BACKGROUND:

IUCN’s Tanzania Country Programme supports priorities defined under Tanzania’s National Development Plan, National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, National Climate Change Strategy, Agriculture and Water Sector Development Strategies and Marine and Fisheries Action Plans, Blue Economy Policies and Strategies, IUCN Intersessional Plan 2021-2024 as well as relevant Multi-lateral environmental agreements. Our 2030 strategic goals include sustainable land and landscapes management, conservation of critical natural habitats, Integrated water resources management, capacity building for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and Coastal and ocean resilience (COR) building.

IUCN’s Tanzania Country Programme is currently implementing a project called “PAMOJA TUHIFADHI BAHARI YETU – with a short form Bahari Yetu”. This is a 4-year project (2024 – 2028) with the overall goal of improving environmental protection and biodiversity conservation of the coastal and marine ecosystems in Tanzania. This project is funded by the European Union through the ‘Blue Economy for job creation and climate change adaptation programme’: a 110 M EUR programme that aims to contribute to a climate resilient Blue Economy on the Tanzanian coastal cities and ecosystems. The project is implemented in parts of the Mtwara, Coastal and Dar es Salaam regions and Unguja Island in Zanzibar. The project consists of four components:
i. Protection of Marine Resources Biodiversity,
ii. Strengthen Community-led Management of Coastal Forests,
iii. Combat plastic litter in marine and estuary water bodies,
iv. Improve institutional capacities for research, monitoring, surveillance and management of coastal and marine resources.

The project is designed to feed into the Great Blue Wall Initiative. The Great Blue Wall is a Western Indian Ocean (WIO)-born, Africa-driven roadmap to achieve a nature positive world by 2030. It aims at unlocking unprecedented nature-based recovery efforts through the establishment of a transformational movement. Its goal is to dramatically accelerate and upscale ocean conservation actions while enhancing socio-ecological resilience and the development of a regenerative blue economy by catalyzing political leadership and financial support. This will be achieved by spearheading the establishment of a connected network of nature-people positive seascapes (or regenerative seascapes). This network of seascapes will be connected by a living blue wall that will act as a regional ecological corridor formed by conserved and restored critical blue ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses and corals. While the Great Blue Wall will act as a wall against climate change impacts and biodiversity loss, it will also shelter coastal communities and create the enabling conditions and necessary mechanisms to empower local stakeholders to become stewards of the ocean while accelerating the development of a regenerative blue economy. The Great Blue Wall is an action-focused and action-driven regional response to 3 interconnected crises, i.e. Biodiversity – Climate – Socioeconomic with three clear objectives to be achieved by 2030:
– Effectively and equitably conserve at least 30% of the ocean by 2030
– Conserve and restore critical blue ecosystems to achieve net-gain by 2030
– Unlock the development of a regenerative blue economy that directly benefits coastal communities while also delivering conservation outcomes.

The Senior Programme Officer, Bahari Yetu will provide technical support to the project technical team to ensure effective delivery of the project. He/she will serve as a Deputy Programme Manager and will be responsible for the overall day-to-day implementation of the project. This position reports directly to the Programme Manager. He/she will serve as a member of the Country COR Team that helps set strategic directions and define priorities for IUCN’s broader engagement on Marine and Coastal issues at the country level and, accordingly, works with the other members of the team in strategic planning; monitoring and evaluation; and learning, innovation and knowledge generation at the overall programme level. He/she will also support other country programmes on request basis.

The Senior Programme Officer, Bahari Yetu will be based in Mtwara, Tanzania with frequent travel to the project sites in Rufiji, Kilwa, Dar es Salaam and Unguja Island.

Implementation and portfolio management;
Provide expert advice on technical aspects related to blue economy initiatives, coastal forest and ecosystems conservation, and marine plastics pollution mitigation and biodiversity conservation;
Responsible for developing and managing detailed project work plans, including timelines, milestones, and deliverables;
Support coordination of stakeholders, including project implementing and strategic partners, government agencies, and community groups for effective project implementation;
Prepare technical reports, documentation, and presentations for internal and external stakeholders;
Ensure all project activities comply with relevant environmental, social, and legal standards and regulations and; develop strategies to ensure the sustainability and long-term impact of project initiatives.

External engagement and communication;
In consultation with Project Manager ensure that IUCN is adequately represented in relevant country fora and facilitate discussions on relevant emerging issues to position IUCN as a reference in the country;
Provide evidence-based support and facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues on emerging issues and policy debates;
Lead coherent and consistent communication of lessons learnt to key decision-makers and other stakeholders within the country, region and globally as appropriate, including via the web, print and media;
In collaboration with Project Manager identify and manage potential risks associated with IUCN’s public positions in the country and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified;
Act as a focal point for facilitating and supporting the involvement of IUCN Commissions, Members and other members of the Secretariat in the development and implementation of programmatic activities.
Connect and liaise with other relevant projects in the country and pursue synergies as necessary;
Assist in provision of relevant communication material and resources from the project-to-project Communication Officer for showcase of project results in websites and other media;

Programme Development and Resource Mobilization;
As appropriate contribute in the fundraising activities including development of concepts and projects documents. This will involve establishing, maintaining and nurturing good relationships with donors, funding agencies and other technical partners so as to ensure the financial viability of the COR programme;

Monitoring and Evaluation;
Coordinate the development and implementation of project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to track progress and measure impact;
Contribute to the development of the COR Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Framework;
Coordinate monitoring and reporting on project progress by regularly informing the results monitoring matrix;
In collaboration with the Project Manager and the rest of the project team ensure IUCN work is accountable to donors and other stakeholders through the establishment and management of effective accountability mechanisms and processes;
Provide leadership to use data for project decision making, for the implementation of management actions based on the findings of monitoring, and to ensure that feedback from stakeholders inform programme development;

Other responsibilities;
Perform other duties as may be assigned from time to time.