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Country Director - MadagascarAppointment BriefApril 2019

“A model for everyone working to conserve the natural life-support systems of our troubled planet.”

sir david attenborough

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Thank you for your interest in joining our team. Blue Ventures is an award winning social enterprise, comprising a charity and not-for-profit eco-tourism business, working to promote marine conservation and rebuild coastal fisheries. We are committed to making conservation work for people, demonstrating powerful win wins for marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.

We have pioneered a number of innovative incentive-based models for marine protection, which are designed to inspire local leadership in marine management and act as catalysts for long-term conservation of coastal resources.

We use our broad technical expertise to test whether our models are suitable for adoption at larger scale, and provide support to partner organisations replicating successful models worldwide.

Blue Ventures is now uniquely positioned to drive innovation in the marine conservation sector. We have demonstrated that the right incentives can mobilise rather than alienate coastal communities, giving us new tools to scale and sustain marine conservation efforts.

Through our journey so far we have reached over a quarter of a million people. We are now implementing an ambitious strategy to accelerate our impact, and are committed to reaching three million coastal people by 2020.

We are seeking a Country Director who can help us develop the organisation to achieve our ambitions, playing a pivotal role in directing our conservation efforts, and contributing positively to our dynamic and multidisciplinary team. We are seeking someone with a flexible, entrepreneurial and pragmatic approach, who will fit well into a fast moving, ambitious and demanding environment.

If you believe that you have what it takes to succeed in this role and share our values and ambitions, then we would love to hear from you. You will find more information about the role in the rest of this pack and on our website, along with further information about our work and our plans for the future.

We look forward to hearing from you.

AlasdairDr Alasdair HarrisExecutive Director

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We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communitiesBlue Ventures develops locally-led approaches to marine management that benefit people and nature alike. By listening and responding to basic needs, we design our models to catalyse and sustain marine conservation, unlocking the potential of coastal communities to manage their resources. We work in places where the ocean is vital to local cultures and economies, and we are committed to advancing the rights of small-scale fishers throughout the coastal tropics.

We support communities through three complementary approaches: directly through our teams living and working in coastal communities; through like-minded partner organisations working with coastal communities; and through amplification via policy work and civil society networks. While we continue to work alongside coastal communities at core sites in Madagascar, our reach and impact in the country has grown significantly through partners and networks, notably the national LMMA network MIHARI, and the national community health network PHE.

Blue Ventures was founded in Madagascar, and the Madagascar programme remains the beating heart of an ambitious and growing global organisation with an urgent and critical mission. Our tropical oceans, and the hundreds of millions of people who depend on them, are facing formidable challenges. Yet against an often bewildering backdrop of threats, we are seeing an unprecedented mobilisation of grassroots action in support of marine protection. We are humbled to play a part in supporting this movement, and are dedicated to continuing to drive forward our mission of sharing new approaches to locally led marine management that can help communities realise the benefits of well managed seas.

We strive to work collegiately in a close, integrated way − supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge across the organisation to enable our team to do amazing things with the communities we serve. This crucial post will be at the forefront of our work as we embark on the next chapter of this exciting adventure.

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Communities FirstAbove all, we listen to community needs, responding in a sensitive and pragmatic way for lasting benefits.

Passion & BeliefOur mission is urgent and critical, we believe that our models work, and we’re determined to get the job done.

Valued People & Effective TeamsWe work in diverse and inclusive teams where all members have a voice and influence.

Innovation & CourageWe’re resourceful and creative. We’re prepared to take risks and challenge broken paradigms.

Openness & HumilityWe’re an open source social enterprise. We work in a transparent and collaborative way to share what we learn.

Grounded in EvidenceWe have high standards and aren’t afraid to be self-critical. If something doesn’t work, we change tack until we’re on the right course.

Why work with us:

Mission: We operate at the frontline of some of the world's most pressing environmental and social problems, innovating effective and scalable responses with tropical coastal communities. We are recognised as a transformative force in our sector.

Working style: We're a fast-moving social enterprise, quick to embrace and implement promising ideas without bureaucracy.

Autonomy: We expect and support our staff to take a lead in their own work, offering scope for creativity and strategic input.

Professional development: We challenge and support our staff to grow their skills, providing considerable exposure to different work experiences and training opportunities.

Adventure: We offer extensive opportunities for travel, working in diverse environmental and cultural contexts.

Family: We look out for one another as we work closely together in challenging situations, celebrating successes and spurring each other on when the going gets tough.

Values: Our organisational values are central to everything we do:

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Role DescriptionPosition title: Country Director - Madagascar

Location: Antananarivo, Madagascar with regular travel throughout Madagascar to offices and field sites, and occasional international travel

Closing date for applications: Monday May 27th 2019

Start date: As soon as possible

Contract type: Full time permanent position

Renumeration and benefits: Competitive salary based on experience

Job DescriptionSummaryThe Country Director is responsible for overseeing the safe, effective and efficient delivery of Blue Ventures’ activities in Madagascar. Setting the example for our culture and values, they lead a dynamic, multi-disciplinary, field-focused team of 150+ colleagues across seven coastal locations and our support office in Antananarivo. Driving continuous improvement in operational effectiveness, the Country Director is responsible for creating a positive professional environment that protects, nurtures and develops the talents of our team.

The Country Director plays a key role in advancing BV’s global conservation strategy, informed and inspired by lessons from the field and BV locations across the world, for transformative change across our work. The Country Director is responsible for marrying this global strategy with the needs and opportunities of our Madagascar team, evolving and implementing the national strategy for Madagascar through close community, staff and partner engagement.

The Country Director is accountable for ensuring that our activities are well designed, respond intelligently to community need, and are progressed on time and to budget through careful planning, decision-making and progress reporting. The role is also responsible for ensuring that BV’s overall commitments and workload are in line with our capacities and capabilities, ensuring that adequate adjustments are made in good time according to

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need. The UK support office is at the Country Director’s disposal for these purposes, with an expectation of close collaboration so we meet our goals.

The Country Director is the primary in-country representative of Blue Ventures in Madagascar. They are accountable for ensuring the Madagascar team’s input to BV’s communications and knowledge management and sharing efforts. They are the go-to person for senior government, funder, private sector or civil society engagements, and will be expected to proactively manage these relationships to further BV’s goals. This includes public speaking and networking at all levels from local communities to international conferences, and facilitating and accompanying field visits where required.

The Country Director supports our teams in BV Madagascar: our field implementation team - who manage activities with communities across our three regions; our technical team - who provide expertise and programmatic support to our field teams across our four technical areas (fisheries, aquaculture, mangroves and community health); our policy & outreach team - who provide policy advice and amplification of our work through communications and outreach, including through the civil society networks we support; and our operations and resources team - who provide health & safety, safeguarding, finance, HR and logistical support across the above.

The role reports to the Conservation Programmes Director in our UK support office.

The candidateThe successful candidate will be closely aligned with Blue Ventures’ core values and mission to support community-based approaches to marine conservation. We are looking for a collegiate leader who sets the example and is relentlessly focused on enabling communities and BV team members - both those delivering our work on the ground in Madagascar and thosesupporting our mission internationally.

You will be a first-class operator with strong general management experience and a relentless commitment to creating a safe, happy and productive working environment. With a proven track record of getting things done for your team, the successful candidate will be a highly motivated, proactive and well-organised individual, able to marshall resources, continually improve systems and processes, and engage the team’s energies, hearts and minds in service of our mission.

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A natural relationship-builder with colleagues and partners alike, you will help build links and foster a collegiate environment across the BV family. You are as comfortable with frontline staff as with our directors and the board, and as happy listening to community members on a beach as building strategic alliances with ministers and officials in the capital.

We are looking for an individual who is open to new ideas and who embraces innovation, who can balance new opportunities with existing commitments through careful planning and project oversight, robust decision-making, and effective risk management. You thrive in an environment that is dynamic, fast-paced, collegiate and ambitious, bringing demonstrated experience of working both collaboratively and independently to solve complex problems in challenging situations.

Preferred sectoral experience for this role includes the Madagascar context, working with institutional partners, conservation and development, community-based natural resource management, civil society platforms, and small-scale fisheries.

Key responsibilities

Leadership and management• Providing leadership to ensure the effective continuation and

implementation of Blue Ventures’ support to communities inMadagascar (through direct programme delivery, as well as ourpartners and networks), including project design, decision-makingand risk management

• Maintaining a creative, supportive and thriving environment for BlueVentures’ Madagascar team, ensuring that Blue Ventures’ values areupheld and culture is maintained

• Leading staff effectively by promoting Blue Ventures’ conservationvision in Madagascar, and ensuring all staff understand theircontribution to that vision and Blue Ventures’ overall strategy

• Taking the lead in following new opportunities, as well as resolvingchallenges, conflicts and other issues as they arise

• Leading by example, and developing staff capacity through effectiveperformance management and professional development, whilstpromoting a safe, healthy and ethical workplace

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Programme leadership, management and development• Leading, developing and supporting BV’s management team in

Madagascar effectively, and nurturing talent and resources across theorganisation

• Managing direct reports including through regular one-on-onecheck-ins, performance planning, and appraisals

• Organising periodic meetings of the Madagascar team and managers• Maintaining a strong shared understanding across the team of

programme delivery, goals, and challenges via regular check-ins withsenior staff and technical programme leads

• Monitoring programming commitments, activity levels and teamworkload, and assessing and adjusting our commitments andresources accordingly, in conjunction with the UK support office

• Maintaining an effective and coherent recruitment and talentdevelopment plan for Madagascar

• Overseeing in-country project management and donor reportingwith the UK team as required

• Designing and developing new programmes and initiatives wherenecessary, assisting the UK team with fundraising and donorrelations where required, and capitalising on new development andpartnership opportunities as they arise

Communications and knowledge sharing/management• Cultivating effective proactive internal communication to ensure all

staff working with Blue Ventures in Madagascar are well informed ofour core mission and kept up to date with ongoing activities, as wellas new developments, policies and procedures, as and when theyarise

• Promoting effective documentation of knowledge, lessons learnedand experiences within the Madagascar programme both for internaland external purposes

• Promoting and supporting Blue Ventures’ commitment todocumenting learning and sharing knowledge, and to incorporatinglessons from the wider BV team and beyond

• Maintaining and building Blue Ventures’ strong reputation for workin Madagascar by promoting and supporting the development ofeffective external communication strategies and high quality outputs

• Leading by example in communicating Blue Ventures’ activities to ahigh standard through appropriate reporting and media

Building working partnerships for conservation• Building and nurturing effective strategic partnerships with relevant

national and regional partners, including governments, universities,

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businesses, international organisations, donors, other non-governmental organisations, and key stakeholders

• Representing Blue Ventures with relevant public and civil society partners, and ensuring clear and effective communications are maintained with all stakeholders

• Supporting Blue Ventures’ work with new partners worldwide by assisting with hosting visits and learning exchanges

Operations• Supporting the Head of Operations, Finances and Human Resources

(Madagascar) to ensure safe and secure operations, compliant with BV’s operating protocols and policies, and responsive to evolving needs and situations

• Supporting the development and maintenance of budget and project management systems

• Overseeing smooth operations of projects, visits, and events, ensuring managers carry out adequate planning, engage adequate support, and support problem solving when needed

Skills and experience required

RequiredCandidates should be able to demonstrate:

• Clear commitment to Blue Ventures’ values and ‘communities first’ approach

• General management experience for building safe and effective teams

• Experience of managing conservation and/or development programmes and providing strategic direction in challenging environments

• Building capacity in multicultural interdisciplinary teams• Building and maintaining strong relationships with government,

NGO/iNGO and other partners• Strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges of

designing and delivering integrated community-based natural resource management approaches

• Strong understanding of the links between conservation, development and public health, and of the connections between these fields

• Fluency in French +/- Malagasy

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• A collegiate, flexible, hard-working, inclusive and highly organisedwork ethic

• Strong written and spoken English, with excellent oral and writtencommunication skills

• Excellent interpersonal, team-building and feedback skills• Strong presentation and communication skills• Willingness to travel to remote programme sites where living

conditions are basic and arduous

Desired• Work experience in Madagascar and the Western Indian Ocean region

(strongly preferred)• Postgraduate degree in conservation, international development,

MBA or other relevant field

Application processWe are working closely with OxfordHR who are supporting us on the recruitment of this very important role. To discuss this role informally please contact Emer Byrne (blueventures@oxfordhr.co.uk) or find further details at https://oxfordhr.co.uk/jobs/country-director-madagascar/

Applicants should apply by Monday 27th May 2019.

All shortlisted candidates will be contacted within two weeks of this date.

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"This is a great opportunity for a strategically-minded development professional to join this highly innovative and successful charity at an exciting stage in our development.

Blue Ventures is experiencing a period of significant expansion, and we are looking for a passionate, talented leader to join our senior team to help accelerate our impact even further.

I would strongly encourage any experienced development professional with an interest in fisheries and conservation and a passion for making a difference to apply."

JONATHAN KATZCHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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Blue Ventures,Omnibus Business Centre,39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, UK

Tel: +44 (0)207 697 8598Fax: + 44 (0)800 066 4032

Email: info@blueventures.orgwww.blueventures.org

Charity No. 1098893Company No. 4660959 (England and Wales)

www.blueventures.org