TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Its mission is to ensure that trade in wild species is legal and sustainable for the benefit of the planet and people. TRAFFIC International East Africa is a registered branch of TRAFFIC International headquartered in the UK. It is based in Arusha, Tanzania, with a geographic responsibility extending from Eritrea to Tanzania.

TRAFFIC has developed a comprehensive Wildlife Trade Information System (WITIS) that stores and analyses specific wildlife crime-related information and collects open-source information from market surveys, research papers, media reports, annual reports, and court records on law enforcement actions. Using this information, it is possible to understand developing illegal trade trends.

This position falls under the auspices of ReTTA, a TRAFFIC project aimed at Reducing Trade Threats to Africa’s Wild Species and Ecosystems (ReTTA) and the Wildlife Crime Hub that supports WWF and TRAFFIC to deliver a coordinated and consistent response to wildlife crime.

CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES:
The Wildlife Trade Information Assistant will support the team in entering wildlife trade information collected from courts of law and online monitoring, including from open sources such as the media, into TRAFFIC’s wildlife trade database. In addition, the Assistant will be required to assist in producing informative data analyses to understand regional wildlife trade trends.
The Assistant will work under the general line management of TRAFFIC East Africa’s Legal Officer with additional technical support from WWF’s Wildlife Crime Advisor for East Africa.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:
Following an agreed work plan, the Assistant will be required to undertake duties under the Wildlife Crime Hub and ReTTA as follows:

1.1 Implementation of duties under the Wildlife Crime Hub

• Support data collection on online sources such as the media, attending and monitoring trials, consulting with WWF and TRAFFIC East Africa colleagues, collecting, cleaning and entering details of wildlife crimes into WiTIS;
• Assist in providing regular wildlife trade trend analyses for the region based on the data entered and supplementary research.
• Support the production of quarterly, bi-annual, and annual reports, work plans, and other documents as requested by the Line Manager or the Office Director.
• Support in the delivery of training on data entry and analysis.
• Undertake duty travel as necessary; and
• Any other relevant data tasks assigned by the Line Manager.

1.2 Implementation of duties under the RETTA Project

• Undertake online monitoring of IWT adverts and enter them into the TRAFFIC market survey data template;
• Obtain existing data from online monitoring, clean it, and enter it into the database;
• Assist in the production of trade and trend analyses and provide information for TRAFFIC publications; and,
• Support the ReTTA Project Leader with technical progress reports as required.

In addition to the above, the Assistant may be required to support East Africa Office in any relevant task requiring Wildlife Trade Information Support skills.