Global Head – Better Returns

Location: Either in one of our global offices (Bristol or London – UK, Madagascar, Belize, Indonesia, Timor-Leste), or home-based within countries where Blue Ventures has administrative capacity (Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania)

Closing date for applications: 31 October 2023

Contract status: Global Post, Full-time

Start date: As soon as possible

Contract duration: 2 years fixed term (with the possibility of extension)

Remuneration: Competitive salary based on experience as per national salary range at Head of/Regional Manager level

Salary Band: Head of

We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities

Blue Ventures is a marine conservation organization that puts people first. We support coastal fishers in remote and rural communities to rebuild fisheries, restore ocean life and build lasting pathways to prosperity. Our work began two decades ago in Madagascar’s remote coastal communities and is growing globally. Across a dozen countries, we’re partnering with traditional fishers and community organizations to design, scale, strengthen and sustain fisheries management and conservation at the community level. We bring partners together in networks to advocate for reform, and share tools and best practices to support fishing communities across the globe.

Summary job description

Our Technical Knowledge team oversees Blue Ventures’ technical pillars (Secure Rights, Community Based Fisheries Management, Better Returns, Financial Inclusion, and the crosscutting theme of Gender) and supports the use of data for decision making, providing tools, training, and guidance to partners and Blue Ventures’ staff around the world. This team integrates expertise and deep practical experience with pragmatism and a desire to enable others to deliver lasting change, by distilling global best practices and knowledge into usable tools, appropriate training, and responsive guidance and support. The team is also responsible for delivering a series of peer learning exchanges and knowledge sharing events both online and face to face across the organisation in addition to overseeing technical publications.

We are currently recruiting for an exceptional individual to be part of this global team, leading a critical pillar of the strategy on Better Returns. This individual will oversee the Better Returns function, including the development, refinement, and roll out of tools and training to support partners around the world as they establish initiatives to calculate the total value of community fisheries and identify practical approaches to increase the economic and nutritional value retained by households. These types of tools and materials include:

• Accessible tools and appropriate technologies:

Intuitive to use and readily available, including software and mobile apps for data collection and interpretation, simple decision support tools for assessment, planning, and problem resolution, and community-level materials for common activities, such as meeting facilitation guides or decision-making tools to help communities decide which fish and fisheries to focus management attention on.

• Training Resources:

Manuals, guides, videos, and online materials that provide concise information and serve as self-learning tools, allowing partners to access and acquire knowledge at their own pace.

• Knowledge Development:

Structured learning experiences to transfer theory to practice and enhance the background knowledge and competencies such as workshops or webinars, as well as development of good practice technical case studies and publications.

• Skill Development:

Specific hands-on training, mentoring, or peer learning exchange programmes to enhance technical expertise and the skills that are relevant to the context of each pillar.

As a Global Head, the position oversees regional and national colleagues to produce and iteratively improve the technical support, ensuring globally consistent guidance, while enabling context-specific differentiation among regions. The ability to work in a diverse and geographically dispersed team and to liaise and adapt techniques across different cultures will therefore be essential. As a Global Head and part of the Technical Knowledge team, the position strives for Blue Ventures’ work to be at the forefront of best practice in the sector, by learning from partners and practitioners worldwide to distil learning and experience into usable practical approaches to address the common barriers to achieving coastal fisheries reform with a strong believe in placing communities at the centre of decision making.

The Blue Ventures Technical Knowledge team has a unique vantage point, gained through supporting dozens of partners working with hundreds of communities across South East Asia, The Western Indian Ocean, West Africa, and the Caribbean as well as being part of international fora and members of expert panels. As such our technical team plays a key role in identifying, collating, sharing, and transferring key insights and successful approaches, updating information, training, tools, and guidance around the world, and building a community of practice around each of the pillar themes.

At the heart of Blue Ventures’ 2030 strategy is an unwavering commitment to empowering communities through participatory collection, feedback, and use of fisheries and ecological data for adaptive management, and playing a leadership role in our sector to make this the norm. The Global Head – Better Returns will have a strong understanding and technical experience of small-scale fisheries value chain initiatives (e.g. reducing post-capture losses through improved post-harvest techniques, securing fairer prices that reward sustainability, and exploring opportunities for seafood eco-certification) aimed at improving financial returns of fishers, with proven skills in coaching and team building skills and effective management capacity in leading a multi-disciplinary team and working cross-functionally.

Blue Ventures recognises the key roles that women play in fisheries management and conservation as fishers, gleaners, processors, sellers and negotiators and seeks to highlight the important value of their roles in the fisheries value chain, that are often invisible, so that they also benefit. An understanding of the challenges faced particularly by women in fisheries and experience of working in communities to find some practical solutions desirable for this role. The role will work in close collaboration with the Global Heads for Secure Rights, Community-Based Fisheries Management, Gender and Financial Inclusion to support these goals, which includes working with fisher associations and committees to increase the participation of women in leadership and decision-making.

The successful candidate will have a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing tropical coastal fisheries and the small-scale fishing communities that depend on them. They will have extensive, practical experience of working with coastal communities in Africa, Asia, or Central America, and partnering with civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, government institutions, and other stakeholders to identify and address fishing issues, placing communities at the heart of the solution.

The successful candidate will thrive in environments that are dynamic, fast-paced, collegiate, and ambitious, will have a proven track record in distilling complexity into easily interpretable material, able to deliver high-impact written work, and in communicating effectively with diverse audiences, ranging from fishing communities, practitioners, academic institutions, governments, the private sector, and other technical experts. They will feel comfortable representing the organisation externally

The role entails leading an interdisciplinary and international team, with strong cross-functional collaboration. The successful candidate will report to the Director of Technical Knowledge and will be based in one of our regional hubs, with regular overseas travel to work with partners and field teams around the world.

The core technical scope of the role’s portfolio will include:

• Interventions to improve returns for fishers operating in low-resource, data-limited fisheries, including reducing post-capture losses through improved post-harvest techniques, securing fairer prices that reward sustainability, and exploring opportunities for seafood eco-certification;
• Interventions to improve returns for fishers beyond economic value, such as in terms of health, and nutrition for healthy and resilient fishing communities.
• Participatory assessments of small-scale fisheries value chains, and participatory development, management, and decision making of related interventions aimed at improving fishers’ returns;
• Following and informing best practice and policy for improving fisher’s financial returns;
• Alignment between community-based approaches, and national and international standards.

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