Legal and Compliance Officer

Want to make a positive difference to the future of people and our one shared home, the Earth? Working with WWF could be your opportunity of a lifetime:

All around the world, people are waking up to the deepening crisis of nature loss. A growing realization that nature is our life-support system. And that nobody will be spared from the impacts of its loss. Here at WWF, we are helping to tackle this enormous global challenge.

Our people come from hugely diverse backgrounds and with a variety of expertise, ranging from HR and finance to advocacy and conservation science. We welcome applications from anyone who believes they can help us create a better future for people and wildlife.

What we do:

We are an independent conservation organization, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.

For our Country Office in Cameroon, we are looking for a dynamic and committed Legal and compliance Officer who will review all incoming and outgoing contracts from a legal perspective and advise the WWF CCO (Cameroon Country Office) Country Director on potential legal risks with sound mitigating proposals.

Reports to

Country Director

Location

Yaounde, Cameroon

Mission of the Department:

Team Purpose Conservation and Operations

• Ensures that WWF Africa and its country offices develop and maintain positive and effective fundraising;
• Ensures WWF CCO legal contract compliance;
• Contributes to the policy dimensions of conservation activities of WWF CCO, in particular support to the development, follow-up, implementation and evaluation of CCO strategy and plans related to International, regional and national conventions, laws, regulations, policies, guidelines, agreements and standards.

Job Purpose:

CCO Fundraising (50%)

• Contributes to solutions to ensure that Country Office and field programs comply with donor agreements; e.g. timely technical and financial reporting;
• Contributes towards ensuring effective implementation of WWF’s project proposal and contract management systems and adherence of staff to WWF Network Standards;
• Supports in identifying major reputational risks for WWF related to execution of grant and partnerships contracts.

CCO Contract management and compliance

• Ensures the authoring, review and legal compliance of WWF CCO agreements with national legislation and WWF internal policies;
• Contributes on a case by case basis to the knowledge, developments, implementation and evaluation of WWF CCO specific work and activities in relation to conservation policy tools, laws, regulations, policies, conventions standards and plans.

Major functions:

Fundraising

• Manage and monitor all project proposals and contracts via the Grants Management System to ensure that procedures are respected for each proposal;
• Maintain a project proposal and contract filling system and proactively reporting on the status of proposals and contracts to proposal leads, Programme Managers and senior management on a frequent (monthly or quarterly as needed) basis;
• Ensure thorough compliance of procedures through support to program staff in understanding and implementing donor requirements.

Contract management and compliance

• Lead on coordination and management of the all CCO agreements including providing regular updates;
• Ensure communication and follow-up with Country Management Team (CMT) and Country Leadership Team (CLT) on issues raised;
• Conduct due diligence and quality control on all WWF contracts (incoming and outgoing) in conformity with WWF network standards and the national legislations;
• Providing legal advice and guidance on all aspects of contracting functions, advising management and service providers on wide ranging and complex technical and other issues relating to organizational procurement.

Governance and compliance

• Ensure support provided to field offices for management of project cycle and compliance requirements as per donor requirements;
• Ensure the liaison between WWF CCO and the Governance Practice;
• Provide technical support to mainstream global conventions (CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change),etc[W1] …) and influence the policy dialogue with key stakeholders.

Major duties:

Fundraising

• Manage the contract management database and support the analysis to extract important information that can support decision-making by program/project managers, CMT and CLT.

Legal and Contract management

• Strategically develop and advise action on the implementation of operational policies and guidelines, as well as contracts and agreements with third parties and other legal documents. Draft, review and comment on revisions of such documents (Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs), Partnership agreements, consultancy agreements, etc.);
• Draft and review all incoming and outgoing contracts and advise the WWF CCO Country Director on potential legal risks with sound mitigating measures.
• Develop, support, and advise country offices in relation to legal and fiduciary oversight relating to the Regional/Country and WWF Partners;
• Ensures that partnership and sub-contract related administrative processes and procedures are consistently implemented throughout the program, including pre-award compliance checks, agreements, disbursements and reporting;
• Develop and monitor contract management programs pre and post award, providing training and guidance to support the implementation of work relative to contract and ethical issues (Fraud & corruption, social policies, respect in the work place);
• Supports the training and capacity building to all WWF staff and partners on contract management, donor compliance etc.
  • Provide expert advice on governance and legal issues, to ensure proper and effective governance and fiduciary oversight of WWF;

Governance and Compliance

• In liaison with WWF International and WWF Regional Office for Africa (RoA), ensure proposals meet internal standards, are aligned with the national legislation, CCO’s strategic plan and comply with donor requirements;
• Support the advocacy for the systematic embedment of governance issues in CCO’s strategic plan;
• Represent WWF CCO in all meetings, calls events organized by the Governance practice.

Profile:

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in law. A background in Conservation and environment studies is an asset;
• At least 4+ years of legal experience in an NGO or similar setting;
• Corporate law experience preferably in conservation and in public relationship – essential.

Required Skills and Competencies

• Experience working with donors/partners and private sector;
• Demonstrated ability to create legal defensive or proactive strategies;
• Good communication, networking and influencing skills – both written and verbal in English and French;
• Experience on managing external legal counsels;
• Attention to details, highly analytical, critical reading to maintain impartiality when reviewing a report;
• Be willing to advocate for a conservation that consider human development;
• Adhere to WWF’s values: Respect, Integrity, Courage and Collaboration.

Working Relationships:

Internal – WWF National Offices (NOs), Governance practice, conservation and operations Departments across the network, CCO Senior Management team, other CCO staff members;

External – When delegated, represent WWF in a variety of informal and formal meetings / forums with external networks, donors, partners, service providers, other NGOs, consortia, and share minutes.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.