The IUCN Water and Land Management Team (WLMT) aims to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and ensure that any use of water and land resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. The goal of the Water & Land Management Team is healthy landscapes and river basins that provide sustainable ecosystem services to livelihoods and societies.

The Natural Infrastructure Officer will contribute to the Water and Land Management Team’s goals and support development and implementation of the team’s business line on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for water including contributing to developing knowledge and projects linked to scaling up and financing natural infrastructure in watersheds and landscapes. The Natural Infrastructure Officer will contribute to the successful and timely delivery of a range of projects that focus on water and land stewardship, nature-based solutions for agricultural water management. Coordination with IUCN colleagues in thematic teams, Centres, regional and country programmes, and with IUCN Members, Commission Members, and external partners is an essential part of this role. The Natural Infrastructure Officer will also play a role in communications and support partnership building and resource mobilisation.

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support delivery of project(s)/initiative(s) related to the Water & Land Management Team’s work on integrated water and land management and natural infrastructure;
• Contribute to programmatic and portfolio development including supporting multilateral programme design;
• Engage, build synergies with and provide technical assistance to Regional/Country Offices and other Thematic teams, as needed, for successful delivery of work and knowledge;
• Expand IUCN’s network and engagements on natural infrastructure;
• Support the articulation and positioning of the Water and Land Management Team in the context of IUCN’s Nature 2030 vision.


SPECIFIC DUTIES

Under the overall supervision, direction and guidance of the Water for Landscapes Manager and working in close collaboration with other concerned IUCN staff, the incumbent will have duties as under:

Project Delivery
• Technical and project support and coordination on WLMT projects, including on water and land stewardship and water in food security and climate change;
• Facilitate the development of workplans and budgets for the projects according to IUCN and donor requirements;
• Facilitate the delivery of project actions that are led by other units / colleagues;
• Prepare technical reports required for project implementation, according to IUCN and donor requirements, ensuring input from supervisor and other colleagues as required;
• Update the IUCN project and programme portal, as needed.

Portfolio development
• Develop and track co-finance strategy for integrated landscape management and natural infrastructure;
• Lead proposal development on natural infrastructure by identifying resource mobilisation opportunities
• Update the database of potential donors according to Water and land Management themes and business lines.

Knowledge, learning and communications
• Ensure that learning on integrated water and land management and natural infrastructure is captured, synthesized and disseminated, contributing to adaptive management and institutional learning in IUCN;
• Lead and coordinate knowledge development on themes related to natural infrastructure including training materials, scalable financing models, etc.;
• Contribute to WLMT calendar of external events with information on relevant natural infrastructure topics;
• Develop stories and content for IUCN and related websites, social media and project-related websites according to the Team’s communications strategy.

Programme support and implementation
• Represent IUCN in specific stakeholders groups, coalitions and initiatives;
• Maintain awareness of other thematic areas of IUCN and identifying connections and opportunities for improved coordination and alignment;
• Provide guidance to strategic planning discussions and ensure alignment of project activities with the overall programme direction;
• Contribute to articulating and positioning Water and Land Management Team in the context of IUCN’s Nature 2030 vision, in particular for Impact Target 2.


COMPETENCIES

Enthusiastic commitment and vision, characterised by:
• A commitment to nature conservation, ecosystem management approaches and sustainable development.
• Ability to leverage the latest virtual technologies to disseminate and amplify NbS knowledge and messages.

Integrity, maturity and trust, as characterised by:
• Unimpeachable integrity as evidenced by behaviour, communication style and way of handling ambiguous or difficult situations.
• Clear commitment to embracing and contributing to a culture of high performance and accountability.
• Demonstrated commitment to working within teams diverse in gender, nationality and background to achieve business results.
• A well-developed sense of self-awareness with an ability to proactively manage one’s own strengths and weaknesses and understand how these influence the performance and motivation of other colleagues.

Professional competencies, characterised by:
• Demonstrable willingness to learn and grow professionally, including through responding to feedback.
• Ability and commitment to act in accordance with the core values of integrity, respect for diversity and professionalism as spelled out in IUCN’s Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics.
• Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills.

Commitment to accountable and high-quality delivery
• A clear and unambiguous work ethic that understands the necessity of, and demonstrates willingness to adhere to, institutional procedures and standards.
• A clear sense of institutional propriety with respect to accountability and transparency at both the individual and team level.
• An enthusiasm for and commitment to understanding and contributing to tangible, equitable and durable change processes in the field of conservation and sustainable development.