The IUCN World Conservation Congress is the highest organ of IUCN (Article 18 IUCN Statutes). It is a quadrennial event of several thousand participants that brings together the IUCN Members for the four-day Members’ Assembly and is preceded by a four-day Forum with several hundred events, plus an opening day. The large majority of events for the Forum are selected through an open Call for proposals and therefore not organized by the IUCN Secretariat directly. In addition, high-level panel sessions will be organized as part of the Forum and IUCN also foresees organising parallel summits with key stakeholders such as Mayors, CEOs, etc. The Congress also includes an exhibit hall with an estimated size of 14’000m2 featuring exhibits of different size which will be organized in thematic villages in line with the themes of the Congress. The exhibit hall will be open to the general public and feature events in each thematic village focused on showcasing cutting edge solutions, forging new networks and partnerships and creating commitments. The entire Congress will be designed as a sustainable and gender-responsive event.
The next Congress will take place from 11 to 19 June 2020, at the Parc Chanot, in Marseille, France.
The Congress Unit, part of the Union Development Group, is responsible for the detailed preparation, organization and management of the Congress. The Forum Deputy Manager will report to the Forum Manager who reports to the Global Director, Union Development Group. S/he will work closely with other members of the Congress Unit to ensure appropriate coordination with logistics, fundraising, IT system development and communications.
While the Congress Unit is the only Unit working full time on the Congress, a much larger team of IUCN staff from offices all over the world will be involved in the planning and preparations of the Congress to deliver a successful Forum and Members’ Assembly. The Forum Deputy Manager will support the Forum Manager with the overall oversight and integration of Forum related efforts and events throughout the Secretariat and beyond, working with Commissions, Members as well as suppliers.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Forum Deputy Manager will report to the Forum Manager. S/he will support the Forum Manager in the development and management of the overall Forum programme and be responsible for developing and managing the programme of all events taking place in the exhibit hall.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

Before congress
• Support the Forum Manager in the design of event types and the development of the narrative for the Forum Programme;
• Conceptualize the submission form for the Call for proposals and coordinate technical development with internal and external IT partners;
• Develop guidelines for the Call for proposals and for the different event types and ensure appropriate communication to session organizers during the entire preparation phase;
• Organize the technical review of the Call for proposals;
• Support the Forum Manager in the development of the actual event Programme and ensure that the programme is kept up to date in the IT systems;
• Ensure that session organizers are enabled and encouraged to market their sessions to participants including but not limiting to providing information about speakers;
• Ensure that the session organizers are working closely with facilitators in the design of their sessions to stage interactive and outcome-oriented sessions;
• Design an innovative programme for events and activities taking place in the exhibit hall and work with thematic leads, the Partnerships Coordinator and the IUCN Programmes in the development of the sessions for the hall, making sure that they are in line with the overall narratives and complement other Forum and Assembly events;
• Ensure that the IUCN library as well as the Community Dialogues of the UNDP Equator Initiative are well integrated into the exhibit hall,
• Coordinate logistical needs, with the Congress Unit, for implementation and smooth running of Forum Events, as necessary.
• Support the Forum manager in liaising with other Congress management teams.
• Ensure coordination of both content and operational issues related to the Forum's programme.
• Responds to general queries and specific questions from event organizers in relation to preparation for the Forum or ensure that any helpdesk team handling such questions has adequate information to perform such a task.
• Support the Forum Manager in in maintaining the Event Management System in relation to Forum events up to date.
• Act as procurement focal point for all forum-related events.
• Support the Forum Leader in his/her daily tasks

On site
• Coordinate the delivery of the programme in the exhibit hall
• Handle any last minute changes to the programme and ensure that logistics and suppliers are informed and that online systems are updated accordingly
• Participate in Forum management meetings on-site as well as other relevant meetings including daily staff meetings
• Coordinate other aspects of the Forum programme as tasked by the Forum Manager
• Assist in troubleshooting of on-site problems and issues with Forum.

After congress
• Prepare a lessons-learnt report for the Forum with concrete suggestions for improvement in the future
• Work with organizing team to ensure all planned outputs and actions are completed on time;
• Contribute to the Congress Evaluation as necessary;
• Contribute to the Congress Outputs publication as necessary.

The above TORs contain the main responsibilities and duties of this position. However in an ever evolving organisation such as 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 TORs. Where any task becomes a regular part of staff member’s responsibilities, the TORs should be changed in consultation between the manager, the staff member and the HR Unit. Any one of the three may initiate the consultation.