The IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) operates in twenty-four countries in the Horn of Africa, east Africa, southern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean. The ESARO region is extremely rich in biodiversity with high number of endemic species and the largest remaining populations of iconic wildlife left on the continent. ESARO’s Programme focuses on biodiversity conservation through a diverse portfolio of projects and programmatic initiatives ranging from activities at the level of individual protected areas to shaping regional policy on biodiversity conservation. ESARO defines and delivers on its programmatic priorities in collaboration with IUCN members, commissions and other strategic partners. The IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme (GMPP) is a team of staff committed to effectively addressing key global challenges in the marine and polar environment. GMPP cooperates with other IUCN thematic and regional programmes and with the IUCN Commissions to ensure that marine and polar ecosystems are maintained and restored in their biodiversity and productivity, and that any use of the resources is sustainable and equitable.
The Marine and Coastal Resilience Programme is focused on marine and coastal issues, including biodiversity conservation, development and management of marine protected areas and their networks, ecosystem & fisheries management, marine spatial planning, marine pollution, integrated management and governance of coastal areas, adaptation to climate change and disasters risks reduction. The Marine and Coastal Resilience Programme has been developed on the basis of a situation analysis and on lessons learned by IUCN Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Asia programme, initially catalysed by the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The Programme addresses the high level of vulnerability of ecosystems and livelihoods by increasing their resilience using a “resilience framework” that integrates four components: (i) Ecological and Social Diversity, (ii) Innovative and sustainable infrastructure and technology, (iii) Equitable and resilient governance systems, and (iv) Data and information for adaptive management, and has been designed to advance resilience-based management of socio-ecological systems in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region as well as build programmatic linkages between the IUCN-GMPP and IUCN-ESARO.
The Senior Programme Officer (SPO), Marine Management is in charge of providing strategic vision, leadership and capacity building for seascape level projects including: i) development and management of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), ii) sustainable fisheries management, iii) marine biodiversity monitoring, iv) marine spatial planning, v) building knowledge and awareness on locally-appropriate governance and vi) marine policy advocacy plans and vii) Coral Reefs and Seagrass assessment and management. In addition, the SPO will be responsible for developing and maintaining key relationships among partners, sponsors and commission members with the ultimate goal of developing a network of donors and key influencers on marine management issues. Reporting to the country representative, the SPO will serve both as a senior member of IUCN/ESARO’s Mozambique’s portfolio and as a liaison to the regional marine programme team (led by the marine technical coordinator) that sets the broader transboundary strategic priorities in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. He/she will work in close partnership with IUCN relevant Programmes, especially the Global Marine and Polar, including Commissions and members in Mozambique, government/non-government bodies and ESARO region: