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Senior Forest Programme Officer (Bonn Challenge Barometer)

Vacancy #:   1505
Unit:   Forest Conservation Programme
Organisation:   International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Location:   North America Regional Office, Washington D.C., United States of America
Reporting to:   Deputy Director, Knowledge, Policy and Environmental Governance - GFCCP
Work percentage:   100%
Grade:   P2
Expected start date:   01 July 2017
Type of contract:   Fixed-term (27 months)
Closing date:   29 March 2017
BACKGROUND
The IUCN Global Forest and Climate Change Programme (GFCCP) is seeking a Senior Forest Officer to lead efforts to build support for and track progress on the Bonn Challenge via the Bonn Challenge Barometer. This includes provision of support to IUCN regions to enable related and demand-responsive implementation at the national and sub-national levels.

To date, more than 140 million hectares have been pledged to the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land into restoration by 2020 and 350 million by 2030.
The Bonn Challenge Barometer of Progress project, implemented by IUCN, seeks to strengthen the implementation of and progress on national, sub-national, and non-state actor commitments to the Bonn Challenge. To do so, the project will develop and publicize the “Bonn Challenge Barometer,” profiling leadership and quantifiable progress on implementation of the Bonn Challenge and forest landscape restoration, and equipping pledgers and partners with information to accelerate action and address implementation bottlenecks.
Underpinning the Bonn Challenge Barometer of Progress will be a methodology to efficiently and effectively capture progress being made by contributors to the Bonn Challenge. This methodology, called the “Bonn Challenge Progress-Tracking Protocol,” will assess progress on three levels: (1) policy and budget commitments on restoration; (2) technical knowledge and capacity to plan, manage and implement restoration; and (3) on-the-ground progress (in ha under restoration and estimated carbon and biodiversity benefits).
The project will be supported by engagement with six pilot countries and jurisdictions that have made Bonn Challenge commitments, and have agreed to support development of the Bonn Challenge Barometer through partnership in refining and testing the Bonn Challenge Progress-Tracking Protocol. To the most practical extent possible the development of the Barometer Tracking Protocol will interface, or at least retain the potential to interface with IUCN’s large array of geospatially reference knowledge products, including RTLS, RLE, KBA, Protected Planet.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Barometer development
• Lead the design and development of the Bonn Challenge Barometer, including the progress tracking protocol, overseeing the work of a technical partner organization and linking with relevant IUCN and other experts.
• Ensure coherency and consistency of approach, robustness of methodological framing, full engagement by the pilot cases, and buy-in from other key actors.
• Enable the roll out of the protocol and its effective application within all Bonn Challenge pledging countries - reinforcing internal capacity and coherence at regional and global level.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate inputs and establish linkages with existing IUCN knowledge products, including datasets on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), ecosystems and species, with the explicit purpose of advancing analysis and insights on the implications of global progress on restoration.
• Identify and pursue opportunities for linking the Bonn Challenge Barometer – both the web-based tool and the progress tracking methodology – with existing initiatives for monitoring progress on forest-related commitments, including the Climate Focus and partners’ tracking of the New York Declaration on Forests, and with existing platforms for collection and storage of land cover data, including the openforis platform (openforis.org), WRI’s Global Forest Watch, and others.

Policy influencing and uptake strategies
• Ensure that IUCN and other Bonn Challenge partners are equipped to respond effectively and authoritatively to requests for relevant information and analysis from Bonn Challenge pledging countries.
• Engage critical constituencies, including political, business and civil society coalitions, and form strategic relationships with highly aligned partners in order to embed the Barometer in forest and climate change decision-making at different levels.
• Lead the production of the Barometer reports and implementation toolkits and work with regions and other colleagues to establish pro-active knowledge uptake pathways with Bonn Challenge pledgers, candidate pledgers and other target audiences to further advance the attainment of the Bonn Challenge and the promotion of national-level commitment to implementation action.
• Identify opportunities for additional global and regional analytical outputs based on the data compiled via the tracking protocol (combined where possible with other IUCN knowledge products) and, in consultation with IUCN thematic and corporate communication specialists shape and deliver appropriate outreach and profiling of the outputs. This should include robust and credible protocols that would enable an indicative figure of GtCO2e sequestered to be estimated.
• Coordinate the organization of a series of events in conjunction with UNFCCC and CBD COPs and the 2020 IUCN Congress and other relevant international meetings.

Networking and strategic partnerships
• Build effective collaboration with Bonn Challenge partners, including by facilitating communications with and between pledgers, contributing to the organization of regional events, and to managing relationships with other restoration monitoring initiatives and projects.
• Identify strategic funding opportunities for the application of the Barometer and contribute to converting them into project concepts.


COMPENSATION PACKAGE
- Gross salary ranging from USD 77’000 to USD 95'000 per year
- Comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and long term disability insurance plan
- Retirement benefit of 5% of gross salary from the 4th month of employment
- 7.65% of gross salary FICA contribution (this benefit is only applicable to US nationals and green card holders)



The above job description contains the main duties and responsibilities for this position. However, in IUCN staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular job description. Where any task becomes a regular part of an employee's responsibilities, the job description will be changed in consultation with the employee and the Human Resources Management Group.
REQUIREMENTS
  • An understanding of the key components involved in forest and land cover surveying, and methodologies for estimating carbon and/or biodiversity impacts from LULUCF interventions.

• Ability to drive the development of a progress tracking and reporting process, including securing and managing contributions from colleagues and technical consultancies

• An understanding of the key components involved in web-based data management and reporting systems including decentralized cloud-based applications.

• A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline

• At least 10 years of professional experience

• Experience balancing the needs of countries with opportunities to feed into international analysis and debates

• Specific experience related to advocating for forest conservation and/or landscape restoration

• Substantive experience in regions where IUCN is particularly active

• Proven record in developing successful fundraising opportunities

• Experience prioritizing achieving outcomes over running activities

• Experience in creating and facilitating dialogue and agreement

• Accustomed to operating internationally, with a high degree of cultural sensitivity

• A strong delivery-oriented work ethic with the ability to juggle competing demands and challenging timelines

• Strong written and spoken English.
APPLICATIONS

Applicants are requested to apply online through the HR Management System, by opening the vacancy announcement and pressing the "Apply" button.

Applicants will be asked to create an account and submit their profile information. Applications will not be accepted after the closing date. The vacancy closes at midnight, Swiss time (GMT+1 / GMT+2 during Daylight Saving Time, DST). Please note that only selected applicants will be personally contacted for interviews.

Other job opportunities are published in the IUCN website: https://www.iucn.org/involved/jobs/


About IUCN

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 16,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

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