BACKGROUND

THIS IS A LOCAL POSITION

BACKGROUND:

IUCN’s Tanzania Country Programme supports priorities defined under Tanzania’s National Development Plan, National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, National Climate Change Strategy, Agriculture and Water Sector Development Strategies and Marine and Fisheries Action Plans, Blue Economy Policies and Strategies, IUCN Intersessional Plan 2021-2024 as well as relevant multi-lateral environmental agreements. Our 2030 strategic goals include sustainable land and landscapes management, conservation of critical natural habitats, Integrated water resources management, capacity building for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and Coastal and Ocean Resilience (COR) building.

The Tanzania COR Programme is designed to feed into the Great Blue Wall Initiative. The Great Blue Wall is a Western Indian Ocean (WIO)-born, Africa-driven roadmap to achieve a nature positive world by 2030. It aims at unlocking unprecedented nature-based recovery efforts through the establishment of a transformational movement. Its goal is to dramatically accelerate and upscale ocean conservation actions while enhancing socio-ecological resilience and the development of a regenerative blue economy by catalyzing political leadership and financial support. This will be achieved by spearheading the establishment of a connected network of nature-people positive seascapes (or regenerative seascapes). This network of seascapes will be connected by a living blue wall that will act as a regional ecological corridor formed by conserved and restored critical blue ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses and corals. While the Great Blue Wall will act as a wall against climate change impacts and biodiversity loss, it will also shelter coastal communities and create the enabling conditions and necessary mechanisms to empower local stakeholders to become stewards of the ocean while accelerating the development of a regenerative blue economy. The Great Blue Wall is an action-focused and action-driven regional response to 3 interconnected crises, i.e. Biodiversity – Climate – Socioeconomic with three clear objectives to be achieved by 2030:

• Effectively and equitably conserve at least 30% of the ocean by 2030
• Conserve and restore critical blue ecosystems to achieve net-gain by 2030
• Unlock the development of a regenerative blue economy that directly benefits coastal communities while also delivering conservation outcomes.

To deliver on these goals, IUCN seeks to recruit a Portfolio Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience to provide strategic, institutional and portfolio-wide leadership for IUCN’s Coastal and Ocean Resilience work in Tanzania.

The role is responsible for shaping and leading a coherent, systems-based COR portfolio that integrates marine biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, blue economy development, ecosystem restoration, governance reform, and community resilience into a unified transformation agenda aligned with the Great Blue Wall and national Blue Economy priorities.

The Portfolio Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience will be based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with frequent travel to the Country focus Seascapes and others in the Western Indian Ocean Region.

JOB DESCRIPTION

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under direct supervision of the Country Representative, Tanzania (and advisory support from the regional heads of Coastal and Ocean Resilience and Land Systems), the Portfolio Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience will work closely with designated focal points from relevant Ministries, Government Institutions, Academic and Research Institutions, partner NGOs and donor.

The Portfolio Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience, will move the COR portfolio from a collection of projects to a strategically integrated programme platform that:

• Apply systems thinking and adaptive management
• Catalyzes policy and institutional reform
• Attracts large-scale financing with strategic emphasis on trade and investment
• Positions IUCN as the leading technical and strategic partner in Tanzania’s blue economy transition.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

The specific duties and responsibilities for the Portfolio Manager, Coastal and Ocean Resilience include:

Strategic Portfolio Leadership and Systems Thinking (20%);

• Define and drive the long-term (5–10 year) transformation vision for the COR portfolio in Tanzania.
• Lead strategic coherence across all projects, seascapes and thematic areas (MPAs, NbS, plastic solutions, fisheries, governance, blue and green economy).
• Lead and leverage systems thinking to identify leverage points across ecological, economic, institutional and community systems.
• Oversee and provide guidance in aligning with national and global frameworks (IUCN Programme 2026–2029, NBSAP, Climate Strategy, National Blue Economy Strategy, Great Blue Wall, ReGen Africa).
• Oversee integration and connectivity across terrestrial-coastal-marine systems.
• Advance IUCN’s capability to design and scale innovative conservation?finance and bankable models, including blue carbon, biodiversity credit frameworks, community ecotourism and resilient small?scale fisheries value chains.

Programme Integration, Adaptive Management and Impact Architecture (20%;

• Lead development and refinement of a portfolio-level Theory of Change encompassing biodiversity, climate, governance, livelihoods and finance.
• Institutionalize adaptive management processes, reflection loops and cross?project learning architecture (knowledge platforms, policy dialogues, learning labs).
• Monitor and implement ecological, socio-economic and governance data inform strategic decisions.
• Promote landscape–seascape connectivity and coordination across key sectors (fisheries, tourism, infrastructure, coastal urban development).
• Oversee portfolio-level results frameworks aligned with 2030 biodiversity and climate targets and promote outcome harvesting and evidence generation for scaling.

Programme Development, Resource Mobilisation and Strategic Partnerships (20%);

• Lead design of large-scale, multi-year, multi-donor programmes (GEF, GCF, EU, bilateral agencies, philanthropy).
• Cultivate and promote strategic partnerships with government ministries, development partners, private sector actors (blue finance, fisheries, tourism) and WIO regional platforms.
• Identify and leverage blended and innovative finance mechanisms.
• Ensure a strong funding pipeline beyond current programme cycles, including mapping emerging funding opportunities and development of multi-year resource mobilisation pipelines.

Policy Influence and Institutional Reform (20%);

• Lead high-level policy engagement and strategic dialogue with government, ensuring strong; science–policy linkages.
• Support regulatory and governance reforms related to coastal forest management, community-based resource governance, plastic regulation and blue economy investment frameworks.

• Define and drive the long-term (5–10 year) transformation vision for the COR portfolio in Tanzania.
• Lead strategic coherence across all projects, seascapes and thematic areas (MPAs, NbS, plastic solutions, fisheries, governance, blue and green economy).
• Lead and leverage systems thinking to identify leverage points across ecological, economic, institutional and community systems.
• Oversee and provide guidance in aligning with national and global frameworks (IUCN Programme 2026–2029, NBSAP, Climate Strategy, National Blue Economy Strategy, Great Blue Wall, ReGen Africa).
• Oversee integration and connectivity across terrestrial-coastal-marine systems.
• Advance IUCN’s capability to design and scale innovative conservation?finance and bankable models, including blue carbon, biodiversity credit frameworks, community ecotourism and resilient small?scale fisheries value chains.
• Lead development and refinement of a portfolio-level Theory of Change encompassing biodiversity, climate, governance, livelihoods and finance.
• Institutionalize adaptive management processes, reflection loops and cross?project learning architecture (knowledge platforms, policy dialogues, learning labs).
• Monitor and implement ecological, socio-economic and governance data inform strategic decisions.
• Promote landscape–seascape connectivity and coordination across key sectors (fisheries, tourism, infrastructure, coastal urban development).
• Oversee portfolio-level results frameworks aligned with 2030 biodiversity and climate targets and promote outcome harvesting and evidence generation for scaling.
• Lead design of large-scale, multi-year, multi-donor programmes (GEF, GCF, EU, bilateral agencies, philanthropy).
• Cultivate and promote strategic partnerships with government ministries, development partners, private sector actors (blue finance, fisheries, tourism) and WIO regional platforms.
• Identify and leverage blended and innovative finance mechanisms.
• Ensure a strong funding pipeline beyond current programme cycles, including mapping emerging funding opportunities and development of multi-year resource mobilisation pipelines.
• Lead high-level policy engagement and strategic dialogue with government, ensuring strong; science–policy linkages.
• Support regulatory and governance reforms related to coastal forest management, community-based resource governance, plastic regulation and blue economy investment frameworks.

• Systems thinking
• Adaptive management
• Strategic planning
• Resource mobilization
• Partnership building
• Policy influence
• Financial management
• Project management
• Conservation finance
• Blue economy development
• Marine biodiversity conservation
• Climate adaptation
• Ecosystem restoration
• Governance reform
• Community resilience

• Experience in strategic portfolio leadership and systems thinking.
• Proven ability to lead strategic coherence across diverse projects and thematic areas.
• Experience in leveraging systems thinking to identify leverage points.
• Familiarity with national and global conservation frameworks.
• Experience in designing and scaling innovative conservation finance and bankable models.
• Experience in developing and refining Theories of Change.
• Experience in institutionalizing adaptive management processes.
• Experience in monitoring and implementing data for strategic decisions.
• Experience in promoting landscape-seascape connectivity and coordination.
• Experience in overseeing portfolio-level results frameworks and evidence generation.
• Experience in designing large-scale, multi-year, multi-donor programmes.
• Experience in cultivating and promoting strategic partnerships.
• Experience in identifying and leveraging blended and innovative finance mechanisms.
• Experience in ensuring a strong funding pipeline and resource mobilization.
• Experience in leading high-level policy engagement and strategic dialogue.
• Experience in supporting regulatory and governance reforms.