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.

The Plastics Waste Management Officer will drive the implementation of the plastics component 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.

The Plastics Waste Management Officer will be based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with frequent travel to Mafia Island, one of project sites.

Project management;
Facilitate the preparation of detailed work plans, budgets and schedules for seascape plastics waste management project implementation in collaboration with the project team, partners and stakeholders;
Assist in processes related to inception, contracting and start-up of activities including establishment of indicators, benchmarks, work plans and inception workshops;
Coordinate and monitor the administration of project budgets and work plans according to approved external contracts and internal agreements, work plans, internal procedures and policies, and donor requirements;
Lead the organization of coastal/seascape level plastics workshops and similar events;

Technical direction and capacity building;
Assess current plastics consumption and undertaking prospective analysis on the level of plastic consumption by major sector use;
Promote the research, development and use of technologies to remove plastics and microplastics;
Develop local capacity to manage plastics as a resource, prevent their leakage into the marine environment;
Support the application of a whole supply chain approach to plastic management to build greater responsibility;
Accelerate local action and catalyze investments and partnerships to address marine litter in local hot spots and vulnerable areas through public-private funding and capacity development;
Coordinate and track deliverables of consultants and implementing partners under plastics component, including ensuring necessary final approvals;

Partnership and policy networking;
Work with industry and other levels of government, to recycle and reuse policies and actions;
Support secondary markets for plastics including using policy measures and developing international incentives, standards or requirements for product stewardship;
Work with relevant partners, particularly local governments, to advance efforts to reduce marine litter and plastics waste, notably but not exclusively in Zanzibar, Mafia island and remote communities, including through raising awareness;
Support industry leadership initiatives including CEO round table of Tanzania and foster knowledge exchange through existing alliances and other mechanisms;
Support platform for information sharing to foster awareness and education efforts on preventing and reducing plastic waste generation, plastics pollution and eliminating marine litter;
Promote the leadership role of women and youth as promoters of sustainable consumption and production practices;
Lead campaigns on Plastics and marine litter with youth and relevant partners to raise public awareness;
Liaise regularly with the central coordination team led by the Project Technical Manager to be based in Mtwara, Tanzania;
Provide timely project progress updates and detailed implementation information on implementation of the project plastics interventions;
Coordinate the planning and organization of project meetings; and create the necessary linkages and partnerships with the relevant national and sub-national institutions in country;
Assist in provision of relevant communication material and resources from the project to 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;
Contribute to the development of the project Monitoring and Evaluation Framework;
Monitor and report on project progress by regularly informing the results monitoring matrix;
In collaboration with the Project Manager and Technical Manager 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;
Lead plastics component reporting processes and requirements.

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