Myanmar: Project Manager – Sustainable Production

Position title: Project Manager – Sustainable Production, WWF Myanmar
Directly reports to: Sustainable Business Programme Manager, WWF Myanmar
Supervises: Project Officer, WWF Myanmar
Validity: 4 years (with possible extension)
Location: Yangon, Myanmar, with regular national and regional travels

Background

WWF Myanmar was established in 2013 and is working to conserve the country’s biodiversity and build a sustainable future for people and wildlife. The focus is on promoting green economy within national policies, and sustaining and protecting biodiversity and ecological connectivity of the transboundary Dawna Tenasserim Landscape (DTL) through an integrated landscape approach, and the Ayeyarwady river basin through an integrated river basin approach. Find out more at www.panda.org/greatermekong.

Industries, particularly the food and beverage (F&B) sector, have a major opportunity, and responsibility, to transform their business so that the use of natural resources has the lowest possible impact on biodiversity and natural ecosystems. They can invest in potentially profitably green technologies. However, to do so, an enabling environment for green investments needs to be developed. This includes having favourable policy incentives for investments in energy efficiency, water management and waste water treatment as well as having easy access to finance and affordable technical expertise. Moreover, compelling business cases for investments in green technologies need to be demonstrated on the ground to increase willingness of the industry to invest in these technologies.

To achieve green investments at scale, domestic finance, particularly from private banks, needs to be mobilized. The project would support local banks to understand the risks and returns for green technologies and help them to develop tools and framework to manage these risks.
The project is funded through EU-Switch Asia programme and the project partners are the Myanmar Food Processing Export Association (MFPEA) and the German Sparkassenstiftung (SBFIC). The project will directly contribute to WWF Myanmar’s goals on climate & energy and on healthy rivers.

I. Major Function

The Project Manager will lead the overall implementation of the Sustainable Production project “Catalysing Sustainable Water and Energy Management in Food and Beverage Industries in the Ayeyarwady River Basin”, which aims to demonstrate and scale up green investments in energy efficiency and waste water treatment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the F&B Sector.

The overall objective of the project is: “Cleaner production in the Myanmar F&B sector is promoted, improving the sector’s environmental performance and contributing to a ‘green economy’”.
In order to achieve this, the specific objective is: “As a result of policies, business support structures, increased capacity and improved access to finance, SMEs in the F&B sector in Myanmar are enabled to adopt sustainable energy and water management practices by 2021”. Major Responsibilities

Overall project Management: Responsible for the management and implementation of Sustainable Production project and contribute to WWF Myanmar’s conservation targets on energy and freshwater. The key responsibilities include:

Managerial Responsibilities:

1. Working closely with project partners –MFPEA, SBFIC and WWF Germany - to develop and implement an annual work plan, budget plan and timelines
2. Strengthening relations/cooperation with key ministries and administrative bodies and developing and implementing annual work plan and budget for policy and monitoring component of the project
3. Working with project partners and collaborators to develop a mechanism to unlock local and international capital in energy efficiency and water stewardship
4. Developing and managing a high performance project team of total five members, assigning roles and responsibilities and ensuring high quality outputs and outcomes
5. Leveraging strategic communication tools to enhance the impact of the project, its visibility and promote sharing of knowledge within Myanmar and outside in line with the communication guidelines of EU Switch Asia Network Facility
6. Organising and conducting workshops, study tours, training, experiments and site assessments with the SMEs, experts and associated partners as part of the activities of the project
7. Drawing on synergies and cooperation with existing projects from other donors on sustainable production and innovative green financing mechanism
8. Ensuring highest quality and timely monitoring and reporting to WWF Germany and EU delegation in Myanmar
9. Ensuring close exchange with WWF Germany on strategic decisions, planning and management as well as technical support
10. Convening semi-annual project steering group meeting and provide update on the progress of the project
11. Managing overall project activities, human resources and budget/administrative related issues in compliance with EU and WWF standards

Technical responsibilities:

1. Understanding the industrial level energy and water related issues in the country in terms of potentials and barriers of the industries to invest in green technologies
2. Understanding development work, project’s theory of change and developing simple communication tools and documents on why environmental conservation is critically important and beneficial to industries and other stakeholders
3. Communicating value proposition and building trust with key stakeholders. The stakeholders include, but are not limited to, government, MFPEA, banks, communities, universities, investment funds, and CSOs
4. Supporting the ministries in strengthening their capabilities and providing them tools and methods to incentivize and monitor waste water and energy efficiency in industry
5. Initiating a public-private dialoge with key stakeholders to agree on policy changes, timelines, support mechanism and roles and responsibilities for a more sustainable industrial sector*Contribution to WWF Conservation Targets:* Work closely with the Sustainable Business Program Manager, Energy Manager, and Freshwater Program Manager to ensure contribution to WWF renewable energy and freshwater goals. Work closely with the Sustainable Business team to leverage innovative financing mechanism to catalyse green investment.

Partnerships, networks, communications and advocacy:

1. Develop partnerships and establish a network with key stakeholders including business owners, association leads, relevant ministeries and financial institutions
2. Ensure relations and frequenct communication with WWF network offices and WWF Germany and EU delegation in Myanmar
3. Develop and implement a strategic and operational plan to achieve the objective of the project and to have a communication and visibility strategy in place*

Thought Leadership:

1. Contribute to WWF global work on energy, freshwater and finance by providing case studies and sharing theory of change
2. Represent WWF’s Sustainable Production project in external and internal events, workshops and conferences

II. Working Relationships

1. Internal
   Interact on a regular basis with a) Sustainable Business Programme Manager, Conservation Director, Water Programme Manager, Energy Manager, Communication Director to ensure smooth project implementation b) WWF Germany offices to report on the progress of the project, on strategic and technical decisions, monitoring & evaluation and change requests c) Project partners d) WWF network for knowledge sharing
2. External
   Interact with relevant ministeries and government bodies – MoNREC, MoI, MoPF. YCDC, MCDC, MoH, private association and member companies – MFPEA, MIA and MRMA, industrial zone committees, Central Bank of Myanmar, Myanmar Banks Association, private banks and local NGOs and CSOs as well as other development donors.

III. Requirements

Education and Experience

• Bachelor and/or Master degree in economics, business, finance, engineering, environmental management, sustainable production or related field
• 5 years of extensive practical experience in managing and implementing projects in development cooperation in the fields of private sector/ SME development, corporate environmental management, natural resource management, sustainable finance, energy management, freshwater management/waste water treatment, or related area, out of which 2 years should be related to sustainable production, preferably in SMEs
• Proven experiences in project management, including technical and financial management
• Experiences in leadership position & staff management
• Experience in facilitating public-private dialogue and developing a shared understanding, strategies and action plan
• Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of Myanmar language is desirable. This position is open to both Myanmar and International applicants
• Proven experience of working in Myanmar or South East Asia
• Experience in Managing EU funded projects will be a distinct advantage

General Skill

• People management, coaching and capacity building/development
• Presentation and communications
• Planning and organisation
• Proficiency in MS Office
• Financial management
• Strategic thinking, decision making, report writing
• Problem solving and management of conflict, risk, and crisis
• Monitoring and evaluation

IV. WWF's Mission and Values

It is part of every staff member's terms of reference to contribute to WWF's mission:
WWF’s Mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

• conserving the world's biological diversity
• ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• reducing pollution and wasteful consumption.
  It is also part of every staff member's terms of reference to embody WWF's values, which are Engaging, Optimistic, Determined and Knowledgeable.

Interested candidates should email vacancy.mm@wwfgreatermekong.org or send a hard copy cover letter and curriculum vitae in English to 15C, Than Taman Street, Dagon Township Yangon, stating the applied position title. Email application documents should be addressed as Document_Yourfullname