Wildlife Conservation Society Job Vacancy: Law Enforcement Monitoring Technical Advisor - Libreville, Gabon

JOB DESCRIPTION

Position: Law Enforcement Monitoring Technical Advisor, WCS Gabon

Division: Global Conservation

Location: Libreville, Gabon, with frequent field travel

Duration: 1 year with opportunity for renewal

Start Date: Feb 1, 2017

The Wildlife Conservation Society seeks a full-time, motivated and tech-savvy Law Enforcement Monitoring Technical Advisor to field test and deploy new field technology to monitor and support law enforcement operations in Gabon’s national parks. The position requires extensive field travel and field training of national staff and field rangers. This is an exciting opportunity to apply new technologies for conservation in real-world anti-poaching situations.

Program background
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit 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, WCS has long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe.

WCS is the largest and longest-serving international conservation NGO in Gabon, having worked in the country for over 30 years. WCS started by supporting pioneering elephant research and surveys in Gabon. In 2002, WCS provided key support for the creation of a network of 13 National Parks selected to represent all major ecosystems and covering 10% of the country.  In 2003, at the request of the Government of Gabon, WCS Gabon significantly expanded its operations to support the Government with a range of issues from science-based wildlife monitoring and marine protected area spatial planning, to management plan development, law enforcement monitoring and capacity building for protected area management. Today, WCS works closely with Gabon’s National Parks Agency (ANPN – Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux) in providing technical advice and support to protecting Gabon’s wildlife and wild places.

Position Objectives
The LEM Technical Advisor will be responsible for the leadership and management of on-the-ground monitoring and management of protected area law enforcement data, in close collaboration with ANPN’s Law Enforcement (LE) coordinator. The LEM Technical Advisor will focus on the strategic planning, training, mentoring and implementation of a law enforcement management system, building on existing systems, trialing new technology to meet management needs, pooling all data relating to law enforcement activities on a single platform and scaling up deployment and capacity building across the entire protected area network. The LEM Technical Advisor position is based in Libreville with frequent visits to field sites.

The position will report to the WCS-Gabon Country Director and will work closely with the ANPN LE coordinator, Gabonese government appropriate representatives, key private sector stakeholders and WCS regional advisors. The key governmental partners include the national parks agency (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux - ANPN), the fisheries agency (Agence Nationale des Pêches et de l’Aquaculture-ANPA) and the Ministry of Waters and Wildlife.

Principal Responsibilities
  • Stay up to date on and track emerging technologies of interest for anti-poaching and wildlife law enforcement
  • Review existing law enforcement monitoring (LEM) and management systems (including SMART, Locus Pro, Delorme, etc), identify gaps, and develop recommendations for a holistic park-wide data collection, management, analysis and reporting system that responds to key management needs and priorities of ANPN
  • Develop technical specification requirements for new technology as needed and develop new partnerships with tech companies and external partners as appropriate
  • Provide technical support in the deployment and field testing of new and existing technologies within pilot protected areas
  • Develop and implement a comprehensive field training program for rangers, park-based LEM ‘focal points’ and other park staff in the utilization of LEM technology, field mission and equipment management.
  • Manage the day?to?day operations of LEM in collaboration with ANPN LE coordinator, coordinating and executing program management tasks and general personnel management
  • Assist WCS-Gabon Country Director with monitoring the performance of LEM focal points and with recruitment, including the placing of job advertisements, organizing interviews, and the induction of new staff.
  • Supervise work of experts and consultants (including tech developers) contracted to work on LEM activities and oversee and evaluate their delivered outputs
  • Support ANPN’s operation center to pool all law enforcement data (including aerial, terrestrial and marine surveillance data as well as fishing data) on a comprehensive single platform for real time action orientations
  • Support the replication and operation of systems across pilot protected areas
  • Ensure timely analysis, communication and reporting of LEM data and information to ANPN staff for rapid field response
  • Produce punctual analysis and periodically comprehensive analysis on law enforcement monitoring activities including aerial,  terrestrial and marine data as required by ANPN and/or WCS Gabon
  • Provide technical support to ANPN in development of law enforcement operational plans
  • Assist Gabon government counterparts with development and oversight of law enforcement strategy in response to LEM data
  • Provide technical support to fundraising and proposal development for LEM activities
  • Source, procure, catalogue and track equipment and materials to support program
  • Collate LEM data for the purpose of contributing to and overseeing intelligence-led enforcement operations
QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
  • Masters Degree or equivalent and experience in conservation biology, law enforcement activities and natural resources management with at least 5 years of relevant experience, preferably including field experience of protected areas and anti-poaching in Africa
  • Strong grasp of existing and emerging technologies for conservation
  • A good command of English is essential, French is a strong asset.
  • This position carries considerable responsibility and autonomy and requires good organizational capacity, excellent interpersonal and networking skills, demonstrated success working with governmental partners (both civilian and militaries) and a willingness to work as part of a national team
  • Willingness to spend considerable time in the field
  • Applicants should be committed to conservation and to the mission of the Wildlife Conservation Society. 
SCHEDULE AND COMPENSATION
Candidates should be available to start from February 1st, 2017. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Please apply with a cover letter and CV with the subject “LEM TA Gabon, [your name]” to: gabitsi@wcs.org  with a copy to africaapplications@wcs.org .

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