KMCC Assistant Team Manager and community-based conservation projects.
The overall responsibility is assisting the KMCC Team Manager with the management of KMCC, ensuring the development of the team and delivery of Kew’s projects in Madagascar. The focus of the role is to lead a small group of 3 or more staff within KMCC, developing effective strategies for engaging local communities in conservation, including protected area management and endangered species conservation. The wider issues to be addressed include food security, sustainable livelihoods and adaptation to climate change. The main responsibility is protected area management as this gives Kew the opportunity to work with communities within a legal framework, developing conservation and development programmes that can be scaled-up and applied outside of the protected area system where necessary. Model plant groups include yams and orchids and this post will provide over-view management for the KMCC staff working on these groups. The yams project is developing capacity for communities to conserve and sustainably utilise threatened species that are important sources of food during seasonal famine. The orchid project is developing methods for in-situ and ex-situ conservation of critically endangered species and aims to help define prioritisation protocols and develop a conservation action plan for Madagascar’s orchids.