Jobs at WWF Tanzania , End of 2015

Forest Technical Advisor to Support Foundational Forest Program Development
Background - Forest situation in Tanzania

WWF Tanzania is a registered International Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with local registration under the United Republic of Tanzania. It has legal status and formal agreement with Government of Tanzania as part of WWF-International. The WWF Tanzania Forest Programme was established in 1994. Over the last decade the programme has supported conservation in forest areas with high biodiversity and socioeconomic importance; such the Eastern Arc mountains (Udzungwa Mountains Uluguru Mountains and East Usambara forest landscapes), the lowland coastal forests around East Usambaras in northern Tanzania and the southern Tanzania Coastal Forests Landscapes.

The Tanzanian mainland has approximately 48 million ha of forest and woodland representing 55% of the total land area. Forests support livelihoods of 87% of rural households in terms of income and services, provide 90% of energy used in the country (biomass and charcoal) and perform vital ecosystem service functions in terms of water catchment and storage and biodiversity maintenance. Coastal Forests and Eastern Arc Mountain forests have long been identified as globally significant centres of biodiversity and sources of economic goods and services.
There has been a shift of emphasis in forest management policy in Tanzania since the 1990s, whereby government control (through national and some district forest reserves) has been increasingly complemented with participatory co-management through joint forest management (JFM); and community-based forest management (CBFM) through village land forest reserves (VLFRs), which variously decentralize management responsibilities to give a much stronger role to local communities.
Recent assessment (NAFORMA 2013) estimates annual loss of forest in Tanzania at 400,000 ha (1.0% of total forest areas). This is largely due to agricultural expansion, both small scale shifting cultivation and large land-based investments, urban charcoal consumption, illegal logging of timber and demand for firewood and building poles in villages. These pressures have resulted in an increase in the number of threatened flora and fauna within forests and woodland.
Some Eastern Arc Mountain forests are better protected within nature reserves or national parks and derive some funding from an endowment fund. However, government-managed forest reserves remain chronically underfunded and have low effectiveness with poor management resulting in in-sufficient protection. For the past 15 years, in line with national forest policy (1998) and legislation (2002), WWF Tanzania and other NGOs have actively supported expansion of village-land forest reserves, areas under community management that aim to both better protect forests and associated bio-diversity and provide tangible benefits to local communities.
Large commercial agricultural investment is increasingly being promoted by national policy, as well as by development partners, as a strategy to reduce poverty. The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) is the most high profile example. Challenges include re-designation of land from village to commercial use and potential abuse of villager user rights; security of tenure; conflicting policies on land-use; and, not least, the targeting of high conservation value forests. Inadequate land management and governance and a lack of transparency create conflicts and puts forest areas at risk.

The WWF-Tanzania 2016-20 Country Strategy and the need for consultancy support for a new forest programme

WWF-Tanzania has completed a new 2016 – 2020 Country Strategic Plan which has identified establishing an expanded forest programme as a priority. The strategy envisages WWF moving away from a prior focus on single and small project implementation to a programmatic approach capable of leveraging greater conservation impact at broader landscape scale with sufficient resources to deliver the programme. The strategy identifies the following overall goal for the forest programme:
‘ By 2020, six high conservation-value forest landscapes (Udzungwa Mountains; Usambara lowland coastal forests; Matumbi-Kichi, Kilwa & Rondo coastal forests; and Selous-Ruvuma miombo woodland) have sustained biodiversity values, and are contributing to improved rights and livelihoods of forest resources-dependent men and women.’

WWF-Tanzania, supported by WWF-UK, is seeking the support of an expert consultant over a 6 month period to provide technical support and expertise to support the development of the WWF-Tanzania forest programme.

Overall Function and Specific Tasks:

The primary goal of the consultancy is to support WWF Tanzania’s development and implementation of a robust, vibrant, and highly effective Forest Programme consistently achieving high level impacts at broad scale on nationally and internationally relevant forest issues with clear cross-sectoral linkages and integration with other key WWF goals and strategies (on freshwater, climate, wildlife, and drivers of deforestation especially focusing on agriculture).

The major output of the consultancy will be a base funding proposal that positions WWF to attract high level funding to achieve forest programme objectives, and which can be adapted by WWF for use in partnership development and fundraising from multiple donors. The consultant will work with the WWF team to prioritize potential funding opportunities and develop tailored and targeted funding proposals.

The consultant will report to the WWF-Tanzania Conservation Manager and work closely with the WWF Tanzania Forest Team and well as staff from related technical, policy and partnerships units. A critical emphasis for the consultancy will be to emphasize knowledge and skills transfer to WWF Tanzania counterparts during the commission of the work. Specifically, the consultant will carry out the following activities:

Develop a robust funding framework and targeted proposals to support the development of WWF’s Forest Programme in Tanzania:
Facilitate the preparation of a base funding proposal that strongly positions WWF to attract resources and achieve high level impacts on forest program objectives.
Ensure that the base funding proposal supports the objectives of the WWF-Tanzania Country Strategic Plan, clearly identifies the key niche and comparative advantages for WWF focus, and is well integrated with related goal and driver strategies contained in the WWF Country Strategic Plan.
Prioritize funding opportunities and develop targeted proposals, including soliciting funding from public/private sectors and multilateral donors to fund the programme proposal, working closely with the WWF-Tanzania Forest Programme Coordinator and the Development and Partnerships Manager.

Strengthen WWF staff capacity for forest programme delivery and in developing high impact, strategic partnerships:
Act as a professional mentor to the Forest Program Lead and provide expert advice and technical assistance to support effective programming and functioning of the Forest Programme.
Facilitate the identification and establishment of strategic partnerships with public, private, and civil society stakeholders with potential for leveraging results and scaling impacts. Develop an engagement plan and process document for pursuing the development of at least 2 key strategic partnerships with potential to advance program goals and objectives.
Build strategic thinking and expertise in forest-related institutional programming and strengthening WWF-Tanzania’s understanding of, and representation at, the national and international level.
Strengthen ability for knowledge transfer and institutional collaboration with national and international forest sector agencies, CSOs and donors.
Guide the development of a strategic communications plan – including communications on key lessons learned - to help promote WWF-Tanzania and its forest programme to the WWF network and national and international fundraising institutions to leverage interest, funds and technical support.
Develop a plan for continued capacity development and learning among WWF forest programme staff (e.g., including knowledge exchange, professional development, and coaching and mentoring approaches).

Provide technical backstopping to the forestry team by:
Supporting policy level engagement to inform national policy-level perspectives on forest issues – including at a regional scale (i.e. regional timber trade and involving regional economic bodies SADC, EAC and COMESA as well as engaging with FOCAC).
Reviewing the forestry context in Tanzania and key drivers in the region/internationally and prepare two papers regarding the critical issues facing forests in Tanzania / the region in particular regarding how the implementation of national forest and energy policies and institutional reorganization and devolution impacts forests
Develop scalable business and value chain models for Participatory Forest Management (PFM).




Undertake other strategic roles related to forest work as reasonable, as opportunities emerge and as directed by WWF-Tanzania including that received from WWF Regional Office Africa, WWF UK and / or other WWF offices.


Outcomes
A robust, vibrant, and highly effective Forest Programme responding to national and international forest issues
WWF-Tanzania Forest Programme staff and relevant partners have increased capacity to run and nurture a framework of donors, partners and corporates/private sectors who will be supporting the implementation of the WWF-Tanzania 2015-2020 strategic plan.

Deliverables
A WWF-Tanzania Forest Programme base proposal (based on WWF format / standards).
The base proposal has been used as the basis to reach out to WWF National Offices and / or develop proposals for at least two major external donors securing, or with a high likelihood of securing, significant and mid-long term funds.
An engagement plan and process document for pursuing the development of at least 2 key strategic partnerships with potential to advance program goals and objectives.
Scalable business and value chain models for PFM in Tanzania
At least two papers on the critical issues facing forests in Tanzania / the region
A strategic communications plan and supporting communication materials / products regarding Tanzanian forests / WWFs forest work
A plan for continued capacity development and learning among WWF forest programme staff (e.g., including knowledge exchange, professional development, and coaching and mentoring approaches).

Duty station
WWF-Tanzania Country Office, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Duration
Full Time over a 6 month period.

Mode of application
Interested candidates can send their proposals to lmaiga@wwftz.org copy to angusaru@wwftz.org. The last date for receiving applications is 31 December 2015 not later than 05:00pm (EAT)