The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was founded in 1948 and brings together nearly 1,100 members (States, government agencies, NGOs and affiliates) and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. Its mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Within the framework of global conventions IUCN has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. IUCN has approximately 1,000 staff, most of whom are located in its regional and country offices while some 150 work are based at its Headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from qualified women and men.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall supervision of the Regional Director, the Regional Programme Coordinator is responsible for the strategic development, steering and monitoring of the IUCN PACO Programme, which consists of Programme activities (projects) in most of the 24 countries in the region. The Programme Coordinator reports to the Regional Director but is also responsible for maintaining programmatic links with global thematic programmes and other regional programmes in IUCN.

SPECIFIC DUTIES

Programme Planning and Monitoring
• Ensure the effective implementation of IUCN global policies and procedures regarding project identification and approval protocols in the region
• Ensure the implementation of a regular planning cycle, the use of a common set of methods and tools and standards for planning in IUCN, including performance criteria for the IUCN PACO programme.
• Coordinate and lead the preparation of the PACO Intersessional Programme and oversee the preparation of Annual Work plans by Regional Thematic Programmes and Country Programmes.
• Lead the PACO Programme Development and oversee the review of Project activities (PR Groups in countries, review of Project Concepts and Proposals, allocation of project numbers, etc.
• Oversee the development of new initiatives and responses to emerging issues.
• Oversight of monitoring and evaluation activity regarding programme implementation
• Assist Finance in regular monitoring of the region’s budgets and advise managers and the Regional Director on progress and problems associated with programme and budget delivery and assist them in solving these problems.

Programme Oversight

• Oversee development and sustainability of the Project pipeline at all levels (jointly with Finance).
• Overall quality assurance of project implementation
• Donor relations as related to programme implementation
• Support Organisational Development related to Programmatic structures within the PACO.
• Supervision of regional Thematic Heads
• Identify needs for technical support / capacity building to the secretariat, from the secretariat, as well as within the secretariat. Analyse these needs and make recommendations to the relevant managers and the Regional Director.

Reporting

• Oversee the preparation and submission of periodic reports, particularly Annual Reports by all PACO Programmes.
• Provide regular updates to the Regional Director and PACO management on changes and trends in relation to IUCN’s programme and the regional and global context
• Maintain a regional consolidated list of current and developing projects.

Institutional Support

• Participate in PACO Regional management structures and other Regional groups, task forces and committees as required. Participate in Global IUCN bodies such as Programme Planning Group (PPG) and others that fall within the scope of Programme Coordination.
• Support the evolutionary development of the Strategic Planning Team (SPT) and contribute to the delivery of its products and the achievements of its joint results
• Represent IUCN PACO in meetings and events as requested by the Regional Director

Capacity Building
• Oversee the coordination of capacity building initiatives in programme and project management aspects in accordance with the needs of the programme and project staff specifically in areas of project planning, needs assessments, monitoring and evaluation, programme and project reviews, budget formulation and reviews, etc.