Job Opportunity for Coordinator – Community Engagement (Terai Arc Landscape) at WWF India in Dehradun

About Us

WWF India is one of the largest conservation organizations, engaged in wildlife and nature conservation in the country. A vital component of our conservation work are our partnerships with the people who live closest to wildlife. Our work with the communities has helped us in finding solutions to issues like human-wildlife conflict, forest dependency, habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade.

Innovative and scalable models of community based conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and institutional partnerships in our landscapes have enabled community initiatives to contribute significantly in addressing the above issues.

In support of WWF India’s flagship programme on Species & Landscapes Conservation, we seek a Coordinator (Communities) who will be responsible for all community based conservation programmes in the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL).

The TAL is spread across the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and boasts of some of India’s most well-known Tiger Reserves and Protected Areas such as Corbett Tiger Reserve, Rajaji National Park, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, and Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Communities living around the fringe of these forests are crucial in the conservation efforts of WWF-India. The team’s people approach aims at providing alternate livelihood options for local communities, and ensuring community based solutions to conservation.

The post of Coordinator (Communities) will play an important role in managing community based conservation initiatives on a day to day basis in TAL. The candidate will be responsible for ensuring the successful execution of the existing initiatives, and facilitate in strengthening community institutions to leverage external resources for conservation and sustainable development.

The Coordinator will work through the SPOs, POs & FOs in the TAL and assist the Team Leader to build a team of social scientists for working on biodiversity conservation through community support initiatives. For this purpose, the candidate will require traveling extensively within the landscape, across the country and abroad as required by the organization.

Location: Dehradun

Job Profile :

Programme Development and Fund-raising

• Develop and oversee implementation of strategies for community-based conservation work in TAL in coordination with the Team Leader, TAL, respective Landscape Coordinators and Lead-Community Engagement.
• Identify conservation issues, develop and share concept notes, work plan and budget to contribute to proposal development for fund-raising to implement the strategies whenever needed.

Programme Implementation and Technical Support

• Strategize objectives and activities for strengthening community engagement in different areas with special reference to managing human wildlife conflict, resource dependencies and securing critical habitats.
• Develop strategic conservation linked livelihood, alternate energy and community engagement plans.
• Assist the team members in carrying out field surveys, data collection, data analysis and report preparation.
• Assist in strengthening community institutions (EDCs & SHGs, etc.) and engaging them in conservation and socio-economic development of local communities.
• Plan and execute interventions to strengthen relationship between local communities and Forest Department.
• Facilitate implementation of project activities, develop monitoring plan, evaluate and monitor the impact of community engagement in conservation.
• Analyze existing Government policies and schemes across different states in TAL; and identify schemes which can be leveraged to further strengthen community engagement in conservation.

Networking, Coordination and Communication

• Liaise and manage partnerships with a range of project partners and networks including civil society organizations, government agencies & corporate sector.
• Be responsible for effective liaison with stakeholders including government department(s), institution(s), NGOs and CBOs for any issues pertaining to strengthening WWF India’s work with communities in the landscape.
• Facilitate information flow from partners/ landscape about conservation and livelihood issues to other team members and WWF Secretariat.
• Undertake report writing and documentation as required as well as assist in developing communication materials.
• Coordinating with the field and secretariat teams to ensure timely publication of reports, peer review papers, fact sheets and stories in WWF India’s website/news articles.

Programme Monitoring, Administration and Financial Management

• Providing written quarterly updates on progress of different projects against a pre-designed work plan to the Team Leader-TAL, Lead-Community Engagement and the Associate Director – Species & Landscapes Programme.
• Assist in project management including project planning, monitoring, reporting, finance management and delivery of agreed targets.

Requirements

Qualifications, Experience and competencies required:

• Master in Sociology/ Anthropology/ Social Work/ Economics
• At least 10 years of experience in conservation focused community projects and initiatives after Masters

Desired Skills and Abilities:

• Experience on social issues in a conservation landscape would be preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to manage a team.
• Knowledge of project development and project management.
• Good writing and communication, written and oral; in both English and Hindi.
• High level of interpersonal skills required, especially relationship management and consensus building skills and the ability to work as part of a high-level international team.

Submission Details:

Please submit an up-to-date CV (mentioning your full name in the resume attachment), giving details regarding compensation received in the present assignment, expected salary, and three references. Applications of only the short listed candidates will be acknowledged.

WWF-India is an equal opportunities employer. Applications from qualified women are encouraged.

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian NGO pay scales and will depend upon candidate’s experience levels and the overall WWF-India salary structure. WWF-India does not provide housing, telephone or vehicle facilities.