Nature Kenya - the East Africa Natural History Society - is seeking to recruit dedicated, highly motivated, result oriented and innovative individuals for the following position.
Job title: Species and Site Action Officer
Place of Work: Nairobi head office and site level as required
Responsible to: Executive Director through the Local Action
Manager
Job Description
The Species and Site Action
officer will oversee the site action team responsible for implementing local
biodiversity conservation actions. He or she will work to promote the
conservation of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) through stable and active
engagement of Site Support Groups (SSGs).
The position holder will ensure
that the SSGs remain vibrant by carrying out conservation activities, including
but not limited to site monitoring, advocacy, environmental education and awareness
creation and promotion of resilient community livelihoods.
The Species and Site Action
officer will also work to enhance public engagement in nature conservation at
site levels.
Roles
To achieve this, the position
holder will have specific responsibilities listed below:
A. Reporting
1. Report to the Executive
Director through the Local Action Manager;
2. Support and facilitate the
SSGs to carry out their work;
3. Work with all Nature Kenya
staff where necessary to ensure the smooth delivery of the organization's
activities.
B. Environmental Education
1. Develop and oversee the
implementation of a school environmental program for schools;
2. Oversee the registration of
school environmental clubs as Nature Kenya members;
3. Work with Site Action
Facilitators to catalyze setting up of school tree nurseries and the
distribution of seedlings to children to plant at home;
4. Oversee the management of
eco-resource centers and ensure they fully function as environmental education
repositories for local communities and visitors;
5. Support Site Action
Facilitators to organize school events around international environmental days
for children to celebrate and create awareness;
6. Support Site Action
Facilitators to organize interactive school programs, including environmental
art/poetry competitions for awareness creation;
7. Seek help from stakeholders
and collaborators to support the running and maintenance of the eco-resource
centers;
8. Ensure full involvement of
SSGs in carrying out environmental education in schools within their areas;
9. Develop appropriate
environmental education materials;
10. Oversee the branding of
eco-resource centers and schools (climate-smart schools) and other Nature Kenya
investments at the site level.
C. Strengthening SSGs
1. Ensure that all SSGs to
maintain an active list of members;
2. Oversee the formation of SSG
action implementation committees and maintain current lists of names and
contacts for each of the committees;
3. Facilitate SSGs to schedule
and keep records of their monthly meetings and annual general meetings;
4. Support SSGs to uphold their
constitutions by holding elections as scheduled, defining the roles of each
committee member, submitting timely returns to the registrar, etc.;
5. Assist SSGs in bookkeeping
and maintaining records of assets and properties owned by the groups.
D. Community Engagement
1. Carry out organizational
capacity assessments (OCA) to identify gaps and drivers of SSGs inaction,
report and make recommendations to inform a range of community-focused
interventions;
2. Oversee the development of
Site Action Plans for saving species and conserving habitats, promoting
ecological sustainability, and improving livelihoods which incorporate
monitoring, restoration, influencing favorable government policies and
decisions for the retention and protection of nature and providing
entrepreneurial training and project development skills for the establishment
of supplemental businesses for women and youth;
3. Carry out regular needs
assessments to inform the training of SSGs, develop training programs and hold
training workshops to address capacity gaps;
4. Ensure that SSGs
implementation committees hold Chief/village, churches, women groups and youth
groups meetings to stimulate local nature conservation actions and raise
awareness;
5. Ensure that SSGs engage with
the local administration, i.e., chiefs, village elders, and ward
administrators, in the planning and execution of their local action plans;
6. Coordinate marking of
important international environment days (World Wetlands Day, World Environment
Day, International Day of Forests, World Migratory Bird Day/Global Big Day,
International Day for Biological Diversity etc.) for optimal awareness creation
impact and ensure that SSGs capture, document and timely avail key event
highlights (number and type of participants in attendance, number of people
reached, number and type of activities held, tree seedlings planted, the
quantity of litter collected etc.).
E. Monitoring
1. Support SSGs to conduct
biodiversity monitoring (basic, detailed and common bird monitoring);
2. Review site monitoring
protocols;
3. Ensure that monitoring data
from SSGs is timely availed to populate the scorecard;
4. Build KBA biodiversity
monitoring capacity of SSGs.
F. Advocacy, Communication and Networking
1. Support the building of
local community voices to enhance grassroot conservation advocacy;
2. Assist SSGs to develop and
implement site advocacy strategies;
3. Ensure that information
about Nature Kenya/SSG conservation actions is communicated through radio,
television, print media, and NK communication platforms.
G. Other responsibilities
1. Undertake any other task
assigned by the Executive Director, Local Action Manager, or other Nature Kenya
managers.
Application Process
Kindly submit your application
letter and CV for the relevant position to the Executive Director by e-mail:
office@naturekenya.org no later than 24th June 2023.
Only shortlisted candidates
will be contacted.
