Terms of Reference
Position : Agro-Conservationist Specialist
Job Grade : Band 4 – Class Senior Professional Core
Program : WCS Indonesia Program
Line manager : Head of Sustainable Landscape
Line managing : NA
Key relationships : Northern Sulawesi Program Manager, Sulawesi Terrestrial
Sr. Project Coordinator, Forest Sr. Program Manager
Location : Manado, North Sulawesi, with frequent travel to field sites
in the region (approx. 70%), and occasional travel to
headquarters in Bogor and to other field sites, notably
around Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra (approx. 30%)
Background
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) works in almost 60 countries to save wildlife and wild places through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. WCS has worked in Indonesia for over 20 years supporting the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in conserving Indonesia’s biodiversity in several priority landscapes. WCS works closely with relevant government agencies, local communities, schools and universities, and the private sector. Further details of our program are available at https://indonesia.wcs.org and about WCS’s global work at https://www.wcs.org.
The WCS Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) is structured under five core thematic programs: Forests; Marine; Wildlife Trade and Policy; One Health; and Rights and Communities. Within this, the Forests Program is being implemented in the five WCS-IP priority Landscapes (Leuser, Bukit Barisan Selatan, Way Kambas, Bogani Nani Wartabone and Rote Island), with core activities including protected area strengthening and wildlife management, a Sustainable Landscapes program that is addressing the two main drivers of deforestation – infrastructure development and smallholder farmland expansion – and a Bogor-based Conservation Evidence Unit, which provides support in data analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and national level policy reforms.
This work includes:
- Forest restoration inside and around protected areas to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions, as well as to increase habitat connectivity.
- Support to small-scale farmers in and around protected areas to improve conservation outcomes such as reduced deforestation, reduced human-wildlife conflict and improved on-farm biodiversity.
- Support to legally establish new Wildlife Corridors and Village Forests (hutan desa) to help improve habitat and wildlife conservation outside of traditional protected areas, in ways that also support local wellbeing.
These types of activities often involve promoting and supporting agroforestry practices as a strategy to balance conservation and livelihood/wellbeing objectives. For example, in the Bogani Nani Wartabone Landscape, North Sulawesi, is supporting forest restoration efforts inside areas of the national park, as part of Conservation Partnership Agreements with local communities (Kemitraan Konservasi). It also involves enhancing agroforestry practices within local small coconut farmers to increase on-farm diversity and connectivity for maleo birds to their nesting sites. It is further supporting Village Forest designations, and related management plants that include non-timber forest product harvest and agroforestry. In Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, southern Sumatra, this work includes efforts to enhance agroforestry practices among small-scale coffee farmers in order to diversity incomes, increase connectivity along a narrow corridor of the park, and increase tree cover.
All of this work requires a strong understanding of the science and best practices of forest restoration, including through agroforestry techniques. This requires an understanding of the conservation science to ensure these efforts deliver positive outcomes for priority species; agronomic sciences to support successful nursery development and tree plangin; of farmers socio-economics to understand their approaches to crop/tree species selection and management, and of legal regulatory contexts that often government how land can be managed.
Position Objective
The position will be responsible for supporting Head of Sustainable Landscape and Northern Sulawesi Program Manager with technical inputs related to WCS’s forest restoration and agroforestry efforts across priority landscapes. This will include support with ensuring best science-based practices through project and workplan co-design; supporting, designing and delivering training and farmer extension; supporting monitoring design and delivery. The position will focus on efforts in and around Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, where the position will be located. It will also provide technical support to other WCS landscapes.
Although the position will focus on Bogani Nani Wartabone Landscape (approx. 70%), the position will provide technical inputs on these themes to other WCS landscapes notably Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (approx. 30%). This will include reviewing existing practices and data to help ensure best practices to ensure conservation and wellbeing/livelihood outcomes, as well as providing technical guidance and training as needed to help ensure adoption of these best practices. This position will serve a supporting technical role and help with implementation as required.
Key Responsibilities:
Technical support
- Provide technical support to WCS staff and partners to promote the application of best practices in agroforestry and restoration, including related to species selection; appropriate handling of seeds and seedlings; nursery development; land preparation, and seedling planting and maintenance and monitoring.
- Help ensure that restoration and agroforestry practices (e.g., species selection) explicitly identify and reflect multiple conservation and livelihood/wellbeing needs appropriate for each site, and that related benefits and trade-offs (e.g., human-wildlife interactions) are articulated and mitigated.
- Review data and practices of existing restoration and agroforestry projects across WCS landscapes, and provide suggestions for how these can be strengthened, and support relevant teams and project/proposal development accordingly to ensure these can be achieved.
- Collaborate with WCS teams and target farmer groups to design Conservation Agreements that help ensure that WCS support to communities also has conservation benefits (e.g., on-farm biodiversity) and helps to avoid unintended consequences (e.g., agricultural expansion into protected areas).
- Support WCS teams and partners in the sourcing seeds and seedlings that are appropriate to the project needs and site context.
- Support the development of restoration/agroforestry in the context of proposals and management plans for Conservation Agreements (Kemitraan Konservasi), Village Forests, Wildlife Corridors and traditional use areas of National Parks.
- Support and/or lead development of new project proposals on this theme, as needed
Farmer outreach and training
- Ensure that ‘Good Agricultural Practices’ trainings and mentorship provided to WCS partners reflect best practices related to agroforestry and restoration, and support the development of updated and new resources
- Support, co-organise and lead extension for farmer, government and NGO partners involved in forest restoration and agroforestry activities. This includes conducting farmer trainings, facilitating meetings and focus group discussions, and leading public outreach activities
- Ensure that systems are in place for farmers to secure follow-up support of best practices, to help ensure adoptions and continuous support
Monitoring of restoration and agroforestry initiatives
- Inform design of WCS monitoring practices of restoration and agroforestry projects efforts to reflect best practices and donor requirements. These should be designed to evaluate conservation, livelihood and wellbeing impacts, and be developed in cooperation with the Conservation Evidence Unit
- Tain and support field teams to ensure that they can operationalise monitoring
- Support data collection from farmers and farmer groups to monitor project progress and compliance with Conservation Agreements
Research and analysis
- Support surveys and focus group discussion with communities and farmers related to ‘Good Agricultural Practices, forest restoration and agroforestry practices and needs, to inform project design
- Work with colleagues, including the WCS Science & Technology Unit, to identify opportunities for academic publication related to this work
Networking and relationship management
- Engage with the broader forest restoration and agroforestry scientists and practitioner community across Indonesia and globally to share WCS lessons and ensure WCS is reflecting best practices
Project Monitoring and Reporting
- Develop activity reports and provide regular project progress reports and updates, and support reporting to project donors, as needed
- Compile, record and regularly update data and information related to farmer trainings and monitoring of restoration and agroforestry interventions
- Support writing, publishing and presenting high quality research findings and providing data to support communication of project and key impacts and findings through websites, social and print media.
Job Requirements
Qualifications and Experience
- Masters or PhD university education in agroforestry, forest restoration or a related field
- Minimum 6 years working experience in forest restoration, including through use of agroforestry techniques. This should include relevant experience with project implementation, including nursery development and seedling monitoring
- Demonstrable field experience of working with and supporting smallholder farmers, and an understanding of the challenges they face
- Knowledge of Good Agricultural Practices for key commodities, preferably coconut and/or coffee
- Demonstrable experience in delivering farmer training and mentorship
- Experience with project reporting
- Academic publication on topic relevant to this position is highly desirable
Competencies
- High scientific competency related to forest restoration and agroforestry, including demonstrated ability to engage related academic research and debates, and an understanding of related trade-offs
- Ability to synthesise and clearly explain relevant scientific concepts to a non-scientific audience
- Ability to work independently and proactively with farmers in rural areas
- Good judgement, and the ability to work under pressure and respond quickly to deadlines
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to adapt communications and messaging to a range of different audiences
- Excellent networking and engagement skills
- Good written and analytical skills
- Fluency in English is highly desirable
Please send a covering letter and CV in English to wcsindonesia@wcs.org stating in the subject line “Agro-Conservationist Specialist_(name)” at the latest on January 24th, 2025. No correspondence as only short-listed candidates will be notified.