Cameroon: PHASE II RANGER PERCEPTION SURVEY DELIVERY

Duration: 03 months (April to June 2018)

I. Background of assignment

Park rangers are known to undertake one of the most dangerous works in the field of conservation and this situation is amplified with the increased militarization and industrialization of poaching and IWT. Meanwhile rangers continue to work in precarious and hazardous conditions across Africa’s parks. Although there has been an attempt to better understand how rangers feel about their work, their major concerns, challenges, and rewards, as well as their overall job satisfaction, a lot still needs to be done to complete and report on ranger working conditions and welfare.

It is in this regard that the first Ranger Perception survey for Africa was carried in 2016 involving 570 rangers from 65 sites in 12 countries (including four in Central Africa i.e. Cameroon, CAR, Congo and Gabon). This survey led to the following key results: 82% of rangers have faced life threatening situations, 59% believe they are ill equipped, 42% believe they are inadequately trained, 75% have been threatened by communities or other people, 77% see their family for 10 days or less per month.

The survey also formulated three key recommendations to the attention of governments and their partners which are: (i) make targeted interventions to improve basic employment conditions for rangers; (ii) ensure equipment levels and training are adequate to improve ranger effectiveness and (iii) conduct further studies to improve ranger welfare, job satisfaction and motivation, and help facilitate attempts by other organizations to do the same. It is in the framework of the overall implementation of the ZP approach (with a focus on Capacity pillar), and specifically the implementation of recommendations of Phase I Ranger Perception Survey Africa that WWF intends to carry out a second Phase with the aim to better understand the perspectives, opinions and ground level realities in terms of job stress, job satisfaction, corruption, and working and living conditions of rangers operating in protected areas throughout Africa.

The survey was designed to be as comprehensive as possible, and introduce large amounts of actionable data in a field that is currently poorly understood. The first section deals with ranger perceptions of their work, and is meant to be useful to government officials who want to instill changes targeting ranger motivation. The second section deals with more specific factors relating to their employment and work in the field; this section is designed to allow government to pinpoint the exact elements of their programs that might be modified in future planning. It should increase the safety of these public employees, as well as their effectiveness in the fight against well-armed criminal operations.

The surveys would be distributed to those rangers who are active in patrolling/field duty, and staff member trained on survey delivery will be on site to distribute and collect surveys, and answer any questions survey-takers may have. The survey aim’s to sample 20% of the ranger force in Cameroon, CAR and Congo in national parks and formal protected areas. Below is the proposed list of sites to be covered: - For Cameroon (06): Lobeke, Boumba Bek, Nki, Campo, Mount Cameroon national parks, Dja Biosphere Reserve, Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary; - For Congo (03): ETIC, Odzala-Kokoua, Nouabale-Ndoki national parks; - For CAR (01): Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas.

II. Objective of the consultancy

The Consultant will be tasked with delivering phase II of the Ranger Perception Survey in Central Africa (Cameroon, CAR and Congo).

III. Scope of work/major responsibilities

Under the supervision of the WWF Central Africa Wildlife Crime Programme Coordinator, the Consultant will:

• Translate as appropriate the surveys materials to be distributed to rangers;

• Inform government bodies relevant to this project and secure essential approvals to deliver the surveys; in situations where a site proves to be off limits despite best efforts, appropriate adjustments/ alternative sites will be secured for survey delivery;

• Design and finalize a survey delivery plan and timeline, and participate in one-day WWF-led survey delivery and data compilation training workshop (online participation);

• Deliver surveys on-site and conduct brief follow-up interview questions with a subset of these survey takers; - Compile the collected survey data and conduct the data coding in the format provided by WWF.

IV. Outputs/ deliverable of performance and time schedule

1. Translated survey materials;

2. A survey delivery plan and timeline;

3. On-site interviews in selected field sites;

4. A final report including compilation and coding of collected survey data

V. Proposed timeline for the survey

Deliverable Duration Target date

Output 1 3 days By April 14

Output 2 5 days By April 21

Output 3 50 days (an average of 5 days per site) By June 16

Output 4 5 days By June 23

VI. Required profile

• A Master’s Degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Law, Biology, Protected Area management or closely related field;

• Minimum five years of proven experience on wildlife crime especially wildlife law enforcement support work in Central Africa;

• Fluency in English and French in order to be able to do proper translation of survey materials. Skills and abilities

• Experience in working with Ministries in charge of wildlife and protected areas of target countries;

• Good knowledge of law enforcement rangers, their profile and working mechanism;

• Good understanding of survey delivery skills.

VII. Financial Terms

The costs of international flights will be covered by the project. All domestic travels within countries will also be arranged and paid for by the project (local transportation, hotel and food will be based on WWF perdiem rates). An honorarium will be offered based on the estimated number of days of work. Visa cost will be reimbursed based on real cost.

All candidates interested in conducting this evaluation on a consultant basis should submit, no later than March 27th 2018 a detailed technical proposal including:

• A curriculum vitae detailing his/her experience in wildlife crime and wildlife law enforcement support work in Central Africa;

• The proposed survey delivery plan (description of approach, timeline and time allocation, etc.) and comments on the Terms of Reference;

• Proposed date for site visits in Cameroon, Congo and CAR;

• A detailed budget proposal which takes into account the financial conditions specified in this ToR and specifies the honorarium (daily rate) as well as any other costs.

The estimated end date of the survey will be June 23, 2018. All applications should be sent to recruit-roaydehub@wwfafrica.org, with CC to aononino@wwfcam.org with reference “Ranger Perception Survey” .