Tetra Tech ARD (http://tetratechintdev.com), headquartered in Burlington, Vermont is accepting expressions of interest from qualified candidates for Knowledge and Learning Specialist position for  West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC). WA BiCC  is a five year program  funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to build institutional capacity at the local, national and regional level to strengthen the enabling environment throughout West Africa to combat wildlife trafficking; improve coastal resilience to climate change; and reduce deforestation, degradation, and biodiversity loss in key forests. The overall goal of WA BiCC is to improve conservation and climate-resilient, low emission growth across West Africa. To achieve this WA BiCC works in partnership with three core regional partners:  ECOWAS, the Mano River Union (MRU) and the Abidjan Convention as well as with diverse national and sub-national governmental and non-governmental organizations in a subset of the 15 ECOWAS Member States countries of West Africa.

WA BiCC has an explicit learning mandate to identify, communicate and disseminate effective implementation of policies and practices in order to increase the capacity of policy makers and practitioners to develop and apply long-term sustainable solutions to address the challenges and opportunities across the three core technical areas of WA BiCC. WA BiCC will be supporting activities in 5 learning landscapes in the region, three of which are transboundary landscapes. These laboratories will generate valuable and practicable information to inform policy, practice and research agendas. However, the scale of the knowledge and learning in WA BiCC is not limited to these landscapes and must identify partners, networks, field projects, strategies, policies, practices or other relevant information sources that can be fed into policy dialogues and find their way into practice and change on the ground.

The Specialist will work as an integral member of the WA BiCC team, and will lead the cross-cutting Knowledge and Learning Team, comprised of capacity building, communications and gender specialists.  The successful candidate will be based in the Accra Office and will report directly to the Chief of Party (COP).

Deadline for submission: Friday December 9th, 2016

Responsibilities:

*Provide strategic guidance and leadership to a technical team of experts to define and oversee the implementation of a knowledge management and learning (KM & L) strategy on combatting wildlife trafficking, increasing coastal resilience and reducing deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss in West Africa.

*Guide the capacity building team to conduct gap analysis, support organizational assessments and build capacity for knowledge and learning needs among regional and national government and non-government partner institutions.

*Define and lead the process to engage staff, stakeholders and grantees to identify, evaluate and document best practices in environment, climate change adaptation and natural resource management with a focus on the three core technical components of WA BiCC.

*Guide the communications team to define and implement a communications strategy and plan that fosters uptake of WA BiCC generated best practices, knowledge and learning among policy makers and practitioners throughout the region.*

 Ensure that the project makes significant contributions to communities of practice and knowledge platforms in natural resources management and coastal adaptation to climate change.

 Qualifications and Requirements:

*Masters degree or higher in biodiversity, natural resource management, climate change, related research, adult learning, communications, or related field.

*Minimum of 10 years of experience in a leadership position managing multi-disciplinary development teams.

*Minimum of 6 years of experience working in a relevant discipline in West Africa and familiarity with key stakeholders in the region.

*Demonstrated capacity to initiate, coordinate, and facilitate knowledge and learning among technical staff and stakeholders at multiple levels and across multiple sectors.

*Experience working with communications and capacity building teams to scale up best practices.*

 Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills in both French and English.

*Experience supporting long-term learning and adaptive management on natural resources management, biodiversity or climate change topics.

*Experience in designing and facilitating learning events for donors, governments, and civil society organizations working on natural resource management.

 To be considered applicants must submit the following as part of the online application process:

* A letter of application explaining individual qualifications for this opportunity

* A current CV in reverse chronological format

* A list of at least 3 professional references including contact information

* A writing sample of no more than 10 pages of which the applicant is the sole author, or authored sections highlighted.

 Please ensure that all necessary documents are uploaded, as incomplete applications and/or corrupt files may delay processing of your application or remove you from consideration. Applications that do not meet the minimum requirements listed above will not be considered. No phone calls will be accepted.

 Tetra Tech is a leading provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services worldwide. We are a diverse company, including individuals with expertise in science, research, engineering, construction, and information technology. Our strength is in collectively providing integrated services—delivering the best solutions to meet our clients' needs. With more than 13,000 employees worldwide, 300 offices worldwide and 2.5 Billion in revenue in FY 2014, Tetra Tech’s capabilities span the entire project cycle. We offer competitive compensation and benefits and are searching for innovative people to join our teams. We are an equal opportunity employer: EOE AA/M/F/Vets/Disability.