Project Director, Conserving the Pantanal and Gran Chaco Wildlands

The Environment Portfolio at The Pew Charitable Trusts

For more than 30 years, Pew has been a major force in engaging the public and policy makers about the causes, consequences, and solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Our environment work spans all seven continents with more than 250 professionals working at the local, national, and international levels to reduce the scope and severity of global environmental problems, such as the erosion of large natural ecosystems that contain a great part of the world’s remaining biodiversity, and the destruction of the marine environment. Pew’s global environmental program focuses on science-based, nonpartisan, and sustainable solutions to help protect the planet and people.

Conserving the Pantanal and Gran Chaco Wildlands
South America’s Pantanal and Gran Chaco regions are among the most ecologically significant tropical wetlands and dry forests on Earth. This area spans parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina and contains thousands of plant and animal species and provides vital aquatic habitat, nutrient renewal, migration routes, and flood control for millions of animals and people living downstream. The region’s extensive ecosystems are currently threatened by deforestation, drought and intensification of wildfires related to climate change, and thus urgently need conservation action.

The project will work with the policy frameworks in each country to solidify and expand protection of the extraordinary biodiversity of the Pantanal-Gran Chaco region. Pew will partner with local and international conservation organizations, government agencies, and Indigenous governments and organizations to improve management of and expand protected areas, support Indigenous organizations and communities in the management of their territories, promote sustainable management for ranching lands, and to advance long-term conservation financing mechanisms for durable protections.

Position Overview

The Project Director, Pantanal-Gran Chaco Project, will develop and lead implementation of a project to mobilize support for durable conservation measures in order to maintain the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Pantanal Chaco region in close collaboration with partner organizations.

The project director oversees a multi-country strategy working on large scale land and freshwater conservation in the Pantanal Chaco. This position manages staff in Bolivia, and relationships with consultants and partner organizations across Bolivia and Brazil with potential expansion to include Argentina and Paraguay.

The position reports to the Senior Director, Land and Freshwater Conservation. The position is preferably based within one of the following locations: Santa Cruz or La Paz, Bolivia; Campo Grande, Cuiaba, or Sao Paulo, Brazil; or elsewhere within or proximate to the Pantanal and Gran Chaco region.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country for which they are seeking employment without visa sponsorship.

Responsibilities:

• Foster a work environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible and in line with Pew and the project’s related goals.
• Develop and supervise implementation of effective project strategies and set achievable and measurable targets that will result in achieving the project’s goals to improve and enhance the protection of the Pantanal Chaco through the countries’ protected area systems, Indigenous territories, sustainably managed ranchlands, and other effective conservation measures.
• Supervise and support a distributed team of staff and consultants, in order to develop and maintain a highly motivated, well-resourced, and effective collective effort to achieve project goals. Identify capacity needs, including hiring staff and consultants, as necessary to ensure the project has the necessary human resources to achieve its goals.
• Coordinate closely with partners and other allies and organizations in order to maximize the impact of project strategies, facilitate the development of partnerships and coalitions as appropriate.
• Develop and maintain working relationships with decision makers, government officials and national and international institutions, as well as relevant NGOs in the field.
• Develop mechanisms to analyze opportunities for project efforts. Design and oversee cost effective budgets and monitor project expenses as needed.
• Serve as a spokesperson in order to cultivate and engage the public and key constituencies regarding the tangible mechanisms and measures that can be taken to address the need to conserve the Pantanal-Gran Chaco region.
• Identify, track, and analyze opportunities that have relevance for project efforts.
• Determine when goals are at risk of not being met, identify the causes and, when needed, take appropriate steps to fix any problems in ways that keep the project on course.
• Ensure that information related to the project is adequately communicated internally and coordinate with other projects and units within Pew to enhance the impact of Environment projects more generally.
• Develop and maintain a broad knowledge of the science and policies relevant to terrestrial and freshwater conservation in the Pantanal Chaco.
• Represent Pew publicly at conferences, seminars and official forums and as required and appropriate by authoring articles for newspapers, magazines and peer-reviewed journals.
• Participate in activities that support program and Pew-wide objectives.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required or equivalent experience; an advanced degree in law, natural resources policy and management, ecology or biological sciences, or similar fields is preferred.
• Generally, 10 years of professional experience, including staff, project, and/or consultant management experience.
• A proven track record of leadership and accomplishment in designing and implementing environmental, conservation, or sustainability programs, with a preference for experience supporting protected area development, Indigenous lands and territories, or sustainability of ranching operations.
• Extensive experience in project development, coalition building, and building partnerships.
• Extensive experience working with elected officials, government agencies, and national, regional, and local non-governmental organizations.
• Excellent political, strategic and analytical skills with proven program management skills to develop, execute and evaluate a range of diverse strategies to achieve goals. A task-oriented, deadline driven style with a focus on achieving clear and ambitious goals. Experience developing and moving projects forward with a high degree of independence and autonomy.
• Desirable international work experience in biodiversity conservation.
• Familiarity with institutional frameworks and policy in Bolivia and/or Brazil.
• Demonstrable experience successfully managing staff and teams based in dispersed geographies, developing and managing productive relationships with consultants, partners and others who contribute to the development of a project by anticipating possible outcomes.
• Exceptional oral and written communications skills. Skilled at synthesizing material and focusing quickly on the essence of an issue and the means to address it. Confident in presenting one’s own ideas and diplomatically persuading others as appropriate. Competency in communicating complex ideas for a general audience, with strong public speaking skills and experience persuasively engaging individuals or groups in dialogue that results in a desire to take action.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with seasoned judgment and analytical capacity, and a demonstrated strong collaborative spirit and skilled at making decisions.
• Well-developed skills in diplomacy. Works productively with a wide array of different people and institutions.
• Fluency in Spanish and English, in addition competence in Portuguese would be preferred.

Travel

• Frequent travel within the Pantanal-Gran Chaco region and international travel to the United States for this position will be required.

Compensation

• Pew offers a competitive salary and benefits package.