Angola: Head of Environment


Sep 26, 2024 | The HALO Trust
View Original

The HALO Trust’s mission is to save lives and restore livelihoods for those affected by conflict. HALO is known for its work to clear landmines and disposal of other explosive hazards such as bombs, rockets, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and HALO’s work in Angola supports community resilience post conflict with a focus on women’s empowerment and environmental conservation.

 

HALO has been working in Angola since 1994 and currently employs over 1,400 staff working in demining, explosive ordnance risk education, weapons and ammunition management, women’s empowerment, and conservation. As a consequence of the civil war (1975-2002), dense minefields were laid across Angola, having a lasting impact on not just human populations, but also the country’s flora and fauna. HALO’s environment work in Angola is essential to prevent, mitigate and respond to the long-term environmental impacts of the civil war as well as supporting the sustainable livelihoods of people affected by conflict and climate change. The programme currently has 20 ongoing contracts from a diverse set of donors, including institutional, private, and corporate for projects across HALO’s three Strategic Goals. As a signatory of the Ottawa Treaty, HALO supports the Government of Angola in reaching its treaty obligations. To date, HALO has cleared over 100,000 mines and made over 31km2 of land safe for use across the country. This is a great opportunity to work alongside a dynamic and expanding team, some of whom have worked for HALO since the mid-1990s and have a wealth of experience to learn from.

About the role

 

HALO Angola is seeking to recruit a Head of Environment (HoE) to manage the programme’s environmental activities in the southeast of Angola. This role will report directly to the programme’s Country Director, while working closely with the programme’s senior management to ensure the integration of project activities and compliance with standards and best practice.

 

The HoE will be the in-country lead for all of HALO’s environmental projects and partnerships. The HoE will develop relationships with current partners such as The Nature Conservancy, US Forest Service, Wild Bird Trust (part of National Geographic’s Okavango Wilderness Project), the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation, ADPP and Conservation International and potential ones such as WWF and African Parks. The HoE will oversee delivery of ecological baselines, such as the USAID-funded national forest inventory project and the surveying of peatlands in partnership with TNC, where there will be an opportunity to incorporate innovative approaches, building on the programme’s existing remote sensing capabilities (drones and LiDAR, thermal, RGB and multispectral cameras). There will also be the requirement to implement the findings of two assessments that are reviewing the long-term environmental impacts of conflict and landmines in Angola, in addition to the environmental impact of HALO’s landmine clearance operations.

 

The successful ideal candidate will have experience with project and operations management from HALO’s Goal 1 or Goal 2 work, with a keen interest in conservation and/or environmental matters, in addition to possessing excellent initiative, relationship building skills and discipline.