Partnership Coordinator – Senegal

Location: Dakar, Senegal

Closing date for applications: 22nd May 2024

Contract status: Full-time

Start date: 15th June, 2024

Contract duration: Permanent

Remuneration: Competitive based on experience

We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities

Blue Ventures is a marine conservation organization that puts people first. We support coastal fishers in remote and rural communities to rebuild fisheries, restore ocean life and build lasting pathways to prosperity. Our work began two decades ago in Madagascar’s remote coastal communities and is growing globally.

Across a dozen countries, we’re partnering with traditional fishers and community organizations to design, scale, strengthen and sustain fisheries management and conservation at the community level. We bring partners together in networks to advocate for reform, and share tools and best practices to support fishing communities across the globe.

Summary job description

Our Partner Network team is responsible for the scoping, selection, relationship building, and ongoing stewardship of civil society and non-governmental organizations that partner with Blue Ventures globally. Partnership is at the core of Blue Ventures’ strategy, to seek out and support community-focused organizations by providing funding and technical assistance that can catalyze, expand, and sustain partners’ work in establishing community-based fisheries management and locally managed marine areas.

The Partner Network team is responsible for building and maintaining the relationship between Blue Ventures and these partners. This includes scoping and identifying potential civil society and non-governmental organizations, conducting needs assessments on capacity and funding requirements, and developing multi-year agreements to provide sustained support. We strongly believe in the power of networks and movement building and the Partner Network team is central in identifying and supporting opportunities for lateral learning and knowledge exchanges among partners, identifying capacity-building needs and organizational strengthening, and connecting the voices and experiences of partners to build a global community of practice that share an aligned vision of coastal fisheries reform that place communities at the center of lasting solutions.

We are currently recruiting a Partnership Coordinator to support the strategic development and expansion of our Partner Network from our hub in Dakar. Partnership Coordinators play a pivotal role in advancing the organization’s mission, expanding its influence, and contributing to impact through effective relationship building with civil society and non-governmental organizations that work directly with coastal communities. This role involves contributing to the formulation and execution of partnership growth strategies, nurturing relationships, fostering collaboration, and ensuring the success of partnership initiatives.

Reporting to the Head of Partnerships West Africa, this is a full-time role based in Senegal with regular travel to work closely with partners, colleagues, and communities.

This job requires extensive travel, including to remote locations, which may be weather and tide-dependent, and working across multiple time zones, therefore flexibility and adaptability will be key requirements to being successful in this role.

The successful candidate will be a motivated, proactive and highly organized individual, with an excellent knowledge of the context of rural communities, small-scale fisheries, and experience with community-based conservation and development initiatives in Senegal and the Gambia.

We are looking for an individual who is open to new ideas and embraces innovation, who can demonstrate experience of building and stewarding relationships for effective working partnerships for conservation and/or development. Assessment of applications will include candidates’ alignment with BV’s core values and mission to support human rights-based approaches to marine conservation and fisheries management.

You will thrive in environments that are collegiate and ambitious, and be able to demonstrate experience of working independently and as part of a high-functioning team to solve complex problems in challenging situations.