Under the supervision of the Regional Forest Program Coordinator for West and Central Africa, the National Coordinator will be responsible for overall implementation and delivery of the project in DRC, facilitating in-country operational planning and successful timely delivery of agreed country plans, country level performance monitoring, learning and reporting, and enabling project contribution to, integration in and alignment with national conservation and development priorities, specifically ensuring that project results, lessons and knowledge are captured, packaged and up-scaled into the national policies and strategies, and made available as contributions to regional and global agendas. The Project Coordinator will also ensure that project country strategies are adapted and implemented in ways to demonstrate sound contributions to key national and international Commitments under Aichi Targets 7 and 11, REDD+ programs and poverty reduction and sustainable development agendas. Also, he/she should ensure that project outcomes are fed into current debates and challenges related to the implementation of international Conventions like the CBD Aichi Targets, REDD+/INDCs, FIP, etc.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Project Coordinator will have the following specific responsibilities:
Project management and implementation

-Overall in-country technical and financial management of the project;
-Ensure full compliance of project implementation, management and reporting to donor requirements and IUCN standards as per organizations policies and in internal implementation arrangements;
-Ensure that project activities are delivered on-time, on-budget, and on-track to showcase the achievement of the projects’ objectives, contractual obligations and the IUCN-PACO Forest Program programmatic objectives;
-Lead and facilitate in-country project operations planning, monitoring and learning;
-Prepare and submit technical and financial reports on time and following agreed formats and standards;
-Ensure that all project records and sources of verification are documented, finalized and stored in format and content that demonstrate achievements and ensure accountability of project;
-Provide technical assistance to relevant partners and colleagues to ensure that the achievement of targets, results and deliverables is on time and reflect the expected quality and technical standards;
-Support the activities of the Forest and other thematic Programs by searching and synthesizing information on innovative themes and issues relevant to the work of the Program;
-Work in synergy with other Country Coordinators of the Stabilizing Land Use Project to facilitate program delivery, exchange of experiences and lessons learned as well as capitalizing on the results of the project at the national, regional and international levels;
-Regularly update IUCN’s databases with project data.

Knowledge generation and analytical work

-Ensure that all project information is appropriately documented through an established communications schedule to support stakeholders involvement and project delivery;
-Promote exchange of policy, strategic and technical information with key conservation and development partners in DRC;
-Be proactive in seeking and delivering innovative solutions and technical information to relevant partners and colleagues;
-Develop and support exchange and sharing of knowledge and lessons learned from the project to ensure timely and quality delivery of knowledge products to specific audiences;
-Ensure effective information flow between all those engaged in or affected by the implementation of the project;
-Establish files to ensure that information on the progress of the project is appropriately documented and whenever necessary shared to appropriate audience.

Program and project development

-Assist in identifying opportunities for Program and project development in line with the IUCN 2017-2020 Program, PACO 2017-2020 Work plan and the PACO Forest Strategy for 2017-2020. This will entail the following key responsibilities;
oIdentify conservation and development priorities relevant to IUCN and the needs of IUCN Members and Commissions in the DRC and beyond;
oBuild partnerships with relevant Government and Non-government Organizations as well as Private sector, including IUCN Members and Commissions to establish functional networks and joint initiatives to promote fundraising to complement the implementation of the activities of the Project in DRC.
oLead and/or support fundraising efforts from national and international donors to develop project activities.
oCarry out in-country situation analyses and diagnosis for developing relevant and coherent project proposals.

Other responsibilities

As requested by the PACO Regional Forest Program Coordinator, the Project Coordinator shall:
-Represent IUCN during strategic, political and technical meetings, seminars, conferences, etc;
-Where appropriate, supervise additional staff, consultants and interns;
-Carry out additional tasks as may be requested.