Regional Program Officer, East Africa, Madagascar, and Western Indian Ocean (EAMWIO)

Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Reports to: Senior Program Manager
Liaises with: Regional Director, Regional Business Manager, Regional Grants Managers,
Country program administrative and technical support teams
Start Date: As soon as possible
Position Type: Full-time

Organization Background
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) seeks a motivated individual with excellent communication and organizational skills to support WCS’s East Africa, Madagascar, and Western Indian Ocean (EAMWIO) program. The EAMWIO is one of the largest of WCS’s 13 Global Regional Programs and spans Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Western Indian Ocean. This program—with a diverse and expanding portfolio of donors, partners, and projects—addresses complex conservation challenges through protected area management, community engagement, sustainable livelihoods, policy reform and sustainable financing. WCS’s regional hub is in Kigali, Rwanda, which hosts a team of technical specialists and regional managers supporting our country’s programs.

Program Overview
The East Africa, Madagascar, and Western Indian Ocean (EAMWIO) Region is one of WCS’s 13 Global Regional Programs, spanning Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. This rapidly growing program has a diverse and expanding portfolio of donors, partners and projects. The region presents a set of complex conservation challenges to biodiversity and wildlife habitats. WCS field programs are addressing these through several initiatives including protected area management, community engagement, sustainable livelihoods, policy reform and sustainable financing. The WCS EAMWIO Region is based in WCS’s Africa hub in Kigali, Rwanda, which hosts a growing team of technical specialists and supports country programs and field office initiatives across the continent.

Role profile
The Program Officer will provide technical and administrative support to WCS’s EAMWIO Region. The successful candidate will fulfil a key role in agreement and contract reviews, donor compliance, reporting workflows, and information management for the EAMWIO regional team. She or he must have excellent written and oral communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to motivate people to produce work on time.

Essential Job Responsibilities:
Program Reporting & Proposal Development

• Support submission of technical reports ensuring they are donor-compliant, on time, and of high quality.
• Ensure program activities and means of verification are documented in a central location.
• Support the development of concept notes and proposals, as needed.

Grant Agreement Reviews

• Support the Senior Program Manager in coordinating donor grant agreement reviews, working with the regional team and legal counsel, compile responses to donors during grant negotiations.
• Summarize grant requirements issued for each donor in our portfolio and communicate these requirements to the program teams.
• Draft award modification requests when needed.

Grants Management

• Alongside Regional Grants Managers, support project leads on donor compliance throughout implementation.
• Work with the Senior Program Manager in managing and updating the database of grants; organize and file grant-related files.
• Conduct routine check-ins with country teams regarding compliance with WCS policies and procedures as well as donor and government rules and regulations, checking on details such as Leahy vetting.
• Support regional team in process mapping, improved workflows, and management of shared filing system.

Qualifications and Requirements:
WCS is looking for a candidate who has:

1. Either an advanced degree (Master’s) in the fields of conservation, international relations, development, social or natural sciences or similar, or a first degree (Bachelor’s) with demonstrated and appropriate experience
2. Minimum 3+ years of experience with European and/or US donors, including grants management and proposal development.
3. Experience reviewing grant agreements and ensuring donor compliance.
4. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English; some proficiency in French
5. Experience working with a diverse set of stakeholders, including partner NGOs.
6. Interest in conservation and commitment to the mission of WCS