For more than 50 years, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has been a key player in African conservation and sustainable development. AWF will implement an integrated conservation and livelihoods program in Kedougou Region, SE Senegal in partnership with the Municipal Council (MC) of Tomboronkoto Commune and Petowal Mining Company (PMC). Under the overall supervision of AWF’s Vice President, Programs for West and Central Africa, the Senior Program Manager is responsible for the setup of this multi-year program and for overseeing the delivery and management of the pilot phase program activities, including all technical, financial, human resources, and administrative matters.
This position will coach and mentor a deputy who will assume Program leadership by the end of the pilot phase. This position will be for a two year period based in Kedougou Region, Senegal, with the potential for extension.
The Program is located on community lands but within the designated Biosphere Reserve of the Niokolo Koba National Park, which hosts mix-use landscape of farmland, pasture and natural habitats. A range of conservation strategies have been identified by PMC that aim to change behaviors and reduce threats to species and their habitat through the adoption of land use plans and sustainable livelihoods. The TOMBO pilot program will develop detailed work plans for implementation of identified strategies informed by AWF’s program experience and methodologies elsewhere via participatory planning and agreement with local communities and authorities. It is recognized that only through achieving a net benefit to local communities will the conservation interventions succeed.
The legal mandate and authority to administer land management programs rests with the Municipal Council of Tomboronkoto Commune. However, the MC is faced with weak institutional capacity, lack of means and motivation to engage in natural resource management. AWF has been appointed by PMC as the lead technical assistance partner to support the MC overcome these challenges and to effectively implement conservation and livelihood actions consistent with Commune development plans. A two-year pilot phase is being launched in early 2019 to test and adapt conservation actions, and design a program for scale-up in subsequent years.
The TOMBO Program represents component B of a larger biodiversity offset program commissioned by the Petowal Mining Company. Component A focuses in the adjacent Niokolo-Koba National Park (NKNP) and is led by a partnership between the Department of National Parks and the NGO Panthera. The two components will complement one another contributing to overall net positive biodiversity gain over the life of the programs to offset the residual impacts of the Mako Gold Mine.
The Program represents an innovative public-private partnership that is hoped to set a benchmark for biodiversity offsetting and approaches to community-based conservation in West Africa.
The Senior Program Manager will be the lead Program representative in Senegal. They will report to the AWF’s Vice President of Programs for West and Central Africa, who is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Senior Program Manager will put in place and direct a team of professional staff, consultants and service providers to work alongside the MC and support with the coordination and technical development of the program.
The Senior Program Manager will establish strong, inclusive, and participatory working relations between Program staff, the MC and PMC and CBOs.
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