JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Advocacy Specialist
Reports To: Country Director
Supervises: Communication Officer & Communication Support Officer
Department/Group: Policy and Communications
Location: Ha Noi
I. BACKGROUND
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-profit, private organization that saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. WCS has been working to strengthen the commitment and capacity of the Vietnamese government to combat wildlife trafficking since 2006 and have established a well-respected presence in the country, providing support to a range of government agencies. We have generated a wide range of reliable data on a number of related issues and trained over 1,100 law enforcement officers from a range of agencies in 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 cooperation, national legislation, and have supported bi-lateral dialogues to suppress the wildlife trade and strengthen Viet Nam’s enforcement response.
II. SCOPE OF WORK
The Advocacy Specialist will lead the Policy Advocacy work and provide technical inputs to the planning, design, implementation and monitoring of all WCS activities related to influencing and communications.
This position will build networks and maintain strong relationships with governmental and nongovernmental partners in order to build the required political commitment for effective control of wildlife trafficking in Viet Nam.
III. AUTHORITY
- Be a member of WCS Viet Nam’s Senior Management Team
- Has full authority within approved projects and budgets
- Has right to assign tasks to staff of the team to ensure WCS’s program and financial management and integrity
IV. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Influencing strategy
- Designs and implements strategies on how to influence key governmental and nongovernmental partners at national and provincial levels in becoming more engaged in ending trafficking and consumption of wildlife;
- Conducts advocacy power analyses to identify influence pathways to achieve our goals;
- Coordinates the compilation of evidence to support the implementation of WCS Viet Nam Program’s influencing strategy. This will involve overseeing the development of analyses of the cross-sectoral economic, social and institutional impacts of the wildlife trade in Viet Nam, and crafting persuasive arguments.
- Pilots gap analyses, cost-benefit analyses, and scenario testing to gather data on barriers to the implementation of identified intervention strategies.
B. Policy advocacy for relevant projects/grants
- Leads and coordinates the production of project deliverables related to policy.
- Conducts institutional, policy and legislative reviews and analysis to identify challenges and provide recommendations to improve enforcement effectiveness.
- Provides technical review of grant reports to ensure advocacy message consistency across all reporting done by WCS Viet Nam Program.
C. Networking & Partnership
- Facilitates inter-agency and inter-governmental enforcement cooperation (e.g. support to VN-WEN meetings, joint-agency field missions, National Target Program development, VN-CN dialogue, VN-African range states dialogue);
- Builds strong networks and maintains relationships with relevant government agencies, private sector companies, research institutions and influential individuals;
- Collaborates with other environment groups in joint efforts, including acting as WCS’s focal point for the Viet Nam Wildlife Support Network, and others as relevant.
D. Fundraising
- Provides inputs in proposal development including technical and financial ones;
- Supports on other fundraising activities, as requested;
E. Management and Supervision
- Contributes to the development of WCS Viet Nam policies and strategies;
- Supervises and assigns tasks to team members and provide coaching, as appropriate;
- Provides HR management to staff in collaboration with Human Resource Officer ;
- Inducts properly and timely to new staff on WCS’s program and standards;
F. Others
- Acts as WCS’s representative at provincial and national level/meetings/workshops as required;
- Performs other tasks as assigned by the direct supervisor.
V. REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor/college or Post-graduate degree in relevant fields such as Law, Political Science, Public Policy;
- Minimum 5 years of policy advocacy/influencing campaign experience in an NGO/INGO/international organization;
- Verified track record working with relevant government agencies, donors, and other partners on policy advocacy/influencing campaigns;
- Proven ability to network and engage a wide range of stakeholders;
- Excellent English and Vietnamese language skills;
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, PowerPoint;
- Research and project management skills.
In addition, the following qualification are assets:
- Knowledge of, and/or previous work experience in, the conservation/environmental sector;
- Knowledge on illegal trafficking of wildlife or other black market commodities (e.g humans, narcotics, weapons);
- Demonstrated awareness of Vietnamese governmental and civil society institutional priorities and capacities;
- Extensive knowledge of political system and government working agenda;
- An understanding of multilateral institutions including WHO, FAO, OIE, WTO, ASEAN and the World Bank;
- Significant convening and public speaking experience;
Required Competencies
- Time management
- Leadership
- Delegation
- Communication
- Team building
- Accountability
- Result orientation
- Budgeting
VI. HOW TO APPLY
Interested applicants should send a cover letter, CV with photo, contact details for references to:
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thu My – Human Resource Officer
Wildlife Conservation Society
106 building D, No. 3 Thanh Cong street, Ba Dinh district, Ha Noi.
Email: [email protected] [1]
Deadline for applications: 15th December 2017
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.