Environmental & Social Safeguards Manager

Job Summary

The Environmental and Social Safeguards Manager will lead the park-level environmental and social risk management system for Liuwa Plain National Park (LPNP). The role will translate African Parks policies, applicable Zambian law, partner commitments and recognised international good practice into practical safeguards controls across conservation, infrastructure, law enforcement, tourism, community development, research, procurement, contractor and other park activities.

The post-holder will provide independent, solutions-oriented advice to the Park Manager and management team; ensure early screening and proportionate assessment of environmental and social risks and impacts; coordinate implementation and monitoring of safeguards instruments and action plans; strengthen stakeholder engagement, grievance and remedy systems; and build a culture in which risks are identified, escalated and addressed before harm occurs.

The Manager will directly supervise and provide technical oversight to the Safeguards Officer, ensuring coherent implementation of ESS requirements, the Grievance and Redress Mechanism (GRM), Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), the Liuwa Plain National Park Land Use Plan (LUP), Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) safeguards, community awareness and safeguards data-management systems.

Standards and Operating Principles

• African Parks environmental and social safeguards policies, human rights commitments, Codes of Conduct and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Applicable laws, regulations, permits and institutional requirements of the Republic of Zambia.
• World Bank Environmental and Social Framework and its Environmental and Social Standards, where applicable to financing arrangements.
• United Nations environmental and social sustainability principles, including human rights, gender equality, 'leave no one behind', accountability and resilience.
• Relevant European Union financing conditions and good practice on human rights, environment, climate, biodiversity, labour, transparency, stakeholder participation and accountability, where applicable.
• International good practice, including the mitigation hierarchy, precautionary approach, meaningful consultation, non-retaliation, accessibility, confidentiality, survivor-centred response and adaptive management.

Key Responsibilities

The Environmental and Social Safeguards Manager is responsible for:

Governance, Leadership and Integration

• Own and maintain the park-level Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), annual safeguards work plan, prioritised risk register, compliance calendar, Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) and relevant budget inputs.
• Advise the Park Manager and management team on material environmental and social risks, legal and partner obligations, emerging issues and decisions requiring escalation.
• Integrate safeguards into project design, annual planning, procurement, contracting and operational reviews so that risks are identified and managed at the earliest stage.
• Supervise, coach and quality-assure the work of the Safeguards Officer, including implementation of GRM, LUP, FPIC, HWC-related safeguards, stakeholder engagement, awareness activities, databases and routine reporting.
• Clarify safeguards roles, accountability and escalation pathways across park departments, implementing partners, contractors and consultants.
• Promote a rights-based, inclusive and conflict-sensitive approach that recognises local communities and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), where applicable, as rights-holders.

Screening, Assessment and Management Instruments

• Establish and apply a documented environmental and social screening and risk-classification process for all new or materially changed activities.
• Determine, prepare or supervise proportionate safeguards instruments, including environmental and social assessments, management plans, labour procedures, stakeholder engagement plans, livelihood restoration instruments, cultural heritage procedures, security risk assessments and emergency response measures, as required.
• Apply the mitigation hierarchy: avoid; minimise; restore or rehabilitate; and compensate or offset only where appropriate and permitted.
• Maintain the ESAP with clear owners, deadlines, evidence and status, and verify closure of corrective actions rather than relying only on self-reporting.
• Ensure cumulative, indirect, associated-facility, transboundary and climate-related risks are considered where relevant.

Stakeholder Engagement, Inclusion and FPIC

• Map and periodically update stakeholders and rights-holders, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, vulnerable households, resource users, traditional authorities and groups facing barriers to participation.
• Ensure that Liuwa-specific stakeholder engagement appropriately includes the Barotse Royal Establishment, traditional leaders, Silalo Indunas, Village Headpersons, the Community Resource Boards, Village Action Groups, government institutions and affected communities.
• Plan and document timely, culturally appropriate, accessible and meaningful consultation throughout the activity life cycle, including disclosure in appropriate languages and formats.
• Assess when FPIC is required and coordinate credible, documented processes consistent with African Parks policy, applicable law and relevant partner standards.
• Ensure engagement is free from coercion, manipulation, intimidation and retaliation, and that stakeholder feedback demonstrably informs decisions.

Grievance, Remedy and Sensitive Complaints

• Manage an accessible, predictable, transparent and rights-compatible park-level GRM with multiple confidential reporting channels and clear service standards.
• Ensure the Safeguards Officer maintains complete and up-to-date grievance records and uses approved grievance dashboards/workflows and other digital systems for timely tracking, analysis, escalation and closure of cases.
• Support the Park Grievance Committee to screen, acknowledge, triage, investigate or refer, resolve and communicate grievance outcomes while preserving impartiality, confidentiality, due process and the complainant's right to use judicial or other mechanisms.
• Ensure separate, confidential and survivor-centred referral pathways for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEA/SH), gender-based violence, child safeguarding, retaliation, corruption and serious human-rights allegations.
• Maintain partnerships at local and district level with relevant human-rights, safeguards, civil-society and government actors to identify emerging ESS concerns and strengthen appropriate referral and monitoring arrangements.
• Analyse grievance trends and root causes, share anonymised lessons with management and track preventive and corrective actions.

Labour, Occupational Health and Safety, and Contractors

• Promote fair treatment, non-discrimination, equal opportunity, freedom from forced and child labour, respectful workplaces and accessible worker grievance arrangements.
• Coordinate with Human Resources and Operations on worker Codes of Conduct, induction, accommodation, workplace concerns and management of contracted workers.
• Assess occupational health and safety risks and monitor incident prevention, emergency preparedness, welfare and corrective actions in coordination with responsible technical leads.
• Embed environmental and social requirements in tender documents, contracts, scopes of work, evaluation criteria and contractor management plans.
• Conduct or oversee contractor due diligence, induction, field inspections and performance reviews, and recommend corrective, contractual or stop-work action for serious non-compliance.

Community Health, Safety, Security and Human Rights

• Oversee safeguards aspects of HWC prevention and mitigation, ensure timely coordination of responses with Law Enforcement and other responsible teams, and ensure accurate records are maintained through approved HWC tools and databases.
• Assess and monitor risks to communities arising from vehicles, infrastructure, disease, hazardous materials, HWC, security operations and emergency events.
• Coordinate human-rights-compliant security risk management, including vetting, training, procedures, incident reporting, oversight and remedy, in collaboration with park leadership and law-enforcement leads.
• Ensure allegations involving use of force, abuse, intimidation, exploitation, retaliation or other serious human-rights concerns are immediately preserved, escalated and handled through authorised investigation and referral protocols.
• Coordinate or support human-rights, safeguarding, FPIC, GRM and conduct training for rangers, staff, contractors, community structures and partners.

Land Use Planning, Land, Access, Livelihoods and Cultural Heritage

• Provide strategic oversight of implementation of the Liuwa Plain National Park Land Use Plan (LUP), working through the Safeguards Officer and in close coordination with traditional leaders, communities, VAGs, the LCRB and relevant government institutions.
• Ensure systems are in place to monitor compliance with land-use regulations, document stakeholder engagement, manage land-use grievances and conflicts, and track corrective actions and implementation progress.
• Ensure land-use planning is integrated with HWC mitigation, sustainable livelihoods, conservation objectives and community development interventions.
• Identify and manage risks related to land acquisition, restrictions on access to land or natural resources, physical or economic displacement, tenure, customary rights and livelihood impacts.
• Prioritise avoidance of displacement and livelihood impacts; where impacts cannot be avoided, coordinate assessment, consultation, compensation, livelihood restoration, monitoring and completion verification in accordance with approved instruments.
• Ensure particular attention is given to vulnerable households, people without formal title, host communities and other groups at risk of disproportionate impact.
• Implement cultural-heritage screening, community consultation, chance-find procedures and protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Biodiversity, Resource Efficiency, Pollution and Climate

• Work with Conservation and Operations teams to identify biodiversity, habitat and ecosystem-service dependencies and impacts, including critical or sensitive habitats and invasive-species risks.
• Monitor pollution prevention, waste and hazardous-material management, water and energy efficiency, pesticide use, emissions, spill prevention and remediation.
• Integrate climate mitigation, adaptation, disaster-risk and resilience considerations into safeguards screening, design and monitoring.
• Ensure applicable permits, licences, monitoring records and emergency arrangements are current and auditable.

Monitoring, Incidents, Reporting and Assurance

• Develop safeguards indicators and a risk-based monitoring programme covering field verification, community feedback, contractor compliance and implementation effectiveness.
• Maintain complete, accurate and securely controlled records suitable for internal review, donor assurance and external audit.
• Immediately escalate fatalities, serious injuries, significant pollution, major community conflict, security or human-rights incidents, SEA/SH allegations and other material events through prescribed channels.
• Coordinate root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive action, lessons learned and verification of closure.
• Prepare concise monthly dashboards, quarterly management reports, donor/partner reports and annual safeguards performance reviews, distinguishing outputs from outcomes.
• In coordination with the Safeguards Officer and Park Grievance Committee, prepare or quality-assure safeguards briefs, analyses and communications required by donors and other authorised stakeholders.
• Coordinate and support independent NGO monitoring, audits and evaluations, and ensure management responses and agreed actions are tracked to closure.

Capacity Building and Organisational Learning

• Conduct safeguards capacity assessments and deliver an annual training and coaching plan for employees, rangers, contractors, community structures and partners.
• Develop practical tools, checklists, induction materials, case studies and refresher modules suited to Liuwa's remote field context.
• Build departmental ownership by coaching safeguards focal persons while retaining accountability for overall safeguards quality assurance.
• Capture and share lessons, good practices and recurring control weaknesses with the Regional Safeguards Manager and relevant technical teams.

Decision Rights and Escalation

• Access sites, records, consultations and personnel required for safeguards assurance, subject to confidentiality and security protocols.
• Require corrective action and recommend suspension or stop-work where there is imminent danger, serious rights risk, material legal breach or significant non-compliance.
• Maintain direct technical access to the Regional Safeguards Manager and prompt access to the Park Manager for material risks and incidents.
• Preserve evidence, avoid interference with authorised investigations, protect complainants and escalate conflicts of interest; retaliation for good-faith reporting is prohibited.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in environmental or social sciences, law, human rights, development studies, natural resource management, occupational health and safety, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of five (5) to seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in environmental and social risk management, including at least three years leading safeguards implementation in complex field operations.
• A postgraduate qualification in Human Rights, Law, International Development, Conservation, Environmental and Social Safeguards or a related field will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated practical experience applying international environmental and social standards, preparing or supervising risk assessments and management plans, and monitoring corrective actions.
• Proven experience in stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms, land or natural-resource access issues, human rights and working with vulnerable or marginalised groups.
• Experience managing sensitive incidents and confidential information with sound judgment, trauma-informed practice and disciplined escalation.
• Experience managing contractor environmental and social performance and working across multidisciplinary operational teams.
• Excellent written and spoken English, including st

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