Switzerland: Senior Programme Manager (m/f/d) Environmental Peacebuilding in the Lake Chad Region

Apr 17, 2023 | TrustWorks Global
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TrustWorks enables public and private actors – including companies, investors, governments and global institutions – to operate in Fragile and Conflict-affected Settings (FCS) in a manner that is responsible, collaborative and innovative. TrustWorks is a Geneva-based social enterprise with three inter-related objectives:

  • Responsible: TrustWorks supports private and public actors to develop and implement context-specific, conflict-sensitive strategies to achieve their organizational objectives in FCS in a manner that at a minimum does ‘no harm’ and, where possible, maximises their unique potential to have positive impacts on conflict and stability.
  • Collaborative: TrustWorks drives powerful, novel and unusual cross-boundary collaboration – breaking down siloes between private and public actors – to address critical conflict- and stability-related challenges in FCS that cannot be solved by any one actor or sector alone.
  • Innovative: TrustWorks pushes the boundaries of current knowledge and practice of private and public actors in FCS – challenging conventional ways of doing things – to achieve more effective, efficient and impactful outcomes on conflict and stability.

TrustWorks believes that trust and courage are essential for generating and sustaining meaningful change; they enable creativity because a more sustainable, equitable and peaceful future requires different, sometimes innovative means.

TrustWorks’ engagement is further based on principles of respectful and honest collaboration, inclusivity and diversity; at the heart of this approach is the notion of accountability – for its partners and ourselves.

TrustWorks is looking to fill a Senior Programme Manager position for a large-scale initiative on Environmental Peacebuilding in Lake Chad as part of a Gender Transformative Wetland Conversation project on six RAMSAR sites, led by Alinea International, in partnership with a broad consortium of actors. The position, which begins full-time as of July 1st 2023, will last 2.5 years and will include consultancy work over the next two- three months as part of the inception phase (as and where possible for the candidate).

Background

The Lake Chad Basin covers about 8% of Africa’s land area and is home to over 40 million people. It is fed by three river systems, all of which have undergone hydrological changes due to climate change. Despite its internationally recognized conservation value, the biodiversity of the basin’s wetlands is threatened by climate change and overexploitation of natural resources leading to their degradation and shrinkage. To reverse the loss of biodiversity, the basin is home to 17 internationally registered RAMSAR sites that provide vital ecosystem services, including freshwater, food and fodder, and protection from floods and drought.

Much of the Lake Chad Basin is affected by conflict due to the rise of Boko Haram and other groups that have led to forced migration, destabilized livelihoods, and violence in many areas. The project will focus on RAMSAR sites outside of the main conflict areas in the region, while applying an environmental peacebuilding lens to address the root causes of intra- and inter-communal conflicts that arise between farmers, pastoralists, and fishermen and between residents and displaced persons due to dwindling natural resources.

The project will use a gender-transformative approach to address the root causes of gender inequalities and barriers to human rights in the target RAMSAR sites, which, although different, face similar problems. Women, youth, and marginalized groups are structurally vulnerable to climate change impacts and biodiversity loss due to many factors of fragility: existing social and cultural norms and practices (e.g., male preference for land inheritance, early and forced marriage of girls), divisions of labor and decision-making within the household; inequitable community and institutional power dynamics; and structural barriers that limit access to and control over resources. While national laws guarantee women and men the same rights to own, use and control land, local practices discriminate against women, undermining the implementation of legal codes. Youth and IDPs also lack access to land and productive resources, limiting their economic opportunities.

Proposed Solutions

This 3 year initiative will build climate resilience in ecosystems and marginalized communities structurally vulnerable to climate change, particularly women and youth, in and around six RAMSAR sites, selected based on security context and accessibility, presence of a protected area management plan, importance for biodiversity conservation, and potential for nature-based climate solutions. TrustWorks will also support broader capacity building for RAMSAR management planning and environmental peace building at the regional level.

The project aims to restore 10,000 hectares by providing improved ecosystem services to two million men, women, youth and children living in RAMSAR sites and 15,000 women, youth and marginalized groups through more resilient agricultural livelihoods. In addition, 300,000 women and youth will be reached through community-based environmental peacebuilding processes, as well as 2.7 million IDPs as indirect beneficiaries through enhanced integration of environmental peacebuilding into the Regional Stabilization Strategy. Project intermediaries will include 1,500 staff from national and sub-national governments, the LCBC, and RAMSAR site management authorities through capacity building interventions.

Based on its environmental analysis, the project will have a net positive environmental impact due to the restoration of wetlands, the use of climate-smart agriculture techniques, and measures to prevent the introduction of invasive or water-intensive species. Project activities will be carried out in accordance with Canadian environmental laws and guidelines, the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter, and Alinea’s suite of “green policies.

The ultimate goal of the project is to strengthen the climate resilience of ecosystems and marginalized communities structurally vulnerable to climate change, particularly women and youth, in the Lake Chad Basin region through nature-based climate solutions. It is built around three main pillars or outcomes, namely:

  • Pillar 1: Improved conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Lake Chad Basin protected areas registered under the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands by marginalized communities structurally vulnerable to climate change, particularly women and youth. Recognizing the importance of healthy ecosystems to the success of nature-based climate solutions and acknowledging the significant climate threat to protected wetlands, the project will improve the capacity of freshwater wetlands to adapt to climate change while providing critical livelihoods to vulnerable communities.
  • Pillar 2: Increased adoption and benefits of climate resilient and gender transformative agricultural livelihoods by marginalized communities structurally vulnerable to climate change, particularly women and youth, in and near target RAMSAR sites. TrustWorks will provide nature-based climate solutions in the target RAMSAR sites by restoring degraded agricultural ecosystems affected by wetland This includes resources, technologies, and skills training for women and youth, while addressing gender inequalities to ensure that women benefit from their participation.
  • Pillar 3: Increased leadership of women and youth in environmental peacebuilding focused on climate change in and around target RAMSAR sites and in the existing regional stabilization process to improve the climate resilience of communities and ecosystems in the Lake Chad Basin, overlapping with and in support of the above two pillars of work. Environmental peacebuilding offers a conflict-sensitive approach to transform natural resource conflicts into opportunities for dialogue, cooperation, and mutual benefit. This approach to addressing the root causes of conflict is essential for successful ecosystem conservation programming and for enabling women and youth to successfully implement nature-based climate solutions.

Role and responsibilities

The Senior Programme Manager, reporting to the CEO of Trustworks Global, will be responsible for the overall design and implementation of the elements of the programme for which TrustWorks is responsible (predominalty under pillar 3 and at the cross-section of pillars one and two), working in close consultation with its CFO, its Senior Advisors, the Alinea International Team, as well as the other consortium members and local partners. This role will include but not be limited to designing and overseeing the implementation of:

  • An analysis of the relationship between climate change, environmental degradation and conflict, and the impact on climate resilience in the region.
  • Community dialogues to identify pathways to peace through nature-based
  • Conflict-sensitive community natural resource management strategies in pilot sites
  • A gap analysis to identify technical assistance needs in gender and youth- responsive adaption programming and environmental peacebuilding
  • Actions plans on environmental peacebuilding and climate dimensions of stabilization efforts.
  • Technical assistance and capacity-building on gender and youth responsive adaptation programming and environmental peacebuilding

More broadly, the role will consist of:

  • Programme leadership and drive
  • Day to day management of all activities
  • Collaboration and coordination within TrustWorks and with Alinea/consortium
  • Team management and coordination
  • Appropriating budgeting, in close consultation with its CFO
  • Programme reporting
  • Communications
  • Risk management

Diversity and inclusion

As a social enterprise working in fragile and conflict-affected states, diversity and inclusion are integral to the work that TrustWorks does and the way in which it does it. To ensure that TrustWorks can make a constructive, meaningful and sustainable difference to communities in conflict and to its planet, and that it does so without doing any harm, TrustWorks decides who and what to engage with on a case-by-case basis. This commitment to its mandate is reflected and anchored in its hiring decisions. It deeply believes in the diversity of gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, and age, and it knows that diversity significantly improves performance, particularly in its field of work. TrustWorks is therefore committed to having an inclusive, transparent and barrier-free work environment.

Qualifications and skills

As outlined above, TrustWorks dedicated to promoting a diverse, inclusive work environment. Its expectations from applicants include:

  • At least 7-10 years of experience designing, managing and implementing programmes in the environmental peacebuilding domain.
  • Knowledge and understanding of climate change, nature-based solutions, natural resource management as well as peacebuilding, conflict-sensitivity, and youth/gender responsive programming, including dialogue work.
  • Knowledge and understanding of results-based and adaptive management approaches in complex and politically-sensitive contexts.
  • Demonstrated experience managing large-scale projects, and working in complex teams, across institutional and thematic siloes.
  • Hands on experience working in FCS on dialogue and capacity-building oriented engagements.
  • Ability to lead and manage under pressure, combining the skills of working independently when required, with a high capacity for cross-cultural
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills (full working proficiency in French and English).
  • Availability to begin full-time as of July 1st 2023, and ideally availability to work on a part-time basis in May-June.
  • Experience working in the Lake Chad region a bonus, but not
  • A work ethic rooted in accountability, humility as well as respectful and honest

Practicalities and compensation

  • The position is Geneva-based and involves regular travel to the Lake Chad region, as well as travel to Canada to work with key partners.
  • A contract of 2.5 years to be signed, with a trial period of three months (from July 1st 2023).
  • Consulting contract to be signed for May-June if candidate
  • Highly competitive salary offered in line with years of
  • Opportunity to be part of a small, dynamic and growing team in the heart of old town Geneva, with access to a network of highly specialised senior networks worldwide.

How to apply

Please send a CV, a cover letter outlining motivation, relevant experience and language skills, as well as a writing sample (e.g., an academic essay or other writing sample on a topic related to peace, security, etc.) to simon@trustworksglobal.com in a single PDF file.

Please send an email with any questions regarding the programme or hiring process, to josie@trustworksglobal.com. Please be assured that TrustWorks will inform all applicants about the success of their application.

The programme is currently in the inception phase and therefore the deadline for applications is April 28th, 2023 and interviews will be conducted the following week.