IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,400 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 15,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by more than 1,000 professional staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world. Its headquarters are based in Gland, Switzerland.

The IUCN European Regional Office (EURO) provides vital linkages for IUCN Members, National Committees, Commissions and the Secretariat to governments, EU institutions, NGOs, scientists, practitioners, the private sector and other stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the European Green Deal, the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and related national and regional biodiversity plans. It provides knowledge and advise decision makers to improve conservation policy and action, connect and engage.

IUCN EURO is looking for a highly motivated Policy Food Systems Officer to join our Policy and Programme and Policy team. The successful candidate will support the policy work of the office towards the implementation of IUCN EURO’s programme, with a strong focus on supporting IUCN’s work towards a more sustainable future agriculture in the EU, but also with a view on the impact of EU agriculture in the global context.

Under the supervision of the Senior Policy and Project Officer – Natural Resources and in close collaboration with other staff of the Programme and Policy team, the Policy Food Systems Officer will ensure the implementation, coordination and reporting of projects and contribute to the development of the team’s policy.

The Policy Food Systems Officer will be responsible for performing the following tasks specifically:

• Support the implementation of the IUCN European Regional Programme and contribute to internal IUCN discussions on agriculture, land use and relevant related policies;
• Follow and analyse EU and international policy developments related to sustainable agriculture and other related policies;
• Coordinate and implement thematically-aligned projects with a primary focus on sustainable agriculture, liaising with partners and donors as required;
• Carry out technical and administrative project activities, project assessments, monitoring, reporting, processing of invoices, etc.;
• Liaise with relevant environmental and agricultural stakeholders towards carrying out project and policy-related activities;
• Organisation and assistance with the preparation of events such as seminars, workshops or dialogues;
• Elaboration of reports, policy briefs and brochures;
• Identification of communications opportunities and drafting content for communication material;
• Assist senior staff in coordinating and planning the implementation of IUCN’s European Regional Programme and the team’s project activities;
• Support the development of new project proposals;
• Relevant tasks in support of related IUCN work as needed.

The above job description contains the main duties and responsibilities for this position. However, in an 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 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, their line manager and the Human Resources Management Group.