Specialist, Wildlife Policy

General Purpose:

Work with the Wildlife Protection department in India, and the global Wild Animals department at Humane World for Animals to advocate for policy reform, conduct policy research required for it, and build institutional capacity that furthers the organization’s goals of enabling coexistence between communities and wild animals and reduces commodification of wildlife.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Policy Development and Implementation (70%)

• Coordinates with Director, Government Affairs to develop working relationship with multiple central government agencies, including the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, New Delhi.
• Coordinates with Director, Government Affairs to develop partnership with the Indian government’s CITES Cell and other non-government organizations that periodically represent India at CITES CoP
• Explore avenues of collaboration with SAWEN and its member nations, and the India UNEP office.
• Lead Humane World for Animals India’s efforts to protect wild animals through legislative reform.
• Represents Humane World for Animals India on government committees and at meetings in any region required.
• Assist Director, Wildlife in the development of any manuals, guidelines or policies as may be required by the government agencies.
• Works with Department of Government Affairs and legal counsel to legally amend or defend any policy or legislation that is detrimental to the interest of wildlife welfare.
• Routinely brief Humane World for Animals India’s legal counsel on the matter as required and assist in collating all supporting documents required for a particular matter.
• Coordinates with Director, Government Affairs to develop interventions or public comments, speaking for or against, a proposed government policy or legislation in consultation with Humane World.

Research (30%)

• Works with Director, Wildlife Protection and Senior Manager, Human-Wildlife Coexistence to identify gaps in policy research concerning wildlife protection and welfare of wild animals.
• Builds proposals and executes research with thorough methodology to conduct primary or secondary, qualitative, or quantitative research on key issues concerning terrestrial and marine wildlife issues.
• Serves as a liaison between Humane World for Animals India and various other research institutes or independent researchers to collaborate on work undertaken as needed.
• Proactively identifies gaps in policies governing wildlife in the country and works with Director, Wildlife Protection and Director, Government Affairs to develop strategy to fills those gaps through any intervention required either in the form of white papers, reports, papers published in peer-reviewed journals etc.
• Works to build a library of subscription to wildlife, nature, and social science related journals.
• Actively enables collaboration with pure wildlife research and policy research organizations across the country.
• Develops and executes studies to gauge the effectiveness of current legislation and policies concerning wildlife protection in the country.
• Uses methods such as right to information act, letters and in-person meetings to collect information on state-specific wildlife statistics and information on regional government orders issued that may affect wildlife protection status.
• Coordinates and conducts any workshops/conference/programs/roundtables that Humane World for Animals India’s wildlife department may conduct to fulfil the department’s objectives.
• Serve as the organization’s representative on government bodies, committees, and such concerning wildlife policies.
• Develop program reports, grant applications and fundraising proposals as need be.
• Liaisons with partner organizations across multiple states to ensure their participation in any programs conducted by the wildlife department of Humane World for Animals India.
• Works with wild animals’ department of Humane World to develop any working documents or proposals or letters as may be required for international conferences such as CITES, CMS, IWC etc.
• Any other task or responsibilities as may be assigned by Director, Wildlife or Managing Director, Humane World for Animals India.

Desired Minimum Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and Experience

• Graduate degree required (bachelor’s degree in law preferred).
• A minimum of four (4) years of experience in policy advocacy, research and working with government agencies.

Necessary Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of the animal welfare and protection sector.
• Thorough with legal research tools such as Manupatra, SCC and others.
• Knowledge of government and governance systems a must.
• Must be willing to travel domestically and internationally as required.
• Broad base of contacts amongst government institutions preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, Hindi and one other regional language.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook etc.) and other basic computer applications.
• Attention to detail and commitment to excellence demonstrated by the delivery of quality and timely outcomes.
• Strong interpersonal skills are necessary.
• Strong negotiating skills.
• Proficiency of basic computer applications and the internet.
• Ability to communicate complex subject matter to a variety of audiences.
• Experience in report writing and collating data.
• Strong interest in animal protection issues preferred.

Supervision Exercised:

Oversee interns and volunteers, if required.