EVP Groups and Education Activities Coordinator

ELIE’s Elephant Valley Project
www.elephantvalleyproject.org
12km from Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri, Cambodia

Description

ELIE’s main aim is to care for the captive elephant population in Cambodia and support the communities that work with them. We run a number of projects such as forest conservation, a land titling project, veterinary care and research projects, community health care and school support scheme all based around the goal to support the elephants, their owners and the forest that they need to live. The Elephant Valley Project (EVP) was launched as an elephant sanctuary developed to create a home for injured and old elephants and is now ELIE’s centrepiece for elephant conservation. ELIE is unique in terms of its primary source of funding now comes from income from donations made by the local and international visitors who come to EVP. Since 2006 the NGO has evolved and grown, with the development of EVP as a popular tourist attraction, providing a sustainable financing mechanism for funding all ELIE programs. We now have 60 staff including 48 local Bunong employees, 6 Khmer nationals and 6 Foreign staff who work alongside the local staff to support and build the capacity of the project teams.

Here at the Elephant Valley Project visitors and volunteers are a key aspect of this project, after the elephants of course. We have day visitors, short term independent travelers, week long group programs and long term volunteers. All visitors and volunteers visit the elephants and watch them in their natural habitat of the 1500 hec sanctuary, while also volunteering to continue to develop the site for elephant care.

We are currently looking to fill the two positions for the beginning of 2018, to come and work with our local staff and international visitors and volunteers. Come and join the EVP family!

EVP Groups and Education Activities Coordinator

We are looking to fill the brand new position of Groups and Education Activities Coordinator here at the EVP. This new role will focus primarily on working and liaising with groups from all backgrounds, from schools to colleges to corporations, throughout their time visiting or volunteering at the project. Each of these groups expectations and programs will be different from one to the next, it will be your responsibility to tailor their program and create an itinerary that best suits their needs, educating them on the elephants, forest conservation and local community development programs. This may include organising and implementing extra activities such as night walks, team building games, educational talks and extra excursions dependent on the groups needs.

At the same time you will be working closely with local guides, volunteer assistants and project assistants, helping to build their capacity on environmental education.

During high season, you will also be expected to help lead the daily tour program working closely with local guides, engaging with visitors at a high standard in an interpretive manner about elephant welfare and conservation.

But it doesn’t stop there. We believe education is key in order to conserve elephants for future generations, which is why you will be responsible for the creation of an educational program to bring local primary school children to the EVP on a monthly basis. You will also be responsible for creating materials for schools and colleges both abroad and in Cambodia. From organising a fundraising kit or presentations to primary school children. To assisting in weekly English classes for local staff at the EVP. This varied role will allow your passion for environmental education and conservation to flow with the space for new ideas, helping to expand not only the EVP, but ELIE as well.

Staff are based in town of Sen Monorom, 12 km from the project. The work will be based primarily at the EVP, with all positions working 5 and ½ days per week - Sun afternoon to Friday afternoon. On alternate weeks this position is also required to stay onsite with the volunteers, this rotation is week on/week off with the volunteer coordinator. Lunch will be provided when working onsite and food/accommodation when required to stay onsite overnight.

You will receive a local salary, which is more than enough to cover your living expenses while here. An initial commitment of 18 months is required or longer for the right person. We are looking for someone to start Mid January 2019.

Experience

Essential

- Outdoor/environmental education, interpretive guiding or groups management background necessary for this position
- Basic knowledge of conservation
- Ability to work in a remote location with local counterpart staff
- Please note there is a lot of hiking involved across tough terrain to get to the elephants, sometimes between 5-8km per day, whilst also talking to and engaging with visitors, therefore you will need to be fit, energetic and passionate about animal welfare and conservation.
- Desire to learn new language and ability to work with local non-English speaking staff
- Current first aid certificate (preferably field First aid/rescue situations)
- Current driving License (manual trans)
- You will need to be a bubbly, outgoing and resourceful person

Preferable
- You don’t need to have any real experience with elephants, as this will be all learnt on the job, however a keen interest in wildlife is essential.
- Already have experience living or working in a developing country
- Experience on an ecotourism project, voluntourism project or something similar would be an advantage.

Responsibilities

- Meet and greet visitors & help with morning check in’s
- Working alongside a local counterpart to conduct a groups tour program, educating visitors on the global and national elephant situation, forest conservation, the local indigenous community and ELIE/EVP projects
- Provide other educational aspects such as talks, night walks and other activities
- Engage with visitors during meal times
- Actively pitch to new schools, colleges and companies for our groups program
- Creation of educational materials for ELIE/EVP
- Regular updates on social media regarding activities at the EVP
- Week on/week off onsite living and night on-call duties
- Other duties as required

We envisage this position to be for someone that has a strong interest in environmental education, ecotourism, community development and conservation, who wants a start in an organization working overseas in this field.

If you are interested, or know someone who is, please email a cover letter and your resume to Jemma at: ELIECambodia.Manager@gmail.com