Park Manager
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. We currently manage 17 national parks and protected areas in 11 countries across Africa covering 13 million hectares: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The Matusadona National Park is part of an ecologically diverse landscape in the Zambezian biome. It is flanked by the Ume and Sanyati rivers, with 700-metre-high hills descending to its northern boundary on the shores of Lake Kariba. Mixed woodlands and scrublands cover the slopes and ridges of the escarpment, the plateaus and the plains, and a forest of trees semi-submerged by the lake stretches the length of the shoreline. The park harbours more than 240 bird species, baobab woodlands and wildlife including elephant, lion and buffalo. However, decades of poaching coupled with insufficient management resources contributed to its decline. Elephant numbers have been drastically reduced and the once abundant population of black rhinos have been largely eliminated.
A new project under the AP Portfolio, the Park Manager will be responsible for setting up many aspects of the operating business and then running it. Reporting to the AP Regional Manager and the Matusadona Conservation Trust Board, the primary purpose of the role will be to:
- Develop and implement an integrated strategy for the park’s sustainable development;
- Ensure the effective operational management of the park;
- Recruitment of the entire management and technical team and then providing strong leadership to them;
- Represent and promote African Parks with all stakeholders;
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute a park strategy in accordance with the Partnership Agreement (mandate) with the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and African Parks Network (APN) objectives;
- Develop and maintain positive community, government (national & local), donor, and other stakeholder relations;
- Ensure financial management processes and fiscal discipline rigorously applied;
- Drive revenue generation through development of sustainable marketing and tourism and other commercial revenue streams;
- Ensure all park activities conducted in accordance with African Parks policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s);
- Ensure the park is adequately resourced (financial, people, equipment, etc) to effectively meet its day-to-day operational requirements;
- Provide career management to contracted staff as well as the daily organization of their work, holidays and evaluation of their performance;
- Implement the annual work plan, annual budgets and five-year Business Plan as approved by the Board of Trustees.
- Promote the development and recruitment of local nationals into the park in accordance with the Partnership Agreement and the needs of the park;
- Build a constituency for conservation;
- Build a strong values based team culture in the park;
- Provide accurate and meaningful reports to the park Board, APN and other stakeholders as required.
Minimum Requirements:
- 10-15 years’ working experience; preference will be given to candidates who have a Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Conservation or related field.
- 5 years’ experience working in a Senior Position within Protected Area Management;
- Demonstrable ability to start/build a conservation Project, including methodology/strategy, staff recruitment and mentoring, logistic & infrastructure development
- Knowledge and experience working in a rural, remote and multi-cultural environment;
- Fluent in English, written and spoken with strong report writing skills;
- Strong commercial skills with a view of growing the Matusadona NP Tourism potential – both at local national and international level.
- Strong financial management skills with a proven track record in managing budgets.
- Project Management skills that are relevant to remote and rural environments with multiple stakeholders and a Government Partner (Parks and Wildlife Management Authority)
- Analytical skills
- A strong stakeholder relationship management skillset – both in the government and private sector.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the proven ability to lead and supervise teams in the field
- Results oriented
- Highly resilient
- Adaptable in both professional work environment and personal living conditions.
Additional Requirements:
- Experience in non-profit and or parastatal organizations an advantage
- Fluency in local languages an added advantage
- A Pilot’s licence is an advantage and if not already acquired the candidate should be willing and able to do the training.
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to hradmin@africanparks.org by 15 April 2020.
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