrounding Zakouma National Park in Chad.

The organisation was created in 2000 in reaction to the significant degradation of protected areas caused by inadequate administration and a lack of financing. African Parks has a clear business strategy to saving Africa’s wildlife and surviving wild regions, acquiring large landscapes and carrying out the actions required to protect the parks and their animals. African Parks places a major emphasis on economic growth and poverty alleviation in neighboring communities to ensure that each park is ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable for the long term.

Our goal is to manage 30 parks by 2030. The geographic distribution of protected areas, as well as the representation of distinct ecoregions, making this the continent’s largest and most ecologically diversified portfolio of parks managed by any single NGO.

To build resilience against climate change consequences, we must first address the very system that sustains life on Earth: nature.

Humans require nature to survive. Experts believe that 30% of the earth must be conserved to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as drought, flooding, and starvation, while also sustaining healthy ecosystem services that supply food security, clean water, and air. Africa contains 25% of the world’s biodiversity, but it is also projected that the continent’s population would triple by 2100.

Coupled with the effects of climate change, poor governance, and a lack of finance, the majority of Africa’s current protected areas and national parks that harbor abundant biodiversity are severely underfunded.

We must move quickly to safeguard environment in order to ensure resilience to the effects of climate change, reduce sociopolitical instability, and assure the survival of all life on Earth.

The most efficient way to prevent extreme weather events and assure human and wildlife survival is to safeguard and conserve the natural systems that remain.

Protecting intact nature costs an average of US$6/ha per year, while restoring destroyed ecosystems costs US$1,500/ha. Not only is biodiversity protection less expensive, but it also takes much less time than recovering nature to the point where it can provide a full range of essential ecosystem services.

African Parks has identified 161 protected places in Africa that support considerable biodiversity, trap carbon, provide clean air and water, and ensure food security for people.

These 161 sites account for roughly one-quarter of all protected areas in Africa. When these places are well-managed, they become the foundation for safeguarding and repairing the entire environment. This provides functioning ecological services as well as stability, both of which benefit communities.

African Parks, which manages over 20 million hectares of protected territory, has demonstrated that when nature is managed holistically, it provides a foundation for thriving ecosystems, stability, and well-being for both humans and wildlife. African Parks’ objective, which includes biodiversity protection, sustainable economic development, community engagement, and education, is to ensure that each park it oversees is ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable in the long run.

To apply for this position, send your CV and cover letter to ethiopiarecruitment@africanparks.org. Include the position name in the subject line. In addition, please fill out the application form at the URL provided here. Apply at https://africanparks.simplify.hr/vacancy/lq3va2. We undertake the shortlisting on a rolling basis, therefore interested applicants should submit their applications as soon as feasible. Once we have identified suitable individuals, we may conduct interviews before the closing date.

Please ensure that any emailed file names are tagged as follows:

• Name_Cover Letter_PositionName.pdf
• Name _ Curriculum Vitae – Position Name.pdf

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Due to the large volume of applications we receive, only short-listed individuals will be contacted. We greatly appreciate your interest in African Parks and thank you for applying.