Environmental and Social Safeguards Officer - HCI

Founded in 1961, WWF works to help people and nature thrive. As a global conservation organization, WWF operates in more than 100 countries, partnering with communities, companies, and governments to protect wildlife, conserve vital habitats, and advance sustainable solutions. Grounded in science and driven by collaboration, WWF works to help nature by conserving biodiversity, supporting resilient communities, and addressing climate change. Nearly 1 million people in the United States and more than 5 million globally are WWF members.

Project Description

The Heart of Conservation Initiative ( HCI ) is a 5-year global project designed to address systemic barriers that limit Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ ability to steward their lands, territories, waters, and biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Despite strong evidence that Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage or influence at least 37% of remaining natural lands globally, they receive less than 1% of international climate and biodiversity finance, face complex donor procedures, limited direct access to funding, and insufficient recognition in decision-making arenas.

Building on the achievements of the GEF-7 Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI), HCI’s objective is to increase Indigenous Peoples ’ and local communities’ organizational capacities and ability to access sustainable finance at scale   for territorial stewardship to deliver social, economic, cultural, and Global Environmental Benefits. The project is transformative in that it targets structural change in biodiversity finance systems—shifting from centralized, intermediary-driven models toward more inclusive, Indigenous Peoples and local community-led financing and governance mechanisms.

This will be achieved through four integrated components: (i) organizational and technical self-strengthening of Indigenous Peoples and local community funds and organizations and  implementation of self-determined Indigenous Peoples- and local community-led sub-projects across Latin America, Africa, and Asia; (ii) collective self-strengthening of Indigenous Peoples and local community-led funds and organizations’ institutional, fiduciary, and technical capacities; (iii) enhancing Indigenous Peoples' and local communities’ representation and influence in global biodiversity and biodiversity finance processes; and (iv) advancing knowledge, learning, and evidence on rights-based, inclusive conservation.

Major Function

Under the guidance and supervision of the Project Manager within the Global Coordination Unit (GCU), and in close collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and local community organization partners , the ESS Officer will be responsible for leading implementation and monitoring of the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP). This is a unique crosscutting role with a strong focus on Component 1, supporting environmental and social safeguarding of a global, Indigenous-led inclusive conservation project that must respect Indigenous and local community partners’ rights and approaches, while ensuring implementation of GEF safeguarding requirements. In addition to working closely with the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ organizations in Component 1, this role will also be responsible for overall project Safeguards, including those activities under direct management of the GCU.

Reports to:  Project Manager in GCU

Key Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of steps and procedures for ensuring WWF’s Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework (ESSF) is fully incorporated into all aspects of the project, including ESS implementation as outlined in the ESMF. This includes yearly ESS screening of project activities, review and input into annual budget/work plans, conducting consultations with local stakeholders as appropriate, supporting Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ development of additional safeguards plans, and ensure the review, approval, and disclosure of safeguard documents.

• Provide that all documents necessary to ensure full compliance with ESS instruments, in particular the  ESMF, are prepared, implemented, regularly updated and are available to relevant stakeholders.

• Work with Component 1 partners to support their annual ESS screening and related mitigation planning, as required. This will require individualized support to each C1 partner, as their sub-projects, as well as cultural, political and environmental contexts, are very different.

• Troubleshoot with Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ organizations to find creative ways to streamline ESS planning, implementation, monitoring, documentation, and reporting approaches that respect their organizational and cultural processes and meet GEF requirements.

• Review annual work plans and budgets and provide recommendations to ensure that sub-project activities being developed as a part of the project are designed to include avoidance of potential social and environmental risks, as recommended in the ESMF; and that where such risks are not avoidable, mitigation plans or measures are in place to minimize or mitigate these risks.

• In collaboration with the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) officer, provide overall environmental and social risk management support during the implementation of the project activities and advise the GCU in addressing the environmental and social issues – for example, providing recommendations to the Project Manager to (a) safeguard the environment before, during, and after implementation of the project; (b) mitigation measures and the monitoring program.

• Conduct training on ESS (WWF, Project ESMF) for project staff and Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ organization partners, as per their self-strengthening and collective strengthening plans.

• Participate in regular and other missions and technical visits by the GCU, and work closely with the WWF Environmental and Social Specialists in the WWF GEF Agency in ensuring the Project's compliance with relevant environmental and social policies.

• Collaborate with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer to provide recommendations to the GCU and Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ organization partners on how their project and sub-project M&E plans could incorporate critical ESMF and SEP indicators in a streamlined way.

• Support establishment and lead implementation of an HCI grievance redress mechanism (GRM) aligned with WWF-US’s currently existing system to handle project-specific complaints in an effective manner.

• Support Component 1 partners to socialize the HCI GRM and ensure that their sub-project GRMs are culturally appropriate as well as functional, socialized, and accessible.

• If required, work with Component 1 partners to develop Livelihood Restoration Plans (LRPs) that follow requirements laid out in the ESMF while utilizing a highly participatory process that respects their rights to self-determination and governance.

• Collaborating with the Project Manager to implement stakeholder engagement as outlined in the GCU Stakeholder Engagement Plan , and ensuring mitigation measures are in line with the Process Framework.

• Collaborate with the MEL Officer and C1 partners to design methodology for the collection of relevant data for the preparation of Semi-Annual ESS reporting and provide recommendation on monitoring and reporting for stakeholder engagement through the annual project implementation reports (PIRs and PPRs).

• Collaborate with the MEL officer and the GESI officer to develop a simple environmental, social risk monitoring check list for project staff (including data collection sheet and data management).

• Any other tasks that are relevant to the assignment.

Key Competencies

• Analytical

• Attention to detail

• Collaborative

• Reliability/follow-through

• Cross-cultural communication

Skills and Abilities

• Bachelor’s de