Program Implementation Manager

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 leads, along with the other Program Implementation Team (PIT) members, the overall planning, implementation, and review of all projects within the Philippines. They proactively coordinate and work with the Shared Services Group (SSG) and 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. The Manager will ensure partnerships 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);
• Program management, including integrated planning, budget leveraging, site-level oversight in implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, and cluster-wide reporting;
• Primarily responsible for determining and coordinating the sharing of resources within the cluster to the overall benefit of the program;
• Sign off site-level roadmaps, which integrate the optimal mix of interventions and program approaches that can deliver functional MA +R supported by behavior change and economic resilience strategies;
• Ensuring the 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;
• Act as coach/mentor to co-delivery partners such as provincial/regional collaborators;
• Work closely with the Site Implementing Partners (province, LGUs, and alliances, others) in the execution of program strategies particularly on governance, enforcement, and monitoring aspects:
• 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 the 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 the 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;
• 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

• Support the formulation of 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.

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 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 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; 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/programs;
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with strong knowledge or experience in using mobile apps for productivity or business applications 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;
• Ability to build good working relationships both internally and externally;
• Willing and able to travel within the country;
• Experience applying social marketing and/or behavior change interventions;
• Experience 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.