RIGHTS AND COMMUNITIES MANAGER

The Rights & Communities Manager will work closely with the MaMaBay Landscape & Seascape Director to implement MaMaBay’s community conservation strategy and social safeguards. S/he will ensure a human rights-based approach to the reduction of biodiversity threats in the overarching landscape.

Leadership and team management

• Build and manage an inclusive and diverse team of capable staff through motivational and performance-based personnel management.
• Ensure a community-oriented, collaborative, and mission-led work ethic amongst all Rights+Community team members.
• Encourage a culture of participatory learning and adaptive problem-solving so that team members reflect and design effective field interventions that deliver biodiversity outcomes.
• As a member of the MaMaBay Management Unit, implement R+C activities in close coordination with other departments.

Project planning and implementation

• Ensure implementation of the Rights+Community program and associated commitments to donors within budget and on-time.
• Ensure project activities build positive relationships with communities, prevent, and resolve conflict, and address gender and indigenous peoples’ issues.
• Work with the MaMaBay Landscape & Seascape Director to ensure that Rights+Community department workplans are developed with full input from team members.
• Ensure accountable, evidence-based, and impactful project implementation.
• Ensure a rights-based community approach to conservation, including adherence to Free, Prior, Informed Consent principles.
• Coordinate closely with logistics personnel on procurement and fieldwork planning.
• Ensure timely and accurate budget planning to support activity implementation in coordination with finance personnel.
• Iteratively update the MaMaBay community conservation strategy with inputs from communities, team members, and partner organizations, as required.

Socio-economic research and monitoring

• Manage the design and implementation of socio-economic and anthropological research activities.
• Collaborate with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to support the development and implementation of an integrated MEL system.
• Collaborate with the MaMaBay Science Manager to ensure all data are integrated into the MaMaBay Biodiversity and Socio-economic database, analyzed, and used to inform adaptive management of the MaMaBay program.

External relationships

• Directly engage with and spend time in local communities and authorities to facilitate project implementation, build relationships, and communicate conservation messages.
• Work with the MaMaBay Landscape & Seascape Director to liaise with partners to enhance WCS’s approaches with local communities and ensure these are linked to biodiversity outcomes.
• Work with the MaMaBay Landscape & Seascape Director to liaise with partners on community development activities to harmonize approaches and avoid duplication of effort.
• Represent the MaMaBay Rights+Community team to donors and government stakeholders, as requested.

Reporting and communications

• Provide substantive inputs to regular donor progress reports.
• Contribute to fundraising proposals for the Rights+Community portfolio. 
• Produce technical outputs such as natural resource management plans, and issue-specific analyses of best-practices and lessons learned.
• Collaborate with the Communications Department to generate high-quality visual and written material to support public communications.

Other

• Maintain strong collaborative working relationships with the national and MaMaBay teams.
• Conduct any other responsibilities as requested by the MaMaBay Landscape & Seascape Director

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in social or environmental sciences, PhD preferred.
• 5 to 10 years’ field experience with international organizations in Africa working on community-based conservation and natural resource management, Madagascar experience will be a distinct advantage.
• Experience in managing the delivery of activities funded by large bilateral and multilateral donors.
• Proven ability to manage, motivate, and strengthen the capacity of field personnel.
• Proven ability at developing work plans and budgets, implementing MEAL systems, and producing project progress reports.
• Proven ability to design and deliver socio-economic research in international development contexts.
• Proven ability to work sensitively with diverse groups of people such as those of different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds.
• Knowledge and understanding of logistics and financial management for projects in complex environments.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in French and English; Malagasy is a distinct advantage.
• Strong commitment to wildlife conservation.
• Innovative, proactive, resilient, team-oriented, and ambitious.
• Willingness to live in a remote field site with basic amenities in a multi-cultural environment.