Program Officer

Position: Program officer
Affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society – Vietnam Program

Background:

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US nonprofit, tax-exempt, private organization that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, and presence in 64 nations, WCS has amassed the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant, wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of
poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct utilization of natural resources.

WCS has been working to address wildlife trade in Vietnam for nearly a decade by developing broad relationships with the Forest Protection Department (FPD), CITES Management Authority (MA), Police, Customs, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, and many other agencies and individuals. We have established a well-respected presence in the country, and have generated a wide range of reliable data on a number of wildlife trade issues, including commercial wildlife farming, illegal wildlife trade dynamics in Southern and
Central Vietnamese provinces, and cross-border trade with China in Quang Ninh Province. We have trained over 750 law enforcement officers from a range of agencies in wildlife crime investigation and enforcement techniques, and distributed a number of technical handbooks and guides. We have assisted central agencies to review and propose criminal intelligence analysis systems, inter-agency agreements, and national legislation, and have supported bi-lateral dialogues between Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and
Indonesia

Scope of work: The Program Officer is responsible for projects addressing the cross-border wildlife trafficking from Vietnam to China including the planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of project activities.

Main responsibilities: The Program officer is responsible for executing assigned works in the following fields to ensure the program and projects in northern Vietnam and bordering areas with China function smoothly and at maximum effectiveness:

• Development and implementation of activities to strengthen law enforcement of the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam (e.g. training programs, information management, inter-agency co-operation mechanisms, wildlife trade and law enforcement effectiveness monitoring systems, coordination of wildlife trade surveys and investigation, guidelines for placement of confiscated animals);
• Development and implementation of surveys into the wildlife trade in Vietnam to provide reliable data for the formulation/revision of policies and interventions for tackling illegal trade;
• Provide high quality written technical reports and summaries in English and Vietnamese;
• Technical and creative input to the development of WCS program activities, projects and strategies (including activity planning, design, budgeting, and fundraising) in Vietnam;
• Ensure internal and external reporting (financial and narrative) is completed to schedule;
• Development and maintenance of good relationships with local partners/stakeholders;
• Act as WCS’s representative at provincial and national level as required;

Duty station: Hanoi (40% travel to Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and Lang Son)

Start date: June 2014

Desired qualifications:

This position is for a Vietnamese national with a University degree in a related field with good English and Vietnamese language skills and at least 2 years of work experience in a similar position with an international organization or NGO. In addition, candidates with the following competencies are preferred:

• Work experience in the environment/development sector or law enforcement agency;
• Experience in financial/staff management, fundraising and donor reporting;
• Knowledge on illegal trafficking of wildlife or other black market commodities (e.g. Humans, narcotics, weapons);
• Ability and experience with relevant government agencies, donors and other partners;
• Advanced computer skills (e.g. Statistics programs, GIS).

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and current CV to:
Ms. Nguyen Thu My– Finance & Human Resource Officer
Wildlife Conservation Society, Room 1302, Thanh Cong tower, 57 Lang Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Email: [email protected]

Deadline for Applications: 18 May 2014

Only short listed candidates will be contacted