Conservation Finance Manager

Position Overview

The Conservation Finance Manager leads the development and delivery of strategic finance solutions that enable inclusive, ethical, and locally relevant conservation. The role also serves as the finance focal point for the conservation practice, ensuring that financial systems, partnerships, and innovations actively support Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), protected and conservation sector, and WWF’s mission.

Main Functions

1. Strategic Finance Leadership

• Design and implement a 3–5-year conservation finance strategy aligned with WWF Namibia’s conservation priorities articulated in the Strategic Plan and the Roadmap 2030, as well as the evolving needs of the national CBNRM programme and biodiversity conservation.
• Develop, pilot, document tailored finance solutions that channel investment toward community conservation, protected areas, and nature-positive livelihoods.

​​​​​​​2. Practice Focal Point and Conservation Finance Innovation Lead

• Serve as the country office focal point to the WWF Global Conservation Finance Practice, contributing WWF CO and Namibian insights to global, regional, and sub-regional dialogues.
• Lead in piloting innovative mechanisms such as conservation trust funds, biodiversity credits, green microfinance, and community enterprise investment models.

3. Conservation Finance focal point: Doers at Scale

• Support the implementation and scale-up of conservation finance activities—especially the Doers at Scale initiative—ensuring effective coordination, financial administration, and meaningful engagement with Namibia’s institutions, community conservation actors, public and private sectors, and partners.
• Provide day-to-day coordination of Doers at Scale activities, ensuring smooth implementation and documentation of milestones and budgets when applicable.
• Track timelines, deliverables, and grant outputs for all community-based conservation finance initiatives.
• Collaborate with MEFT, NACSO, NGOs, and local public and private sector actors and stakeholders to coordinate conservation finance interventions and share progress.
• Organize finance-related training, learning exchanges, and stakeholder briefings to enhance visibility and accountability.

4.Inclusive Conservation & Ethical Practice

• Ensure proper integration of the Do No Harm and Do Good principles into all conservation finance frameworks and funding proposals.
• Ensure financial models promote inclusive conservation, addressing equity, gender, and rights-based approaches for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), particularly CSOs, CBOs, community forests, and conservancies, etc.
• Promote transparency, benefit-sharing, and participatory planning with communities and CBNRM stakeholders.

5. CBNRM Stakeholder Engagement

• Foster strong, trust-based partnerships with Offices, Ministries and Agencies of the Government, particularly the MEFT (Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism), EIF, GPTF, as well as NACSO, BELWG, CCFN, CSOs, CBOs, and other CBNRM stakeholders.
• Support the co-creation of finance strategies, solutions, and joint ventures that build long-term financial sustainability for CBOs and locally managed natural resources.

6. Financial Oversight & Risk Management

• Oversee budgeting, scenario planning, and investment appraisals for high-impact conservation projects.
• Ensure full compliance with WWF standards, donor regulations, and Namibian financial laws.
• Lead internal financial risk assessments and contribute to organizational due diligence procedures.