BACKGROUND:

The IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) operates in twenty-four countries in the Horn of Africa, east Africa, southern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean. The ESARO region is extremely rich in biodiversity with high number of endemic species and the largest remaining populations of iconic wildlife left on the continent. ESARO’s Programme focuses on biodiversity conservation through a diverse portfolio of projects and programmatic initiatives ranging from activities at the level of individual protected areas to shaping regional policy on biodiversity conservation. ESARO defines and delivers on its programmatic priorities in collaboration with IUCN members, commissions and other strategic partners.

The Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR) Programme is responsible for marine and coastal issues, including biodiversity conservation, development and management of marine protected areas, other effective conservation measures (OECMs) and their networks, Blue Economy, ecosystem and fisheries management, high seas, blue carbon, marine spatial planning, marine pollution, integrated management and governance of coastal areas, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR).

In order to accelerate and scale up efforts in the region towards coastal and ocean resilience, IUCN has been coordinating efforts, together with countries and partners, in developing 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 three interconnected crises, i.e. Biodiversity – Climate – Socioeconomic with three clear objectives to be achieved by 2030:

i. Effectively and equitably conserve at least 30% of the ocean by 2030;
ii. Conserve and restore critical blue ecosystems to achieve net-gain by 2030;
iii. Unlock the development of a regenerative blue economy that directly benefits coastal communities while also delivering conservation outcomes.

To guide its development, implementation and in order to achieve its goals, the COR programme is based on the premises of IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa’s Blue Resilience Programme Framework, composed of three key pillars and one cross-cutting: Blue Planet, Blue Nature, Blue People and Blue Partnerships. The Blue Resilience Framework aims at structuring IUCN’s interventions in the region and build resilience at ocean and seascape level and can be described as follows:

Three key pillars:
Blue Planet: As the world embarks on an ambitious journey of conservation and protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030, it is of paramount importance to ensure that such target is not only achieved on paper but importantly on the ground by empowering local stakeholders to become stewards and managers of the ocean. This pillar therefore focuses on this effort by supporting the establishment of relevant governance frameworks at seascape level as well as the necessary enabling policy frameworks at national, regional and international levels. It also focuses on increasing the effectiveness and equity of area-based conservation measures.
Blue Nature: Like any living organism, a seascape has its own critical features (or “organs”) that need to be protected and restored (or “healed”) if the rest of the seascape is to stay healthy. This pillar therefore focuses on securing the integrity of critical ecosystems by accelerating and upscaling the restoration and conservation of critical blue ecosystems by driving the implementation at scale of Nature-based Solutions.
Blue People: For a large-scale seascape to thrive and be effectively managed, it is of paramount importance that stakeholders directly benefit from these areas and from ocean conservation efforts. To achieve the scale of impact required, it is crucial that economic activities are not only sustainable and produce socio-economic benefits but also contribute to the regeneration of the ocean. This pillar therefore focuses on unlocking the potential of our blue natural capital by supporting the development of a regenerative blue economy.

1 cross-cutting:
Blue Partnerships: Because overcoming today’s challenges will require all parties to join forces, and for conservation efforts to be sustainable and impactful at scale, innovative and ambitious partnerships will be a critical piece of the solution. Setting-up such type of partnerships is IUCN’s DNA. Areas of work include innovative finance, technology and communication as well as broader ecosystem of partners, coalition building as well as knowledge and experience sharing.

One of the key projects implemented under the Great Blue Wall by IUCN is the IslandPlas project “Advancing Circular Solutions to Plastic Pollution in African Islands”. The project is implemented in seven island States/areas comprising Cabo Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Sao Tome & Principe, Seychelles, Zanzibar. The project aims to achieve its impact through demonstrating effective, quantifiable solutions to addressing plastic leakage from island areas. Key stakeholders from government, private sector, informal sector and civil society interlinked in a vibrant collaborative network will co-generate and demonstrate demand-responsive solutions to plastic waste incorporating alignment across policy, business operations, and behaviour change at different levels.

The Programme Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR) will drive the implementation of all ocean-related activities across the Great Blue Wall pillars at the national level. This position reports directly to the Regional Programme Manager – Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR), and functionally also to the Regional Plastics Manager – Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR). He/she will serve as a member of the Country Team that helps set strategic directions and define priorities for IUCN’s broader engagement on Marine and Coastal issues at the national level and, accordingly, works with the other members of the team in streamlining the coastal and ocean resilience portfolio across national priorities. He/She will manage IUCN Coastal and Ocean Resilience programme activities in the country, in close collaboration with the Country Representative (where present) and regional thematic team members.

Importantly, in the near term, they will play a key role in the daily management of the IslandPlas project in the respective country of implementation and will therefore oversee the implementation of the project’s activities that advance sector engagement with role players in the plastics and related sectors, including actors in government, industry, business and civil society and oversees national implementation of solutions and actions to address plastic pollution upstream, midstream and downstream.

Strategic management;
Facilitate the strategic development of the COR Country thematic Programme and maintain an appropriate project portfolio and funding to support implementation;
Develop and maintain strong strategic partnerships with in-country programmes, regional programme units, IUCN members, commissions, technical agencies, government and non-governmental partners (both at national, provincial and municipality/city levels), private sector, policy bodies and donors;
Oversee the development and implementation of relevant marine and coastal initiatives in the country, ensuring alignment with key strategic national action points agreed across regional bodies (Nairobi Convention and the Commission de l’Océan (COI)), and provide where needed, guidance and support to the development and implementation of other IUCN Initiatives;
Ensure that IUCN is adequately represented in relevant country fora and negotiations on marine and coastal issues and provide support on relevant thematic emerging issues to position IUCN as a reference at regional and international level when required;
Ensure that high quality of technical advice is given to IUCN national programmes, field programmes, projects, members and partners in the country;
Ensure that IUCN’s work is effectively and widely shared (including by producing high quality communication material), in collaboration with the Regional Ocean Communications Officer for dissemination on online platforms and other media channels.

Project management;
Provide managerial oversight, coordination and implementation of the Country COR programme portfolio of projects at the national level, importantly, including, lead responsibility in implementation of the ‘Advancing Circular Solutions to Plastic Pollution in African Islands (IslandPlas)’ project in the country, in close coordination with the Regional Plastics Manager – Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR);
Plan and ensure that adequate measures are in place for effective day-to-day project management and coordination of activities of the IslandPlas project to ensure the highest quality of outputs and outcomes in line with project workplans and budgets;
Oversee the development and implementation of annual budgets and work plans and provide a timely progress updates and reports on Programme financial and technical activities in accordance with IUCN’s standards and procedures;
Ensure that IUCN’s COR work in the country is of high technical quality, based on good science and drawing upon state-of-the-art thinking and knowledge;
Coordinate the planning and organization of national project meetings; and create the necessary linkages and partnerships with the relevant national and sub-national institutions in country;
Ensure project/programme strategies and workplans are developed and implemented according to plan and commitments to partners and donors (including assuring quality of performance, timing and budget);
Capitalize and disseminate to key decision-makers within the country and region, lessons learnt from program and projects as well as those learnt from partners;
Working closely with the Finance and Administration Department as well as Human Resource focal point to ensure that projects/programme are financially viable and have the necessary human and other resources necessary for effective implementation;
Ensure that contractual obligations and IUCN’s policies and procedures are efficiently adhered to.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting;
In close collaboration with ESARO’s Regional M&E Manager, support the development and implementation of in-country COR Programme monitoring and evaluation systems and processes at programme and project level, including inputs to country Intersessional Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Frameworks in line with the overall regional M&E framework;
Oversee IUCN portal entries and management, and mid-year and annual reports development for in-country COR portfolio;
Facilitate targeted socio-economic and scientific surveys and analysis, and in-country project evaluation management.

Programme development;
Lead fundraising and resource mobilization efforts for the programme through development of concept notes and proposals and maintain good relationships with donors and funding agencies so as to ensure the financial viability of the programme.
Work with GEF/GCF task manager to develop the related in-country COR portfolios.

Other responsibilities:
Carry out other relevant tasks as may be assigned from time to time, assigned by, and mutually agreed with, the line manager.