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Outreach DirectorAppointment BriefMay 2017

“A model for everyone working to conserve the natural life-support systems of our troubled planet.”

sir david attenborough

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Thank you for your interest in joining our team. Blue Ventures is an award winning social enterprise, comprising a charity and not-for-profit eco-tourism business, working to promote marine conservation and rebuild coastal fisheries. We are committed to making conservation work for people, demonstrating powerful win wins for marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.

We have pioneered a number of innovative incentive-based models for marine protection, which are designed to inspire local leadership in marine management and act as catalysts for long-term conservation of coastal resources.

We use our broad technical expertise to test whether our models are suitable for adoption at larger scale, and provide support to partner organisations replicating successful models worldwide.

Blue Ventures is now uniquely positioned to drive innovation in the marine conservation sector. We have demonstrated that the right incentives can mobilise rather than alienate coastal communities, giving us new tools to scale and sustain marine conservation efforts.

Through our journey so far our work we have reached over a quarter of a million people. We are now implementing an ambitious strategy to accelerate our impact, and are committed to reaching three million coastal people by 2020.

We are seeking an Outreach Director who can help us develop the organisation to achieve our ambitions, playing a pivotal role in supporting our ongoing growth, and contributing positively to our dynamic and multidisciplinary team. We are seeking someone with a flexible, entrepreneurial and pragmatic approach, who will fit well into a fast moving, ambitious and demanding environment with a strong international dimension.

If you believe that you have what it takes to succeed in this role and share our values and ambitions, then we would love to hear from you. You will find more information about the role in the rest of this pack and on our website, along with further information about our work and our plans for the future.

We look forward to hearing from you.

AlasdairDr Alasdair HarrisExecutive Director

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We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communitiesBlue Ventures works with coastal communities to develop transformative approaches for nurturing and sustaining locally led marine conservation.

We work in places where the ocean is vital to local cultures and economies, and are committed to protecting marine biodiversity in ways that benefit coastal people.

Pioneering new approaches to conservationTime and again marine conservation efforts break down because they fail to resonate with the needs of coastal communities. Such failure is avoidable, since coastal populations have the greatest long-term interest in conservation success.

Blue Ventures is committed to tackling this conundrum by developing conservation models that work for people, showing that effective marine conservation is in everyone’s interest.

We work from the grassroots, placing responsibility for fisheries management in the hands of local communities. This is particularly necessary in low-income countries, where there is often limited central capacity and infrastructure for marine management.

Our models play a critical role in rebuilding coastal fisheries, providing effective and replicable approaches for reversing marine biodiversity loss, improving food security and building socio-ecological resilience to climate change.

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Our 2020 visionBy demonstrating that effective marine conservation is in everyone’s interest, we are striving for impact at scale. We aim to reach at least three million people across the world’s tropical coastal regions by 2020.

This will play a critical role in rebuilding coastal fisheries, helping to slow the loss of marine biodiversity and improve marine and coastal resilience to climate change. Our strategy is to develop, scale and drive the adoption of high impact models for marine conservation.

We have a proven track record of innovating transformative approaches for catalysing and sustaining local leadership in marine management. Our organisational culture is naturally dynamic and entrepreneurial, listening and responding to the needs of our partner communities, and reaching across the silos that typically constrain conservation practice.

As our programmes evolve, they move through a development lifecycle focused on constant improvement and learning based on feedback from our partner communities. We liken this strategy to the expanding spiralled chambers of a Nautilus shell, with programmes growing in scale through successive phases just as the Nautilus expands towards the shell’s opening.

We currently manage a diverse portfolio of models at different stages of development across five core conservation programmes. These programmes are fisheries management, payment for mangrove ecosystem services, aquaculture enterprises, community-based reproductive health service delivery, and ecotourism businesses.

Our efforts to refine and drive adoption of these conservation catalyst models are growing exponentially. In 2017 we manage a diverse programme portfolio with over 150 staff positioned internationally supporting projects at different stages of development across seven countries: Belize, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Timor-Leste.

500 millionpeople worldwide depend on

small-scale fisheriesof global fish stocks are either

overfished or fully fished

90%>1billionpeople worldwide rely on fish as a source of protein

Our mission is urgent and critical

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Achieving impactWe’re always learning. At every stage, from incubation to replication, we monitor and evaluate the impact and sustainability of our work in order to refine our models, and ensure cost effectiveness and scalability. We’ve created the largest locally managed marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean, proven new models for community-led fisheries management, built sustainable aquaculture businesses, and developed effective, replicable approaches for integrating community health services with marine conservation. Our award-winning ecotourism social enterprise provides year-round sustainability and match funding to enhance the impact and stability of our field programmes.

Over the past decade our models have guided national fisheries policy and been replicated by fishing communities, NGOs, businesses, donors and government agencies along thousands of miles of coastline. So far our work has impacted the lives of more than 250,000 coastal people.

87Annual Report and Accounts 2016

Communities FirstAbove all, we listen to community needs, responding in a sensitive and pragmatic way for lasting benefits.

Passion & BeliefOur mission is urgent and critical, we believe that our models work, and we’re determined to get the job done.

Valued People & Effective TeamsWe work in diverse and inclusive teams where all members have a voice and influence.

Innovation & CourageWe’re resourceful and creative. We’re prepared to take risks and challenge broken paradigms.

Openness & HumilityWe’re an open source social enterprise. We work in a transparent and collaborative way to share what we learn.

Grounded in EvidenceWe have high standards and aren’t afraid to be self-critical. If something doesn’t work, we change tack until we’re on the right course.

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Our values

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Role DescriptionPosition title: Outreach Director

Location: Bristol or London, UK

Closing date for applications: Friday 18th June 2017

Start date: Immediate

Contract type: Full time position

Renumeration and benefits: Competitive salary based on experience

Job Description

SummaryThe new position of Outreach Director with Blue Ventures will play a key role in a growing social enterprise committed to rebuilding tropical fisheries with coastal communities. The role will lead Blue Ventures’ efforts in identifying, recruiting and supporting partner organisations internationally, in order to accelerate the adoption of locally-led approaches to fisheries management and coastal community development in target geographies.

This is a senior position within the Blue Ventures UK-based leadership team, responsible for delivering target conservation and development outcomes in new geographies in line with Blue Ventures’ strategic priorities.

This position will play an instrumental role driving positive change in the marine conservation sector, scaling up effective approaches for locally led marine conservation and community health promotion, and making a major contribution to fighting the downward trajectories facing small-scale fisheries and tropical marine ecosystems.

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Why outreach?Once we’ve developed an effective model for catalysing or enhancing community conservation, we recruit and work with partners to apply and adapt this approach in new geographies. We offer toolkits, training, technical advice, mentoring and learning exchanges to guide our partners through every step of the process.

Whether it’s how to organise a temporary fishery closure to catalyse community support for marine conservation or how to work holistically and integrate reproductive health services with such initiatives to enhance women’s engagement in local management efforts, we’re dedicated to supporting our partners to build on our experiences from Madagascar by taking our models to the regions where they work.

We work with like-minded organisations, governments and businesses worldwide to build networks of thought leaders in marine conservation. By facilitating learning exchanges between fishing communities, we nurture grassroots marine conservation movements at national and regional scales.

Some of our recent outreach experiences are documented in this article in Stanford Social Innovation Review and showcased by the PHE and Mihari learning networks hosted by Blue Ventures in Madagascar.

Key responsibilitiesStrategic developmentThe Outreach Director will lead the planning and strategic development of Blue Ventures’ partner support efforts and resources, prioritising replication of proven fisheries management and community health partnership models in target geographies.

Partner identification and recruitmentThe Outreach Director will lead Blue Ventures’ efforts in exploring and delivering new partnerships to share knowledge and experiences with the aim of accelerating the uptake of locally led marine conservation and development models, prioritising sites and organisations for partnership where there is a strong strategic alignment with Blue Ventures’ mission and values. The position will be tasked with developing new ways and means of identifying and recruiting new partners in target areas.

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Partnership developmentThe role will be responsible for building and supporting field partnerships to share learning between small-scale tropical coastal fishing communities, and enabling the implementation of priority local marine management and community health models by partner organisations and communities. The role will coordinate the efforts of Blue Ventures’ field technicians to strengthen the capacity of field partners where necessary, to enable effective local implementation and delivery.

ManagementThe Outreach Director will manage Blue Ventures’ partner support team, including an expanding network of field-based partner support technicians (currently active in Comoros, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania), and colleagues coordinating research and learning efforts related to Blue Ventures’ outreach activities.

Learning and exchangeThe role will promote learning and reciprocal knowledge exchange with partners while ensuring strong interaction with Blue Ventures’ central conservation programmes (currently in Belize, Madagascar and Timor-Leste), capturing, synthesising and sharing key learning across Blue Ventures’ network, and creating opportunities for continuous field-based learning and improvement.

Measurement and evaluationThe Outreach Director will ensure robust impact measurement and evaluation, prioritising feedback of findings to partner communities, promoting open access of Blue Ventures’ impact data, and fostering broad sharing of Blue Ventures’ learning and experiences.

DevelopmentThe role will work with the Executive Director in engaging new donor partners in supporting Blue Ventures’ outreach efforts, and maintaining strong relations with existing partners supporting Blue Ventures’ work. The Outreach Director will also support Blue Ventures’ efforts to raise awareness of the critical human and biodiversity importance of rebuilding tropical marine fisheries, raising the profile of Blue Ventures’ core mission, and strengthening awareness of the multifaceted challenges facing small-scale fisheries in coastal developing states.

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Position RequirementsThe position requires a highly motivated, creative and enterprising individual capable of working to ambitious targets, and identifying and supporting strategic replication and expansion opportunities for scaling up Blue Ventures’ impact.

The Outreach Director will have an excellent knowledge of the coastal management, conservation and rural development sectors, as well as sensitive and discerning partnership development skills. The successful candidate will have demonstrated a strong ability to work independently, deliver results and solve problems in challenging environments.

The position requires first rate communications skills, with highly accomplished writing and public speaking experience. The successful candidate will have a proven track record in leadership and team development, and will thrive in environments that are mission-driven, dynamic, collegiate and ambitious.

The role entails working as part of an interdisciplinary and international team, with excellent opportunities for professional development, and significant international travel to work with Blue Ventures’ partners and field teams.

The Outreach Director will report to Blue Ventures’ Executive Director, based in Bristol or London. Blue Ventures is an equal opportunities employer.

Skills and Experience requiredTechnical• At least five years’ practical experience in field-based tropical environmental

conservation and/or rural development• Excellent knowledge of MS Office and Google Apps• Proven experience of financial and budget management

Partnerships• Experience of developing multi-sector partnerships, including with

communities, NGOs and government agencies• Sensitivity to partner and community needs and interests; humility and

commitment to supporting local capacity development• Experience working with and reporting to donors, including trusts,

foundations and agencies

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Communications• Fluency in English (required). French, Portuguese, Malagasy and/or Bahasa

Indonesia all highly desirable• Excellent writing skills, with a track record in writing articles, reports and

manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication • Excellent communication skills and ability to deliver strong presentations• Experience of delivering training both to groups and one-to-one

Management• At least five years’ senior management and leadership experience• Experience of building and developing teams, including managing, mentoring

and training• Experience of project planning and management, including setting targets

and milestones• Ability to take initiative and develop innovative solutions to complex

problems

Motivation• Dynamic, enthusiastic, hardworking and efficient• Proactive and motivated to meet targets • Excellent organisational and time management skills, high attention to

detail, and proven ability to complete tasks to deadlines• Self-motivated, confident and self reliant

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Why work with BV?

MissionWe operate at the frontline of some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social problems, innovating effective and scalable responses with tropical coastal communities. We are recognised as a transformative force in our sector.

Working styleWe’re a fast-moving social enterprise, quick to embrace and implement promising ideas without bureaucracy.

AutonomyWe expect and support our staff to take a lead in their own work, offering scope for creativity and strategic input.

Professional developmentWe challenge and support our staff to grow their skills, providing considerable exposure to different work experiences and training opportunities.

AdventureWe offer extensive opportunities for travel, working in diverse environmental and cultural contexts.

FamilyWe look out for one another as we work closely together in challenging situations, celebrating successes and supporting each other when the going gets tough.

ValuesOur organisational values are central to everything we do.

Application Process

To discuss this role informally please contact Alasdair Harris (al@blueventures.org) or find further details, including an online application form at https://blueventures.org/job/outreach-director/

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"This is a great opportunity for a strategically-minded development professional to join this highly innovative and successful charity at an exciting stage in our development.

Blue Ventures is experiencing a period of significant expansion, and we are looking for a passionate, talented leader to join our senior team to help accelerate our impact even further.

I would strongly encourage any experienced development professionals with an interest in fisheries and conservation and a passion for making a difference to apply."

JONATHAN KATZCHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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Blue Ventures, Level 2 Annex, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7697 8598 Fax: +44 (0)800 066 4032

Email: enquiries@blueventures.org www.blueventures.org