Funding & Reporting Manager

Location: Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic

Reports to: Park Manager

Supervises: Assistant Funding & Reporting Manager

Type of Contract: Full time

Starting date: 15th January 2024

For internal and external advertisement

1. Background

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. Founded in 2000 in response to the dramatic decline of protected areas due to poor management and lack of funding, African Parks is currently managing 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

African Parks utilises a clear business approach to conserving Africa’s wildlife and remaining wild areas, securing vast landscapes and carrying out the necessary activities needed to protect the parks and their wildlife. The organisation maintains a strong focus on economic development and poverty alleviation of surrounding communities to ensure that each park is ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable in the long-term.

Since 2017, Benin Government has entered into a long-term agreement with African Parks to revitalize, rehabilitate and develop both Pendjari and W National Parks. Together, these two Parks form a significant portion of the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex, a globally significant transboundary landscape representing the largest intact wild ecosystem in West Africa.

The ultimate objective is to ensure that these protected areas are managed in a holistic way, ensuring that they are ecologically, socio-politically and financially sustainable. These three elements interact with one another and impact on each other, and therefore all three need to be considered in longterm planning and in all decision making. To achieve this desired impact of long-term sustainability,

African Parks implements the following five key pillars of management in all the parks that it manages: (i) Park Management and Infrastructure, (ii) Law Enforcement, (iii) Biodiversity Conservation, (iv) Community Development and (v) Tourism and Enterprise Development. If well implemented, these protected areas will not only contribute to improved ecosystem services, but will bring safety and stability to these regions and drive socio-economic growth.

As part of its operations in Benin, African Parks is seeking for Pendjari National Park a highly organized, self-motivated and passionate individual with very good problem solving and reporting ability for the role of Funding & Reporting Manager.

This is a special opportunity to work with an organization that is carrying out some of the most

impactful conservation work across Africa.

Board: B. Michel (Chairman), Sotraté Toré, A. K. Allogninouwa, E. Pironio, J.M. Froment, Abdel A. Baba-Moussa, A. Djafarou-Tiomoko

2. Primary Functions and Responsibilities

 Oversee the park’s grant portfolio, monitoring effective and compliant delivery of respective projects. This includes working closely with the Finance Manager to ensure correct allocations of donor funding and tracking burn rates, coordinating grant work plans and briefing the heads of department on key deliverables, providing required partner visibility and monitoring risks to grant project components’ delivery. Represent the park in the quarterly funding calls, debriefing APN funding and finance teams on the park’s funding needs, grant delivery and key operational updates;

 Map out the park’s funding needs and develops compelling funding packages, concept notes and proposals for fundraising among both private and institutional donors. Ensure the proposals are closely aligned with the park’s long-term objectives, business plan, approved budget and monitoring program;

 Coordinate and collate park reporting, both for internal and external purposes. This includes collaborating with the heads of departments to ensure the right metrics to capture the parks’ impact are being measured and data is being entered accurately into African Parks’ reporting systems. Next to developing timely and high-quality donor reports that reinforce our reputation,

develops park factsheets for engagement events, shares monthly operational updates, makes the communications team aware of highlights and compiles analytical reports that inform data-based decision making and performance evaluations for the park;

 Coordinate or collate park-level surveys, case studies, data collection and analyses that inform impact assessments for donors and partners;

 Support the writing of operational documents such as business plans and special project descriptions;

 Write compelling grant concept notes and proposals with emphasis on strong logical flow and hard data: The FRM will work with the Account Managers and Park Management Units to support proposal writing through a collaborative process;

 Manage complex projects, setting, and managing timelines, coordinating input from multiple teams, and ensuring error-free work, typically for 2-3 overlapping projects at any one time.

 Provide where needed support to carbon credit or other ecosystem service valorisation processes, facilitate park visits from key stakeholders such as donors.

3. Competencies, qualifications and experience needed for the role:

 Full professional competency of French and English;

 University degree in Conservation, Biology, Social Development, Communications, International

Relations, Social Sciences or another relevant field;

 At least 3 years of experience working in philanthropy, conservation, social development or sustainable land use management and a good track record of working with donors, including with institutional funders such as the European Union, USAID or GIZ;

 Have excellent analytical and communication skills with the ability to prepare proposals, reports, and concept papers to a high level of proficiency.

 Possess an in-depth understanding of complex donor requirements including: US, EU, German and other public funding agencies

 Strong writer and experience in developing external communications such as grant proposals and impact reports;

 A solid handle on Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks and ideally compliance requirements for various donors;

 Exposed to program development, budgeting and detailed financial reporting requirements;

 Able to keep the team organized and focused on the key priorities within a multitude of projects with deadlines, taking strong ownership of safeguarding and improving African Parks’ quality standards as the leading conservation organization on the continent; Board: B. Michel (Chairman), Sotraté Toré, A. K. Allogninouwa, E. Pironio, J.M. Froment, Abdel A. Baba-Moussa, A.Djafarou-Tiomoko

 Good with people, a capacity builder and sensitive to operating in intercultural environments;

 Resilient and flexible, able to operate effectively from remote areas;

 Strong willingness to live in a rural setting and experience living in remote locations

 Adhesion to African Parks values

4. Key relationships:

 Park Management Unit

 AP Benin Funding & Reporting Manager

 AP Regional Ops Manager, West Africa

 Institutional and governmental Partners

 Donors

 Any regional support Team

5. How to apply?

To apply, please email in a single PDF format your CV, cover letter and proof of related work experience explaining why you are a suitable candidate, along with three references to[email protected] copying [email protected]
with subject heading: “Funding & Reporting Manager _Last Name” by 15th December 2023.