Community Development Manager

Community Development Manager

African Parks Network

Badingilo National Park, South Sudan

Contract

Posted 23 September 2026

Job Details

Division Badingilo National Park

Minimum experience Mid-Senior

Company primary industry Non-profit Organisation Management

Job functional area Project Management

Job Description

BACKGROUND:

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on responsibility for the long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities. African Parks manages 24 protected areas in 13 countries covering over 20 million hectares.

In South Sudan, African Parks supports the management of the Great Nile Migration Landscape (GNML), centred around Badingilo National Park, Boma National Park, and the Jonglei landscape. Covering more than 120,000 km², the landscape supports the world’s largest remaining terrestrial mammal migration and is of major ecological importance regionally and globally

JOB OVERVIEW:

The Community Development Manager leads African Parks’ community programme for Badingilo National Park and its surrounding communities and is accountable for the delivery of the Community Development Plan (CDP). As the Park’s lead for community and external stakeholder engagement, the role builds and maintains strong relationships with local communities, traditional authorities, county and payam authorities, government partners and relevant organisations, while building a strong constituency for conservation through the 3E+ Strategy—Engagement, Education and Economy—and the development of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) approaches. The role also contributes to the development and implementation of participatory land-use plans by supporting community engagement, consultation and local-level validation.

MAIN ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Community and Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the Park's lead relationship manager with communities, traditional authorities, county and payam authorities, community institutions and relevant partners.
• Maintain a regular field presence and build trusted relationships across the Lafon, western boundary and Mangalla North-Gemeiza community zones.
• Develop and implement engagement plans that reflect the governance arrangements, needs, risks and conservation priorities of each zone.
• Establish and support representative community engagement mechanisms, with meaningful participation by women, youth, displaced people and other groups that may be excluded.
• Maintain an up-to-date stakeholder map, identify emerging concerns early and advise the Park Manager and relevant departments on appropriate responses.
• Represent the Park in community and local-government forums as delegated, and ensure that commitments are authorised, recorded and followed through.
• Community Development Plan and 3E+ Delivery
• Translate the CDP into annual workplans, budgets, implementation schedules and measurable performance targets.
• Lead delivery of the 3E+ strategy across engagement, education and economic opportunity, calibrated to the priorities and conditions of each community zone.
• Develop and manage education, livelihood, enterprise and community-capacity initiatives included in approved park plans and budgets.
• Use clear selection criteria and transparent communication so that communities understand the Park's role, available resources and limits.
• Develop partnerships with government, civil-society organisations and technical specialists where they add practical value to programme delivery.
• Participatory Land Use Planning and Demarcation
• Lead community-facing implementation of participatory land-use planning, boundary engagement and related consultation within the Badingilo landscape.
• Support the MWCT-led demarcation process through local-authority engagement, consultation with chiefs and landholders, participatory mapping and community validation, consistently presenting the work as clarification of the existing designation.
• Ensure that customary rights, seasonal resource use, settlement patterns, livelihood needs and culturally important areas are documented and incorporated into planning processes.
• Organise and facilitate FPIC processes where required, in accordance with approved safeguards procedures and in coordination with the Safeguards Manager.
• Work with the Land Use Coordinator on methodology and landscape integration.
• Community Governance and CBNRM
• Assess community readiness for community-based natural resource management using clear and evidence-based criteria.
• Support legitimate and representative community institutions to define membership, decision-making procedures, accountability arrangements and natural-resource management rules.
• Advance viable conservancy and community-conservation initiatives adjacent to the Park, subject to community readiness and government approval.
• Lead community consultation on conservation-compatible livelihoods and approved opportunities linked to sustainable resource use, tourism and other forms of benefit sharing.
• Support the development of policy and regulatory approaches where requested, while ensuring that policy ownership remains with the appropriate government and African Parks functions.
• Rights Safeguards and Operational Integration
• Implement approved safeguards and consultation requirements in all community-facing activities and maintain complete records of information shared, representation, concerns and decisions.
• Provide community information and facilitate consultations required for environmental and social due diligence and action plans led by the Safeguards function.
• Support accessible grievance and feedback mechanisms and work with the Safeguards Manager and Human Rights Coordinator to ensure that complaints are recorded and referred appropriately.
• Work with Law Enforcement, Conservation, GIS, Infrastructure and other departments to integrate community perspectives and reduce avoidable conflict in park operations.
• Coordinate community responses to human-wildlife conflict and deliver approved awareness activities on relevant wildlife, land and local-government legislation.
• Department Management Monitoring and Reporting
• Recruit, lead and develop a capable, field-oriented and accountable community team with clear responsibilities and performance expectations.
• Manage the department's budget, logistics and field operations in accordance with approved plans and African Parks procedures.
• Maintain practical monitoring systems that track participation, expenditure, outputs, outcomes and lessons learned, supported by credible field evidence.
• Produce timely weekly, monthly and annual reports and contribute to proposals, donor reporting and management reviews as required.
• Ensure consistent coordination and information-sharing within the community team and across all Park departments.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• A qualification in community development, development studies, social science, natural-resource management or a related field.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience spanning community-facing fieldwork and programme management, including supe