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Engaging Civil Society in water management: Vacancy announcement (08/09/08)

Greetings everyone:

Here's a vacancy announcement that may be of interest to you or your colleagues. Please respond directly to Hacer Durmus (Hacer.Durmus@wetlands.org) and not to the Secretariat.

Best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat
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Dear All,

Wetlands International and Tour du Valat are seeking to fill the position of PM for the project Engage Civil Society in Water Management in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Attached the job description and details of how to apply.

Rubicon Foundation has been asked to take the interim management of the project and for this reason the request arrives from it.

We would appreciate if you could post the call in your websites and circulated as wide and quickly as possible as the deadline for application is on 20th September.

Best regards

Dr. Umberto Gallo-Orsi
Rubicon Foundation
www.rubiconfoundatin.org
Roghorst 117
6708 KE Wageningen, NL
+31 317 417 599
+31 6 4838 4046
skype umbertogo

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Project Manager
Engage Civil Society in Water Management in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region

Reporting to:  Programme Head, Wetlands and Water Resource Management, Wetlands International
Full-time position : 35 hours per week
Based at Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, near Arles, France Gross salary ca. 3,000 EUR/month (net ca. 2,300 EUR/month). Possibility - depending on personal situation - of attractive package to cover justified expenses incurred due to resettling.

Background
Wetlands International is a leading global, non-profit organisation dedicated solely to the work of wetlands conservation and wise use, as a contribution to sustainable development. The organisation has a core staff of around 200 people in 16 offices world-wide and cooperates with an active world-wide network of wetland scientists, managers and conservationists. Wetlands International works with partners in government, NGO's and the private sector and manages a large number of global level, multi-partner projects as well as working at the national and community levels. The Wageningen office is the headquarters of the global organisation. Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat is a long-term partner of Wetlands International, working together especially in the context of MedWet and in technical collaboration on waterbird conservation and monitoring programmes.

Wetlands International has developed the project 'Engage Civil Society in Water Management in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region' in order to strengthen the role of civil society in addressing water management issues and the role of wetlands in water management, especially in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries. Through a consultative Inception Phase, the project will be shaped so as to effectively build on past and current work and experiences, to identify the project partners and demonstration sites in a maximum of four countries, including from the short-list of Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco.

The preliminary proposal for the project and approach used in the Inception Phase are available to applicants for this position.

A Project Manager and Communications Officer will be employed to form a Coordination Unit to guide and facilitate the project implementation from until project completion in 2012. The Coordination Unit will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the project and ongoing liaison with and provision of support to the in-country implementing partners. The position holder will ultimately be responsible to Wetlands International who is the organization leading the project but they will be employed by Tour du Valat for this purpose. Hence the position will represent both organisations and will develop and maintain a collaborative partnership to achieve the project between these organisations and a number of others, such as WWF Mediterranean Programme office, MedWet, the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean and in-country project organisations. The unit will be capable of working fully trilingual (in Arabic, French and English).

 
Working relationships
INSIDE Wetlands International and Tour du Valat:
Programme Head and Global Capacity Building Officer in Wetlands International HQ; Head of Programmes in Tour du Valat, plus numerous technical staff in both organisations and communications teams.

OUTSIDE Wetlands International and Tour du Valat:
Partner organisations; donors; consultants, scientific institutions, governmental representatives.

Overall Purpose of Job

OVERALL PURPOSE OF JOB:
The Project Manager is responsible for motivating and facilitating the work of national partners in the 3 target countries so that they develop the capacity and long-term involvement of the civil society into water and wetland management. Secondly, s/he is responsible for bringing together the lessons learnt from the project experiences and achievements to influence regional policies affecting wetlands, water and sustainable development.

Post

MAIN DUTIES & TASKS:
*       Effective implementation of the project, including project management, timely achievement of outcomes, financial management, partner relations and reporting;

*       Represent and report on the project objectives and achievements on behalf of the partner organisations;
*       Develop strategic partnerships, resources and activities to enhance the impact of the project at the regional level;

*       Support and facilitate the work of partner organisations in the target countries to ensure effective teamwork, timely project implementation and efficient internal and external project communications.

In order to achieve this, it is anticipated that the Project Manager will need to:

*       Establish and maintain financial, administrative and project management and communication systems according to standards set by Wetlands International and Tour du Valat;

*       Keep abreast of relevant initiatives, policy developments and scientific initiatives in the Mediterranean and participate in relevant events and meetings;

*       Prepare and develop office annual workplans and budgets in line with the logical framework of the project;
*       Put in place and coordinate resource development and communications initiatives with Wetlands International HQ, Tour du Valat and other project partners;

*       Manage a Communications Officer within the Coordination Unit;
*       Participate in relevant staff activities of Wetlands International and Tour du Valat;
*       Occasionally travel to the target countries.
*      
Qualifications and Experience
Profile: The successful candidate will have some experience and a strong interest in capacity development approaches, preferably in the Mediterranean region and involving relevant NGO and water networks. S/he will have experience in coordinating and managing complex programmes and proven organisational and communications skills. The position will suit an innovative and creative thinker, with a preference for working internationally and with NGOs.

Competencies:
*       Proven achievements of project development and management, preferably involving international applications or outcomes and partners from the environment, water or other relevant development sectors;

*       Experience in and interest in working with relevant institutions and initiatives in the Mediterranean, with preference of experience and/or networks in the south and east Mediterranean countries;

*       Demonstrated ability to coordinate and communicate effectively with widely dispersed members of a team, including the use of standard project management tools, such as logframe-based work planning and the tracking and reporting of progress against targets using indicators.;

*       Working knowledge of approaches used to identify specific capacity development needs for different stakeholders;

*       Positive track record in resource development and donor liaison;
*       Well-developed computer skills, including demonstrable knowledge of current distance learning approaches and training materials dissemination;

*       Excellent written and inter-personal communications skills, and in particular Good ability to work effectively in English and French;

*       Knowledge of other languages of target countries and cultures is desirable - especially Arabic.
 
Applications:
Those interested in applying should send a covering letter addressing the selection criteria together with their detailed curriculum vitae, plus contact details of two referees, who can vouch for professional and personal qualifications.

 
Deadline: September 20th 2008 .
Interviews will be held at Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200 Arles, France

Applications should be sent in English by e mail to Hacer Durmus Hacer.Durmus@wetlands.org

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Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0176; Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: hails@ramsar.org
Web Site: http://ramsar.org
CEPA mini-Web site: http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm

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