VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Background
The Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) contributes substantially to the conservation of biodiversity in Indonesia through landscape-level conservation, support to protected areas (PAs), species conservation actions, and engaging local communities.
Tackling the illegal trafficking of wildlife in Indonesia is one of WCS’s priorities. Indonesia is the largest supplier of wildlife products in Asia, and a critical hub for the global illegal wildlife trade (worth an estimated USD$7-23 billion dollars annually[1]), much of which is highly organized, and benefits a relatively small criminal fraternity. Key species are being hunted and traded in industrial volumes for pharmaceuticals, food, pets, and ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes. Indonesia is also an important transit point for the illegal trade in wildlife/wildlife products from Africa to East Asia, including African Ivory. The trade in these animals and animal products creates a massive threat to globally important wildlife, and also has enormous social, environmental and economic repercussions – representing a multi-billion dollar loss to the Indonesian economy annually.
Since 2003, WCS has pioneered an innovative approach to combat illegal wildlife trade in Indonesia. This approach has two core strategies, and is focused on 1) improving enforcement and supporting investigations and prosecutions through the “Wildlife Crime Unit” (WCU); and 2) supporting the government of Indonesia in improving their legal and policy framework for wildlife and environmental protection, which began in 2015. These approaches bring together key government agencies, including MoF and Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Indonesian National Police, Attorney General, Customs, and a network of local civil society and media organisations, and have been extremely successful to date, with over a 90% prosecution rate for wildlife crime cases supported by the WCU for example.
WCS has recently been selected to deliver a major component of a USAID funded project that focuses on halting wildlife trafficking and trade in Indonesia. The Biodiversity and Conservation Specialist will serve as WCS’s technical specialist for activities under this component, and will coordinate the WCS’s day-to-day delivery of activities with WCS staff teams. In addition, the post-holder will be expected to act as a key member of the project team, advising and supporting the Chief of Party of USAID’s chosen contractor in the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to improve the protection of key species, especially those targeted for wildlife trafficking, and to provide leadership to relevant project staff, subcontractors and grantees. In planning and executing this strategy, the specialist is expected to collaborate with and build upon the efforts of other Government of Indonesia, US Government and other civil society activities. Excellent existing networks within GOI agencies are therefore very important.
The post holder will report both to WCS’s Chief Advisor, and to the Chief of Party of USAID’s chosen contractor. The position will be based in Jakarta, but with significant time also at WCS’s head office in Bogor.
Specific Position Responsibilities:
- Build technical capacity to combat wildlife trade and trafficking
- Supported by the WCU, develop tailored training modules on wildlife crime for field enforcement staff. These trainings will prioritise technical assistance and training to MoEF and MMAF investigators (PPNS) and to law enforcement authorities (police, customs, quarantine, aviation, and seaport) to surveil and intercept smugglers at the national level.
- Improve interagency coordination. Wildlife crime investigations and enforcement efforts often require the full efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies nationally, and often also extend to other ASEAN countries. The post holder is expected to facilitate new strategies to improve cross agency coordination in Indonesia and to improve Indonesia-to-region coordination on efforts to tackle wildlife crime.
- Legal and policy analysis. There are numerous challenges faced by the Indonesian regulatory framework that inhibit proper enforcement against wildlife crime issues. The post holder will support the identification of new research to identify legal and policy challenges and solutions, and will develop engagement strategies to support the government in tackling these.
- Reduce domestic demand for wildlife. Indonesia’s domestic market drives a large proportion of wildlife trade. New strategies and approaches are needed to tackle demand both at the site level, and at the national level. The post holder will lead the development and implementation of innvoative demand reduction strategies in Indonesia.
- Financial aspects of wildlife crime. The post holder will develop an assessment of the costs and incentives relating to wildlife trade in Indonesia, including understanding current penalties, tax regimes and money-laundering regulations, and investigating the potential to use innovative cost recovery mechanisms, tax changes and other regulations to enhance penalties and incentivize sustainable use.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Communication. Establishing good working relationships and/or strategic partnerships with key stakeholders such as government, academia, NGOs, etc. will be critical.
- Project Management. The post holder is expected to closely coordinate and manage the delivery of activities under the wildlife trade component, this will require close and regular communication and collaboration with relevant project staff, subcontractors and the management of grantees. The post holder is also expected to provide inputs to the vision and strategy for WCS Indonesia on wildlife crime, and to support the development of project proposals, as well as lead on the preparation of activity reports as required by WCS, donors and/or stakeholders, in Indonesian or English.
- Undertake any other duties, as assigned by the Chief Advisor.
Job Requirements
Qualifications and Experience
- The post holder should have a good postgraduate degree in law, ecology, forestry, social sciences and/or a related discipline.
- A minimum four years of experience on wildlife trafficking or in related fields is required.
Competencies
- Superb government and civil society networks in relation to environmental protection, wildlife crime, protected area management.
- Strong facilitation, coordination, networking and negotiation skills;
- Experience and a deep understanding of the process of policy and legal reform in Indonesia related to conservation and the environment.
- Understanding of surveillance, investigation, and prosecution processes in Indonesia
- Good analytical and planning skills
- Strong sense for innovation and new approaches to conservation.
- Decisiveness and independence,
- Good judgement, ability to work under time pressure.
- Ability to maintain financial and technical control of projects
- Good report writing and presentation skills
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Excellent writing skills in both English and Indonesian
Please note that the above TOR constitutes only the main responsibilities and duties of this position. As WCS is a flexible organization, staff members are expected to undertake any other tasks that are allocated to them but which are not part of their regular TOR.
If you are interested in the above position and consider that you possess the necessary qualifications, please submit an up-to-date curriculum vitae, names of three professional references and a cover letter explaining your interest towards this work and this organization to wcsindonesia@wcs.org. Please fill the “subject” column of the e-mails in this format “Biodiversity and Conservation Specialist (Wildlife Trade) _ (name of candidate)”.
Deadline: July 31, 2016
No correspondence, only short-listed candidates will be notified.
