Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, January 21, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
WCS’s core business is to conserve wildlife and wild places, working in partnership with government institutions mandated to manage and conserve biodiversity in Uganda. The government of Uganda and its development partners have invested hugely toward the conservation of biodiversity and protection of the environment. However, due to the increasing human population driving forest and wetland loss, these natural resources face enormous threat from people, including refugees fleeing countries experiencing civil unrest such as DR Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, and Ethiopia among others. Political instability in these countries has resulted in sharp increase of refugee population in Uganda leading to the accelerated loss of forest cover and vegetation in refugee hosting communities. In a bid to address environmental degradation in refugee-hosting districts of Uganda, WCS in partnership with Uganda Biodiversity Fund (UBF), Nature-Uganda (NU), and Ecological Christian Organization (ECO) received a grant from the European Union to implement a four (4) year project titled “Restoring and Conserving degraded fragile ecosystems for improved Community Livelihoods among the Refugee and Host Communities of West Nile Region and the mid-Albertine Rift”.
The project is aimed at mitigating forests, woodlands and bushlands, wetlands losses, and improve livelihoods of refugee hosting communities. The project will focus on restoration of degraded forests, woodland and bushlands and wetlands, support sustainable land management practices such as climate smart agriculture, soil and water conservation measures, and build capacity of refugee host communities, relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions responsible for environment protection and biodiversity conservation, and improve environmental planning with respect to refugee settlements in West Nile region (districts of Yumbe and Terego) and Western Uganda.( Kikuube, Kyegegwa, and Kamwenge).
As such, WCS is seeking to a recruit two Project Officers.
Position Locations:
One project officer will be stationed in Hoima and the other in West Nile region. The officers will work closely with the Projects Coordinator and other WCS technical staff to ensure effective implementation of project activities.
a) Hoima Office, with frequent travels to project sites within 15 Km buffer around Kyangwali Refugee settlement in Kikuube district; Kyaka II refugee settlement in Kyegegwa district; and Rwamwanja Refugee settlement in Kamwenge district.
b) West Nile liaison Office (TBD) with frequent travels to project sites within 15 Km buffer around Bidibidi and Imvepi refugee settlements in Yumbe and Terego districts.
Expected Start Date: February 1, 2021 .

Project officers’ Key Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Officers are full time positions, and will;
Support implementation of the project within the respective regions (60 % Full time effort). Specific activities will include, but not limited to:
• Planning, coordination, and implementation of the project activities;
• Participate in the development of work plans and budgets;
• Conduct stakeholder engagements and collaboration within the project area on all matters related to the project implementation;
• Conduct socio-economic and ecological surveys in the project area.
• Participate in the writing of reports, documents, lessons learned and experiences acquired, project briefs, and prepare presentations;
• Supervise and monitor project activities, including collection of data for monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Create and maintain a high level of multi-sectoral networking and collaboration mechanism with key stakeholders to ensure proper project implementation, (20 % Full time effort).
• Support creation, and/or strengthening of existing district and regional networks and collaborations among key stakeholders including, but not limited to UNHCR, Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), government environmental pillar institutions (e.g. UWA, NFA, line ministries, Local governments), local NGOs/CBOs, the project implementing partners;
• Regularly organise district and regional network/collaborative meetings and engagements with key stakeholders;
• Effectively represent the project at the district and regional network, ensuring continual collaboration with UNHCR, OPM, NGOs, and any other relevant stakeholders.
Assist in all aspects of project management and administration (Human, financial & WCS assets) (15 % of the Full time effort).
• Responsible for proper management of project funds and property in line with WCS’s relevant policies, procedures and standards;
• Oversee the recruitment, deployment and supervision of a network of community-based extension workers to support implementation of the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and other technical areas related to Sustainable Land Management (SLM) components of the project;
• Ensure project implementation is always harmonized with approved project plans and budgets.
Reporting (5% of Full time effort).
• Ensure timely collection of data and information needed for project monitoring, evaluation and learning;
• Work closely with the communications manager and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager to document success stories, and reporting internally in WCS and its partners and to the donor;
• Provide feedback to project participating persons about the project surveys and implementation results.

Qualifications and Experience
• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Forestry, Environmental Management/ Sciences, Wildlife Conservation, rural development studies, and Agricultural Sciences.
• Master’s Degree, or Post graduate professional training in any of the above fields will be an added advantage.
• Solid proficiency in Microsoft Office Applications namely MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Knowledge and demonstrated experience/application of Global Information System (GIS), Biological and social survey techniques, Global Positioning System (GPS) applications, Open Data Kit (ODK) and KOBO data collection tools is desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience of working with government institutions and NGOs.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of professional work experience in similar position.

Personal Attributes
• Ability to work in a multicultural diverse environment.
• Work with minimum supervision and under tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to adhere to strict confidentiality involving internal/ external information management.
• Good verbal, written communication in English.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Willing to work in remote areas and passionate about nature conservation

Job Education Requirements: Bachelor’s degree



Work Hours: 8

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Job application procedure
Application Procedure for Project officer positions Interested person should send the application documents (a cover letter and Curriculum vitae) ONLY by email to wcsuganda@wcs.org  and copy to: mnyago@wcs.org  with the subject: Project Officer Position. The applications should be addressed to:
The Country Director
Wildlife Conservation Society
Uganda Country Program
Plot 802, Kiwafu Road, Kansanga
P. O. Box 7487, Kampala, Uganda

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