About Rare:

Rare inspires change so people and nature thrive. For over 50 years, across 60 countries, we have inspired and empowered millions of people and their communities to shift their behaviors and practices to protect our shared planet. We are a global leader in driving social change for people and nature and believe that the cumulative power of individual and community action is a vital pathway to safeguarding and restoring our shared waters, lands, and climate. 

Fish Forever is Rare’s global initiative to restore near-shore fisheries in the tropics. Fish Forever is helping improve fishery productivity, profitability, and sustainability while also boosting livelihoods, protecting habitats, and enhancing coastal resilience to climate change. 

Position Overview:

The Manager, Program Implementation in Palawan will provide a key management role in leading the program implementation for the Fish Forever Program as well as in upcoming projects. He/she leads, along with the other Program Implementation Team (PIT) members, the overall planning, implementation, and review of all projects within the Philippines. He/she proactively coordinates and works hand in hand with the Shared Services Group (SSG) - Philippines. He/she will also support technical matters such as Managed Access Area and Reserve (MA +R) management, Fisheries Policy Development and Law Enforcement, and program monitoring and evaluations. The Manager will be required to travel to project sites to conduct project planning and related activities based on agreed timelines and scope, mainly in the provinces where Rare operates and other parts of the Philippines if strategic and needed. The Manager will also lead in ensuring partnership, promoting, and linking program undertakings with the Regional Field Units of relevant government agencies and other development organizations working in the cluster.

Primary Areas of Responsibility:

The Manager, Program Implementation, will exercise independent judgment regarding the following areas of significance:

Program Implementation

• Ensures that Fish Forever implementation achieves the basic principles of rights-based fisheries and community-based fisheries management through its core strategy of establishing managed access + reserves (MA +R);
• Lead in program management, including integrated planning, budget leveraging, site-level oversight in implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and contribute to cluster-wide reporting;
• Generally, is primarily responsible in determining and coordinating the sharing of resources within the cluster to the overall benefit of the program;
• Sign off site-level roadmaps, which should integrate the optimal mix of interventions and program approaches that can deliver functional MA +R supported by behavior change and economic resilience strategies;
• Is accountable for ensuring that what they do at a site is aligned with overall Fish Forever standards and technical approaches; and,
• Provide staff supervision whenever appropriate.

Technical Support for Program Implementation

• Lead as resource person and expert on marine protected areas and governance and fisheries management topics and modules during capacity building activities at the sites to capacitate Managed Access + Reserve (MA+R) Management Boards and other site implementation partners;
• Act as coach/mentor to co-delivery partners such as provincial/regional collaborators to improve their partners’ capacities to support program implementation;
• Work closely with the Site Implementing Partners (province, LGUs and alliances, others) in the smooth execution of the program strategies particularly on governance, enforcement and monitoring aspect in each of the sites including:
• Continuing landscape analysis of the fisheries and updating of profiles;
• Organizing and strengthening of MA+R Management Boards and Management Committees for the Managed Access areas and MPAs respectively in partner sites;
• Formulation or updating of Coastal and Fisheries Resources Management (CFRM) Plans incorporating gender and climate resilience strategies with provisions for sustainable financing;
• Capacity building of alliances in coastal law enforcement;
• Rolling out of MPA MEAT, FishMARK, the Fish Forever Savings Clubs digital ledger, other tools and toolkits, and other Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) tools for use of data for adaptive fisheries management;
• Formation and capacity building of financial inclusion and resilience groups, i.e., savings clubs in Fish Forever sites including managing financial behavior campaigns;
• Strengthening of a streamlined Municipal Fisheries Registration and Licensing (MFRL) and a fisheries management database system;
• Support in implementation and adoption of OurFish and other strategies and tools for catch monitoring in each of the implementation sites;
• Co-development/adaptation and rollout of cluster behavior change strategies; and.
• Co-development and co-facilitation of capacity building modules anchored on adult learning principals for LGU and co-delivery partners as well as management bodies, fisher leaders, and people’s organizations;

Partnership Management

• Actively engage mayors in understanding, championing and supporting sustainable fisheries in their LGUs and alliances through the Coastal 500 network, Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Municipal Fisheries Ordinances (MFOs), and allocation of budget and personnel support to Fish Forever events and activities;
• Continuously scan for opportunities and prospects for partnership with other stakeholders to support sites and cluster-wide program implementation;
• Explore/Tap and manage co-delivery partnerships at the provincial/regional level for their continued support of site implementation;
• Support inter-municipal opportunities such as alliance building and be co-cognizant of the potential risks of such strategies; and,
• Manage and coordinate with other assisting organizations including leveraging of resources for each of the implementation sites, i.e., BFAR, DENR, provincial government, alliances and people’s organizations, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations supporting the program implementation.

Reporting

• Participate in Program Implementation Team and other team meetings and communicate activities and progress and final outcomes of each program;
• Regularly input implementation progress data and other relevant information on the designated program tracker;
• Whenever possible represent the Program Implementation Team and/or Rare in community and LGU meetings, external partners’ meetings and staff meetings;
• Assist the Program Implementation Team and other teams in crafting presentations, reports, and other related materials about the program implementation, on marine governance and other activities;
• Capture experiences, insights, best practices and success stories from the field for sharing with other Fish Forever implementers and a wider circle of sustainable fisheries advocates, practitioners and decision-makers;
• Give presentations at staff meetings, other group gatherings, and in implementation sites as appropriate;
• Document lessons and project accomplishments and contribute to periodic reports to donors, knowledge management, and development of toolkits; and,
• Perform other tasks as may be assigned and defined by the Director for Program Implementation.

Project Finance and Administration

• In coordination with the Program Implementation Director and the Shared Services Group, and with guidance from the Finance Team, formulate annual work plans and budgets for their assigned cluster/s;
• Prepare event plans and estimate costs for activities following the annual work plan and budget, and coordinate with the Site Implementation Officers (SIOs) on logistical arrangements for the events onsite;
• Comply with cash management, procurement, and acquittal of project expenses, in accordance with Rare financial management guidelines, processes and systems;
• Review and monitor the utilization of program budget in accordance with Rare financial management guidelines, processes and systems;
• Assist implementing partners in preparing work and financial plans; and,
• Participate and contribute to project reporting and overall program level reporting, both financial and programmatic.

Working Relationships:

Internal – This position reports to the Director for Program Implementation, and interacts frequently with the following:

• Leads for the Shared Services Group; Science and Knowledge Management; Capacity Exchange and Learning; Policy and Government Engagement, Monitoring and Evaluation; and other program implementation managers for the design and delivery of Fish Forever workshops, trainings and other related activities;
• Finance, Operations and Talent (FOT) Team for finance-related transactions, and reporting of counterpart contributions; logistical preparations and support for workshops, events, and travel of team members and partners, and on contract management of direct reports.

External – This position works closely with the Municipal Coastal and Fisheries Resources Management (CFRM) Teams, alliances, and other LGU and co-delivery partners, contractors, consultants and vendors for the implementation of Fish Forever activities based on memorandums of agreement/understanding (MOAs/MOUs) and contracts, and maintains regular contact with municipal team leads and mayors, strategic partners in the locality, district, province, region, or Fisheries Management Area (FMA), including the regional and local offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and other agencies and organizations for regular updating on the status of program implementation as well as to solicit support for the program.

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position supervises the work of  Site Implementation Officers (SIOs) and other contractual staff that may be engaged to implement additional projects onsite.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in fisheries, biology, marine biology, environmental science, social science, community development or relevant field; a master’s degree is a plus;
• At least 3 to 5 years’ experience in a multi-cultural office and team-based environment with a track record in assisting local governments and building organizational capacities of environmental/fisheries management organizations, community-based people’s organizations, and/or NGOs; 
• Demonstrated program management skills in a development setting; preferably with training in project management;
• Experience in strengthening marine protected areas, fisheries governance and/or coastal resource management in partnership with local government units or with related experience in other conservation initiatives or community development programs;
• Excellent oral a­nd written communication skills in English; can translate complex ideas into simple forms for various audiences; proficiency in Filipino and any of the local languages in the assigned sites (including Cebuano) is preferred;
• Knowledge in integrating/mainstreaming gender and climate change in local development plans and programs;
• Must be adept in computer programs such as MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with strong knowledge or experience in using mobile apps for productivity or business application and social media;
• Excellent skills in event organizing and facilitation, training management and delivery for various stakeholders including LGU partners and community-based organizations;
• With independent judgment/initiative that could increase performance, productivity and efficiency leading towards achievement of program/organizational goals;
• Capacity to provide coaching to LGU and community partners;
• Good interpersonal skills; ability to build good working relationships both internally and externally; 
• Willing and able to travel within the country;
• Experience in applying social marketing and/or behavior change interventions;
• Experience in writing development/conservation/management plans such as MPA management plans, coastal and fisheries resources management plans, eco-tourism development plans, and related plan documents;
• Skills in GIS mapping, graphic design and editing, and audio-visual production a plus.
  
  

Rare is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic.