Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

MIKE sub-regional support assignments

1. The Secretariat hereby transmits a "Call for expressions of interest" concerning the MIKE sub-regional support assignments.

2. The Secretariat requests the Parties to circulate the attachment to potential applicants.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

MIKE sub-regional support assignments

Background

The Conference of the Parties to CITES, at CoP11 [in Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.)], agreed that the system known as Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), established under the supervision of the Standing Committee should continue and be expanded. Annex 2 of the Resolution describes the scope and methodology, but essentially MIKE is a site-based sampling system, which will provide information at national, sub-regional and continental levels in Africa and Asia, under the coordination of a MIKE Central Coordination Unit, headed by the MIKE Director. Information on MIKE is provided on the CITES website (www.cites.org).

Africa is organized into four sub-regions (West, Central, Southern and East) and Asia is arranged into two sub-regions (East and South East). The European Commission has agreed to provide funds for MIKE implementation in all four sub-regions of Africa over an 18-month period. The Secretariat is still seeking the funds needed for MIKE implementation in Asia.

It is therefore seeking expressions of interest, from suitably qualified persons, who would wish to contribute to MIKE implementation in the role of a Sub-regional Support Officer.

Duties

Each Sub-regional Support Officer (SSO) will:

1. be responsible for providing technical assistance to the Sub-Regional Steering Group (the Chairman of each such group is currently called the Sub-regional Coordinator), and will provide technical assistance to the National Officers and the Site Officers within the sub-region;

2. work at the site level in order to facilitate the full functioning of that site in its use of the data collection protocols approved by MIKE’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG);

3. also work at national levels in relation to aerial surveys, etc.;

4. facilitate the storing, analysis, management and onward flow of site data at national levels;

5. be responsible for overseeing the delivery of training required in the sub-region;

6. coordinate the storage, analysis, management and onward flow of the national information at sub-regional levels;

7. be responsible for overseeing the implementation of budgets allocated to the sub-regions and for the reporting of expenditures;

8. provide progress reports in accordance with the reporting procedures provided by the MIKE Director; and

9. be answerable directly to the MIKE Director.

Assignments

1. The assignment will initially be for 18 months and the locations will be:

AFRICA: (West) Ouagadougou, (Central) still to be determined, (Southern) Windhoek and (East) Nairobi.

ASIA: (East) still to be determined, (South East) Bangkok.

Qualifications and experience

1. SSOs must have the technical competence to fully understand and provide training in the methodologies required by MIKE as well as competence in the analysis and management of the information collected. Familiarity with Microsoft Office (especially Access) and Arcview will be important.

2. SSOs should have a minimum of five years’ experience in elephant population survey work, anti-poaching efforts, etc. related to the savannah and forest ecosystems relevant to one or more of the sub-regions.

3. SSOs must demonstrate an ability and willingness to work in the field, achieve expected outputs on time and with adequate quality and undertake professional administration and reporting activities.

4. For West and Central Africa, fluency in French as well as English will be essential.

5. SSOs should have a university degree, preferably a higher degree, in a subject matter that directly relates to the experience and technical skills required by the duties listed above.

Expressions of interest

Any person interested in any of these sub-regional assignments should apply to the CITES Secretariat (marked for the attention of the MIKE Director) [cites@unep.ch].

The communication should indicate which sub-region(s) the applicant wishes to be considered for and a CV should be attached. The financial package being offered is c. USD5,000 per month. All applications should be submitted not later than 31 May 2001.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.