Empleo - Programme Officer - Forest and Land Use Specialist (Ecuador)

Unit:	South America - Programme
Organization:	International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Location:	Regional Office for South America, Quito, Ecuador
Reporting to:	Senior Programme Officer
Work percentage:	100%
Function group:	P1
Expected start date:	01 April 2016
Type of contract:	Fixed-term (21 months with possibility of renewal)
Closing date:	02 March 2016

The Forests and Land-use Specialist will:
• Assume responsibility for the timely and quality delivery and management of in-country landscape restoration assessments in select geographies in South America.
• Oversee and direct multi-disciplinary teams consisting of IUCN staff, national partners, and/or contractors (consultants, organizations) to analyze and adopt innovative approaches to landscape restoration opportunities.
• Provide strategic insight, appropriate high-level support and interface for activities with governments, private sector, NGO’s and local communities.
• Lead technical teams and develop work plans for the in-country national and sub-national assessments of forest landscape restoration including coordinating specialists in the use of:
• GIS spatial analysis
• Land-use modeling
• Leading participatory mapping exercises & validation workshops
• Deploying the enabling conditions diagnostic
• Putting in place systems and approaches for monitoring of early adoption and delivery of results and impacts
• Develop frameworks and partnerships for scaled up interventions in Bonn Challenge partner countries. This will include:
• Engaging directly with Bonn Challenge countries in South America and organizations on the definition, management and delivery of their pledges.
• Working closely with colleagues, partners, collaborators and stakeholders to ensure alignment of efforts and effective prioritization and deployment of resources.
• Provide intellectual and strategic leadership to a multidisciplinary team to assess forest landscape restoration opportunities at the national and subnational levels in several South American countries.
• Manage and supervise teams of the project’s technical staff and consultants on missions to partner countries.
• Facilitate integration of this work with broader work of the IUCN global forest team
• Support and participate in IUCN-Sur’s fundraising efforts relating to the design of forest- and landscape-related project proposals.

In addition, and considering the internal coordination with the IUCN-Sur Office, the Forests and Land-use Specialist will:
• Coordinate other initiatives related on FLR/Forests according the IUCN-Sur Thematic Program (Working Regional Plan)
• Promote a programmatic relation with the IUCN-Sur Thematic Program (Working Regional Plan) and FLR/Forests themes and represent the IUCN-Sur Office in meetings related to this topic.
• Follow the operative procedures of IUCN-Sur (including financial and administrative requirements, knowledge management, communications, fundraising, among others)
• Follow the Guidelines for Member’s Involvement in the South American region, promoting a continuous engagement with IUCN Members and Commissions in the region. 

The above job description contains the main duties and responsibilities for this position. However, in an organization such as IUCN, staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular job description. 

REQUIREMENTS

• • Master’s degree in forestry, natural resources management, biodiversity conservation or other relevant discipline.

• • Minimum 5-7 years of experience in developing, managing and implementing multi-stakeholder projects with defined objectives, deliverables, monitoring and evaluation of results, including financial management of Projects. 

• • Proven experience working in South America. 

• • Demonstrated understanding of issues related to land-use dynamics at the field, national and international level.

• • A good knowledge on land-use dynamics, and its social, environmental and economic implications in South America.

• • Understanding of spatial analysis and land-use modelling for natural resource management.

• • Ability to work effectively within a large decentralized workforce of professionals of different nationalities and to mobilize it towards common goals.

• • Strong networks into development and research organizations worldwide.

• • Excellent written and spoken abilities in Spanish and English (knowledge on Portuguese desirable).

• • Good GIS skills and knowledge of web-based information technologies.
• Good computer skills in MS-applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).

• Flexibility to travel in the region.

• • Organizational experience, including a proven ability to work on a variety of tasks simultaneously, and to perform well under pressure.

• • Proven ability to work in an interdisciplinary organization, both independently and in a team setting.

• • Effective communicator to a wide range of audiences.

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