Vacancies

Job Title: Law Enforcement Advisor Advisor – Salonga National Park

Reporting to: Park Manager of Salonga National Park 

Based in: Monkoto, Salonga park HQ, (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Grade :                                            

Date: July 2016

The worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has launched an ambitious program of conservation in the Congo Basin. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), WWF is implementing eight action programs including one active since 2005 in the Salonga National Park (SNP) and its landscape. The Salonga National Park, second largest rainforest protected area of in the world by area (36,000 sq km) and largest national park in Africa, contains a biological diversity of exceptional value including forest elephant and bonobo. Species, ecosystems, and ecological processes contained in this protected area constitute a heritage of the first order for the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), the DRC, as well as the whole of humanity.

However, serious threats weigh on the Salonga National Park featuring not only endangering the outstanding universal values of the site but also jeopardizing the initiatives of sustainable management of natural resources in the heart of the Congo Basin. 

In this context, the Law Enforcement Advisor will assist the Park Manager and park staff implement a law enforcement strategy for protecting and managing this large conservation initiative in the Salonga National Park and surrounding landscape. 

Salonga National Park is large, the size of Belgium and consists of largely dense forest with many rivers that are the primary means of transportation. There is no easy road network. Access from Kinshasa is by light aircraft. The park HQ at Monkoto is well developed with good infrastructure but should be considered isolated. 

 

• Working with park staff develop a law enforcement strategy that provides protection to the 36,000 sq km Salonga National Park.

• Assess the capacity of the 250 ‘Ecoguards’ and establish a recruitment process to expand the field force to up to 500 if required.

• Develop or outsource in-house training courses for the Ecoguards to cover the full range of skills and activities required of the field force.

• Develop and implement a continual process of refresher training to ensure Ecoguards maintain the skills they require.

• Ensure all field and operational staff have the equipment the require to carryout their duties i.e. uniforms, equipment, rations etc.

• Work closely with the Procurement and Administration team to make equipment procurements in a timely manner.

• Organize and coordinate all park patrols and surveillance operations.

• Manage and supervise radio communications throughout the park.

• Working with colleagues, make full use of SMART to monitor patrols and activities within the park.

• Provide training and supervision in recording illegal activities, crime scene investigations, recording evidence, management of suspects both in the field and at the park HQ and following the legal process of initiating prosecutions. 

• Organize, foot, boat and light aircraft patrols and surveillance. 

• Develop and manage an informer network.

• Work with the detachment of the Congolese Army who are assigned to support the Ecoguards with anti-poaching operations. (The Ecoguards are comfortable in the forest but lack the necessary military skills while the opposite is true of the army).

• Successful applicants will have strong experience in the field of law enforcement (anti-corruption, anti-poaching, wildlife law or/and protected area management).

• They will have an excellent standard of written and spoken French and English and be able to communicate effectively in both.

• Proven capacity development skills with experience in developing training resources and delivering training are required.

• The applicant will be independently driven and show initiative, confident in verbal and written communications,

• Excellent collaborative and inter-personal skills, and have good time management and organizational skills.

• Experience of project management and development is highly desirable, and a good understanding of biodiversity conservation issues in the region essential.

• The candidate should also have experience of living and working in developing countries, preferably in Central Africa.

Internal: Frequent interactions with the of the Park Management Team, Salonga Park Manager, Salonga Park Administrator and Salonga Infrastructure Managers  

External: Work directly with l’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), le Ministère de l’Environnement et Développement Durable (MEDD), Force Republique Congolese Democratic, various other partners working in the Salonga National Park, as well as with suppliers and contractors. 

This job description covers the main tasks however further tasks may be assigned as required by WWF.