Senior Specialist, Global Conservation Policy Development Process (Location: Flexible)

Want to make a positive difference to the future of people and our one shared home, the Earth?

Working at WWF could be your opportunity of a lifetime. All around the world, people are waking up to the deepening crisis of nature loss. A growing realization that nature is our life-support system. And that nobody will be spared from the impacts of its loss. Here at WWF, we are helping to tackle this enormous global challenge.

Our people come from hugely diverse backgrounds and with a variety of expertise, ranging from HR and finance to advocacy and conservation science. We welcome applications from anyone who believes they can help us create a better future for people and wildlife.

WHAT WE DO

We are an independent conservation organization, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.

Location: Flexible

Work percentage: 100%

Contract: Open-ended

Mission of the Department:

The WWF Global Conservation Division aims to unite WWF Offices around the delivery of a common conservation strategy. It comprises the leaders, teams and related network communities of the nine global practices, together with the teams of Planning, Enabling & Integration, Global Policy & Advocacy, Global Campaigns, Safeguards & Human Rights, Collective Conservation Impact and Area-based Conservation (or such variations of these departments as may be agreed from time to time). These units work together in an integrated manner to encourage, inform, support and facilitate the optimal convergence of conservation functions across the WWF Network.

The Department of Global Policy and Advocacy (GPAT) leads WWF’s advocacy for nature at both the Heads of State and Government level and at technical negotiation level with a special focus on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while supporting WWF regional and country offices’ advocacy outreach. This division coordinates internal & external cross-cutting policy positions and advocacy approaches, under the direction of the Executive Director of Global Conservation Impact, Global Conservation Committee, the Global Conservation Directors’ Forum and the Practice Leaders. The team represents WWF in multilateral policy dialogues and manages WWF’s outreach to UN HeadQuarters and explores new fora to open the policy space for WWF. The team prepares policy briefings and manages the WWF wide development process for conservation policies and positions as well as major publications and builds global policy and advocacy capacity for the WWF Network.

Major Functions:

Ensure the delivery of high-quality conservation policy, based on Network consultation, through coordinating the process of developing WWF conservation policy or positions papers that have global significance. This includes supporting assessment of needs, preparing approval documents, establishing working groups, coordinating consultations, closing the process and, where relevant, managing the process to produce major WWF reports or publications dealing with significant global policy issues.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage and coordinate the policy development process for WWF network policies and positions of global conservation significance:
• Develop and manage a pipeline of policies to be developed and updated/renewed;
• Prepare request and approval documents;
• Establish working groups;
• Coordinate consultations;
• Ensure adherence to conservation policy development and approval procedures;
• Manage deadlines;
• Closing the process;
• Project manage the production of major WWF reports or publications on policy issues of global conservation significance, to ensure adherence to WWF guidelines and process, working with technical communications leads;
• Scan the Network for upcoming thought-pieces;
• Convene and engage as relevant in internal policy dialogues with internal and external experts, to debate and help develop thinking around specific policy needs, road-test positions and policies;
• Prepare analysis of existing policy papers, positions, and related documents from the angle of updating and renewal;
• Manage deposition of new policy and position papers once approved;
• Support network colleagues with easy access to the approved policy and position papers and other knowledge products;
• Conduct research on related topics as needed;
• Support other GPAT team members in briefings development for WWF advocacy delegations in multi-lateral fora and policy dialogues as required, particularly with background people, country, institutional or meeting briefs;
• Help build WWF forward-looking capacity and projects in cross-cutting policy areas, political research and advocacy, including through on-site training, substantive services/platform type services as well as issue- or fora-specific activities;
• Support the design and maintenance of knowledge platforms and tools (database, website, email list) on publications of interest, arguments, positions, political commitments, country and regional information, biographies, etc in support of WWF Global Practices;
• Other major duties as requested by the Director of Global Policy and Advocacy.

Profile:

Required Qualifications:

• Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in international affairs, economics, organisational development, systematic approaches, and social, foreign, governance or legal studies;
• At least 5 years of experience in policy and advocacy study and coordination for an international organisation;
• Understanding of current political affairs, trends and developments and of the relationship between environmental conservation and the external political agenda;
• Professional experience and knowledge in designing and managing desktop publishing and databases;
• Highly experienced in the use of a range of digital graphical, social media, web design, office tools, and monitoring and evaluation tools;
• Capacity to work rapidly and accurately under pressure and quickly define priorities.

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Strategic and systematic thinking, analyses complex information and situation, and excellent writing skills;
• Rich experience in coordination of complicated process and a group of professional people and achieving satisfactory results;
• Excellent organisational, project management and people skills;
• Capacity to work independently but connectedly in a decentralised team environment;
• Exhibited intellectual curiosity, fast learning, and quick adaptable capacity;
• Ability to convene experts from a devolved network in constructive and productive dialogues;
• Ability to digest information from a variety of electronic and written sources and produce clear analysis;
• Capacity to work rapidly and accurately under pressure and to quickly define and adhere to priorities;
• Discretion, reliability, flexibility, accuracy;
• Ability to work in multicultural environment;
• Fluent in English is essential, other languages an advantage;
• Highly computer literate, competent in use of spreadsheets and other electronic tools;
• Identifies and aligns with the core values of the WWF organisation: Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration.

Working Relationships

Internal – Global policy and advocacy team members, practice policy managers and knowledge managers, practice core team members, policy and advocacy staff, communications staff and conservation leaders in a devolved global network of related conservation offices.

External – As needed.

HOW TO APPLY

Please make sure to upload a single PDF document with your updated CV and Cover Letter.

Applications deadline: 28 March 2022

Kindly note work permit restrictions may apply and that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

WWF is an equal opportunity employer and committed to having a diverse workforce.