Afghanistan Country Director, WCS Asia Program

Afghanistan Country Director, WCS Asia Program

Position:

Afghanistan Country Director, WCS Asia Program

Division:

Global Conservation Program, WCS Afghanistan

Reports to:

Regional Director, Inner Asia

Location:

Kabul, Afghanistan

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is an international conservation NGO headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City working to save wildlife and wild lands and to meet global conservation challenges in over 60 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 

WCS began working in Afghanistan in 2004 and opened a full country program in 2006. With a staff of over 50 full-time national and international experts, the program has helped to draft many of Afghanistan’s environmental laws and regulations; trained thousands of Afghan community members, rangers, and government staff in natural resource management; built new community governance institutions; performed ground-breaking studies on a suite of wildlife including snow leopards and Marco Polo sheep; implemented cutting-edge disease, rangeland management, and conflict mitigation projects in their two key landscapes (Wakhan and Bamyan); and helped design and support management in Afghanistan’s first and second official protected areas, Band-e-Amir National Park (2009) and Wakhan National Park (2014). WCS is committed long-term to helping the people of Afghanistan build their capacity to protect their unique wildlife and wild landscapes.

Position Objectives

The WCS Afghanistan Country Director will be responsible for planning and supporting implementation of conservation projects and activities; managing and overseeing staff and program finances; fundraising and grant oversight; coordination with government and non-government partners; and providing vision and leadership for the WCS Program in Afghanistan.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Ensure program adheres to and achieves outputs and outcomes that directly support overall organizational strategy (e.g. WCS 2020) and country program strategy toward conservation of wildlife and wild places.
• Coordinate and support all program initiatives while ensuring proper collection, analysis and publication of field data.
• Hire, train, and supervise program staff; promote teamwork and provide feedback to staff.
• Oversee financial management of the program.
• Produce reports and other required documents (e.g., work plans, implementation plans, quarterly and annual reports, budget reports) for WCS, government partners and donors on schedule.
• Work with WCS New York to identify opportunities for further funding for conservation work in Afghanistan
• Work with WCS colleagues, the Afghan government, and international agencies to promote biodiversity conservation and influence policy in Afghanistan through attendance at conservation events, written outputs, interviews, and general communication. Direct international attention to important sites and species for conservation, and influence policies promoting their conservation.
• Ensure that reports and other materials are accessible to the international community through publications, web sites, etc.
• Ensure program implementation and outcomes are monitored and regularly evaluated. Ensure training and technical assistance to project personnel in implementing the framework and in promoting an adaptive management approach at site and project level
• Provide oversight on project security, logistics and operations. Monitor the status of all field teams and ensure the maintenance and effective allocation of resources and equipment.

Qualifications

• Candidate will hold a Ph.D. or a Master’s degree and equivalent experience in a field related to the conservation of biological diversity, preferably in an Asian context.
• Minimum of ten years’ program management experience in conservation
• Ability to foster teamwork within the program
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work in a range of cultural contexts
• Significant and diverse fundraising experience
• Commitment to WCS’s values of respect, accountability and transparency, innovation, diversity and inclusion, collaboration, and integrity.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, should apply by sending an application letter and CV together with the names and contact information of three references to asiaprogram@wcs.org  Please include “Afghanistan Country Director” in the subject line of your email. Candidates must also apply online via the WCS career portal at: http://www.wcs.org/about-us/careers  

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.  The job will be filled when a suitable applicant is found, so interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.