Project Executant (IPE 48 - Fixed Term - TZN - Conservation Impact)

Job Title:Project Executant for IKI FLR Hub

Project title:The Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) Implementation Hub: Delivering the Bonn Challenge. Responsive and needs-driven support and financing for the implementation of carbon-intensive forest landscape restoration strategies to deliver national climate and development targets

Reporting Line:WWF Tanzania Forest Programme Coordinator

Workstation/Location:Tanga (Korogwe, Mkinga districts), Dodoma (Mpwapwa and Chamwino districts)

International Executing Agency:WWF German

Implementing partners:IUCN – Tanzania and WRI

Background

Over the past decade, the Bonn Challenge and regional initiatives like AFR100 in Africa and Initiative 20x20 in Latin America have mobilized political support to restore 350 Mha of degraded and deforested lands by 2030. This restoration will sequester up to 1.7 Gt of CO2 equivalent annually and generate US$ 170 billion in net benefits from environmental benefits like watershed protection, improved crop yields, derived forest products, and biodiversity conservation. These benefits will contribute to sustainable development for local communities by generating green jobs and supporting resilient livelihoods. Marginalized and vulnerable groups will be empowered through participation in planning and land management, improved ecosystem services, and enhanced income opportunities. Several restoration initiatives are underway, but progress on implementation and monitoring has been slow due to barriers. More support is needed for local communities that play a central role in restoration’s success and sustainability.The Hub will initially focus on six countries: Brazil, Colombia, Madagascar, Peru, Tanzania, and Uganda. These countries were chosen for their experience with FLR and favourable conditions, which the Hub aims to leverage to accelerate and upscale FLR. Within each country, the consortium collaborated with local actors to select priority landscapes as the project’s focus regions.  The IKI Forest and Landscape Restoration Hub (IKI FLR Hub) was designed to address the need for a demand-responsive implementation hub to strengthen enabling environments for FLR coordination and governance. It will develop a pipeline of FLR projects, facilitate connections with investors and funders, and support FLR monitoring integration at various levels. Coordinated knowledge management, capacity building, advocacy, and mobilization of additional funding will support the restoration of 200,000 hectares of degraded forest landscapes and the sequestration of 500,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Beyond the six target countries, the project will catalyze sustainable livelihoods, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity conservation.

The Forest Land Restoration (FLR) initiative aims to reverse forest degradation and deforestation while securing sustainable livelihoods. However, coordination and funding are insufficient, with policies not harmonized across sectors. An estimate suggests EUR 6.8 billion of private investment can accelerate implementation if barriers are addressed. Capacity gaps exist at the community level, with land tenure insecurity and the exclusion of diverse stakeholders hindering FLR. The priority landscapes are the Northern Zone (focusing on Korogwe and Kilindi districts) and the Central Zone (focusing on Chamwino and Mpwapwa districts). The Northern Zone is a transboundary migration corridor and an essential source of income from ecotourism. The Central Zone encompasses vital water resources but faces threats from settlement encroachment, agriculture, increased grazing pressure, and illegal timber harvesting.

The hub has identified four key barriers that are hindering the success of FLR, which must be addressed. These barriers have led to the formulation of the hub’s output, which are crucial first steps in facilitating FLR interventions. Specifically, the hub will establish a demand-responsive FLR Implementation Hub to support, facilitate, and coordinate the necessary activities to attain these results (Output I). Additionally, the hub will strengthen enabling environments for FLR within each target country by facilitating the coherence of relevant legislation and policies, enhancing multi-sectoral coordination, providing focused capacity building to public agencies and local farmers, and connecting FLR projects with appropriate public funding mechanisms (Output II).

Furthermore, the hub will assess and approach types of investment and funding, such as impact investors, philanthropic funders, corporate social responsibility funds, and grants, based on the project types in the pipeline, including their size, sector, risk profile, and financing needs as well as the direct beneficiaries receiving direct support through these investments, such as capacity building, employment, and funds, will result in improved livelihoods in the long term (Output III). Moreover, the hub will also intend to create a robust monitoring system. The system that operates at the national, regional, or local levels, with a central platform that integrates the generated data and information. Integrated monitoring platforms and systems will be established and strengthened by assessing existing systems, supporting the development of integrated landscape and national-level monitoring platforms, and training implementors who use these platforms and frameworks to report on progress (Output IV).  

Major Functions:

Under the overall supervision of the Forest Programme Coordinator, the Project Executant will coordinate IKI FLR hub implementing partners and government focal points. The Project Executant will provide support in developing, implementing, and enhancing action plans, securing political endorsement, and improving access to funding through a multi-stakeholder engagement process. Additionally, the Project Executant will facilitate connections to investment and funding opportunities and monitor and report the biophysical and social impacts of FLR improvements by strengthening the integration of existing or new platforms at national and landscape levels in each country.

Among other duties, the incumbent will be required to facilitate the assessment and approach types of investment and funding, such as impact investors, philanthropic funders, corporate social responsibility funds, and grants, based on the project types in the pipeline, including their size, sector, risk profile, and financing needs. The Project Executant will also consider the direct beneficiaries receiving direct support through these investments, such as capacity building, employment, and funds, which will ultimately result in improved livelihoods in the long term.

Roles and responsibilities

The duties of the incumbent will cover but not be limited to the following key areas: 

• Assume overall responsibility for facilitating the timely and high-quality delivery of national and landscape assessments of restoration potential, including any directly related analytical work. This will be achieved in close collaboration with government and IKI FLR Hub implementing partners.
• Prepare, organise and implement monthly check in calls with all partners and together with the WWF German IKI FLR hub counterpart and ITSU. Report on implementation and future plans.
• Provide quality assurance in terms of the strategic direction, intended outputs and deliverables, and skills profile with assessing forest landscape restoration opportunities at landscape levels.
• Collaborate with IKI FLR hub implementing partners, national and landscape partners, as well as government national FLR team, ensuring the FLR hub outcomes are integrated into national forest landscape restoration strategy, AFR100 and Bonn Challenge commitments.
• Coordinate with IKI FLR hub implementing partners and national FLR team on assessment of enabling policies and institutions, approaches for unlocking investment opportunities and approaches for monitoring of FLR interventions as well early adoption and delivery of results and impacts, and technical assistance, knowledge generation and analytical work

• Provide specific technical assistance to IKI FLR hub’s partners and stakeholders to ensure the achievement of targets, results and deliverables on time and with high quality,
• Promote exchange of technical information among project partners and stakeholders,
• Be proactive in seeking and delivering innovative solutions and technical information to project partners and stakeholders.
• Engage with national and international private sector and organizations to leverage the results and deliverables of the hub. 
• In collaboration with the Forest Programme Coordinator and other IKI FLR implementing partners, develop and support the capture and sharing of project related knowledge to ensure the timely and quality delivery of knowledge products for specific audiences and other project outputs.
• Ensure effective information flow between all stakeholders at national and landscape level.
• Coordinate with the country WWF communications officer and support the implementing partners and national FLR teams in developing regular communication material, stories for their offices, WWF Germany and ITSU
  
  

Project management and implementation

• Develop detailed work plans, budgets and schedules for successful hub’s implementation.
• Ensure that project activities are on-time, on-budget, and on-track for contributing to the achievement of the hubs’ objectives and contractual obligations with IUCN objectives. 
• Coordinate and monitor the administration of project budgets and work plans as approved by ITSU, internal procedures and policies, and donor requirements.
• Prepare technical reports and supporting documentation for WWF and ITSU funding agreements.
• Prepare financial reports and supporting documentation for WWF and ITSU funding agreements.
• Support regular update and discussion of monitoring plans with all implementing partners and support their implementation
• Support and oversee the implementation of the agreed ESSF activities with all projects implementing partners

Required Qualifications.

• Master’s Degree in a relevant discipline (Forest Management, Forest Landscape Restoration, Environmental Management, Land Use, Natural Resource Management or other relevant academic fields);
• At least 6 years of relevant professional work experience relevant to restoration and private sector engagement.
• Proven track record in coordinating multi partner projects and teamwork.
• Knowledge of global and regional Forest Landscape Restoration Agreements, Commitments, Protocols and Initiatives
• Proven record on fundraising for forest landscape restoration and conservation projects and knowledge on different sources of funds
• Ability to work effectively within a large decentralized stakeholders of different interests and background and to mobilize it towards common goals;
• Organizational experience, including a proven ability to work on a variety of tasks simultaneously, and to perform well under pressure;
• Fluent spoken and written Kiswahili and English language;
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, especially within team members and multi-stakeholder contexts;
• Effective communicator to a wide range of audiences and through a variety of mediums;
• Adherence to WWF’s values, which are: Courage, Respect, Integrity, and Collaboration

Working relationship

1. Internal

• Support the Forest Landscape Restoration activities within TCO by researching and synthesizing information on particular themes and issues relevant to the work of the hub.
• Supervise additional staff, consultants and interns.
• Support WWF TCO in delivering FLR projects, notably the implementation of the AFR 100 initiative commitments made by Government on FLR.
• Carry out additional tasks as may be requested. 
• Work closely together with all two implementing partners (IUCN and WRI) as well as WWF German IKI FLR Hub lead
• Represent WWF TCO on forest issues at strategic, policy and technical meetings, seminars and other events and processes.

2. External

• Work closely together with the government hub focal person at MNRT (TFS) and VPO

• Build strong relations at landscape and national level with all hub’s focal person and relevant stakeholders from various CSO’s, NGO’s, government, corporates and private sector, community and other.