The Wildlife Conservation Society seeks a dynamic, experienced individual to ensure central management and coordination for a large and effective conservation program in Central Africa.

WCS has a significant presence in Africa with a strong conservation, protected area management, livelihoods, policy and scientific program. Spanning diverse habitats including vast savannahs and dense forests, productive coastlines and montane forests, WCS landscapes include some of the most biodiverse landscapes on earth, as well as some of the world’s most critically endangered and threatened species. Africa as a continent presents a set of complex and expanding conservation challenges and threats, including poaching, rapid expansion of mineral and timber extraction, conflict, low technical capacity and governance, and high levels of corruption. At the same time, there are unparalleled opportunities for WCS to play a direct role in saving some of the most iconic wildlife on the planet. The WCS Africa program is taking on these challenges with a regional approach: the WCS Central Africa region ranges from the coasts of Gabon across the Congo basin to eastern DRC; the East and Southern Africa, Madagascar & Western Indian Ocean region reaches from Uganda down to Mozambique and over to Madagascar; the Sudano-Sahel region stretches from Nigeria across to Ethiopia. Each of these regions is managed by a Regional Director based in the field, all under the overarching leadership of the Executive Vice President for Global Conservation at WCS headquarters in New York.

WCS's Africa Program is supported by a small team in New York consisting of the Director of Program Operations, two Program Managers, the Budget Officer, and Program & Communications Coordinator, working closely with field staff and with other WCS departments. This team's key roles include supporting Regional and Country Directors and field programs, fundraising and managing grants from private and public sources, supporting program strategy and implementation, representing the program internally and externally, and facilitating communication with and support from WCS departments such as finance, development, communications, government affairs, HR, etc.

The Central Africa Region is a large and diverse field program with almost 500 field staff. Working through the country program and regional office, the Central Africa Program Manager will provide support to the Regional Director in the development and implementation of new regional strategies, grant management, building strong management and operational capacity of country programs, enhanced collaboration and coordination of technical support among existing WCS programs and facilitation and coordination of the communications necessary for the success of these initiatives.

Position Objective

Under the direction of the Central Africa Director, located in Kigali, Rwanda, the primary objective of the Central Africa Program Manager position is to ensure central management, coordination and support in the sound administration and development of this region's programs and initiatives, as well as providing support to other projects, as appropriate. This position is responsible for ensuring excellent coordination with the rest of the Africa and Global Conservation Program, at Headquarter level and with the other regional field programs, ensuring strong coordination between the New York office and the in-region Central Africa program, and providing facilitation and support to WCS's mission in the region.

Principal Responsibilities

• Provide strong coordination and operational support across the Central Africa regional team – Director, Business and Grants Managers – to successfully manage a growing portfolio of grants, related processes and workflow for Central Africa region and other countries/projects as assigned;  
• Build collaborative relationships as focal point for Central Africa programs at WCS New York Headquarters: representing the interests and priorities of these programs with the global program and partner departments: ensuring excellent coordination, management and support; 
• Ensure effective liaison with donors and partners, as appropriate
• Working closely with the Central Africa Director to ensure program objectives are communicated and implemented within the Central Africa programs, and to coordinate and support implementation of cross-cutting technical support to assist country programs in building capacity.
• Support cross-regional strategic prioritization work: facilitating implementation of program priorities, strategy, approaches: supporting project development and ensuring implementation is monitored;

Qualifications

-          A degree in a related field, or equivalent experience, plus at least 5 years working experience with international networks, preferably non-profit sector.

-          Proven effective networking and coordination skills, with excellent communication, organizational and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated success in working with diverse partners to achieve common objectives.

-          Proven successful grants management skills, including proposal and report writing, but also workflow management and negotiation skills.

-          Fluent professional English speaker; French proficiency required.

-          Willingness to travel in Africa.

-          An understanding of and commitment to conservation of wildlife and wild lands and the mission of the Wildlife Conservation Society. 

Application Process

Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, should apply by emailing an application letter and CV together with the names and contact information of three references to: africaapplications@wcs.org. Please include “Central Africa Program Manager” in the subject line of your email. Candidates must also apply online via the WCS career portal by searching job title at: http://www.wcs.org/about-us/careers. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.