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Head of Human

Resources

Appointment BriefMarch 2018

“A model for everyone working to conserve the natural life-support systems of our troubled planet.”

sir david attenborough

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Head of Human ResourcesRole: Developing the Human Resources function and team across Blue Ventures, supporting managers and 200+ staff globally by building capacity, nurturing our culture and enabling strategic growth.Location: London or Bristol Closing Date: 20th April 2018

A word from our FounderThank you for your interest in joining our team. Blue Ventures is an award winning social enterprise, comprising a charity and not-for-profit eco-tourism business, working to promote marine conservation and rebuild coastal fisheries.

We are committed to making conservation work for people, demonstrating powerful win-wins for marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods. We have pioneered a number of innovative incentive-based models for marine protection, which are designed to inspire local leadership in marine management and act as catalysts for long-term conservation of coastal resources. We use our broad technical expertise to test whether our models are suitable for adoption at larger scale, and provide support to partner organisations replicating successful models worldwide.

Blue Ventures is now uniquely positioned to drive innovation in the marine conservation sector. We have demonstrated that the right incentives can mobilise rather than alienate coastal communities, giving us new tools to scale and sustain marine conservation efforts. Through our journey so far, we have reached over a quarter of a million people in some of the most vulnerable communities across the tropics. We are now implementing an ambitious strategy to accelerate our impact, and are committed to reaching three million coastal people by 2020.

We are seeking a Head of Human Resources who can help us develop the organisation to achieve our ambitions, playing a pivotal role in supporting our ongoing growth. We are fortunate to have a team of brilliant and committed people operating in challenging and remote field locations and regional offices. We are looking for a mid-to-senior HR professional who can contribute positively to enhancing and leading our global HR function as we scale our operations and impact, inspiring and nurturing our dynamic and multidisciplinary team. The ideal candidate will be flexible, entrepreneurial and sensitive in her or his approach, and thrive in a fast moving, ambitious and demanding international context.

If you believe that you have what it takes to succeed in this key role in our leadership team and share our values and ambitions, then we would love to hear from you. You will find more information about the role in the rest of this pack and on our website, along with further information about our work and our plans for the future.

We look forward to hearing from you.

AlasdairDr Alasdair HarrisExecutive Director

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We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communitiesBlue Ventures works with coastal communities to develop transformative approaches for nurturing and sustaining locally led marine conservation.

We work in places where the ocean is vital to local cultures and economies, and are committed to protecting marine biodiversity in ways that benefit coastal people.

Pioneering new approaches to conservationTime and again marine conservation efforts break down because they fail to resonate with the needs of coastal communities. Such failure is avoidable, since coastal populations have the greatest long-term interest in conservation success.

Blue Ventures is committed to tackling this conundrum by developing conservation models that work for people, showing that effective marine conservation is in everyone’s interest.

We work from the grassroots, placing responsibility for fisheries management in the hands of local communities. This is particularly necessary in low-income countries, where there is often limited central capacity and infrastructure for marine management.

Our models play a critical role in rebuilding coastal fisheries, providing effective and replicable approaches for reversing marine biodiversity loss, improving food security and building socio-ecological resilience to climate change.

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Our 2020 visionBy demonstrating that effective marine conservation is in everyone’s interest, we are striving for impact at scale.

This will play a critical role in rebuilding coastal fisheries, helping to slow the loss of marine biodiversity and improve marine and coastal resilience to climate change.

Our strategy is to develop, scale and drive the adoption of high impact models for marine conservation.

We have a proven track record of innovating transformative approaches for catalysing and sustaining local leadership in marine management. Our organisational culture is naturally dynamic and entrepreneurial, listening and responding to the needs of our partner communities, and reaching across the silos that typically constrain conservation practice.

As our programmes evolve, they move through a development lifecycle focused on constant improvement and learning based on feedback from our partner communities. We liken this strategy to the expanding spiralled chambers of a Nautilus shell, with programmes growing in scale through successive phases just as the Nautilus expands towards the shell’s opening.

We currently manage a diverse portfolio of models at different stages of development across five core conservation programmes. These programmes are fisheries management, payment for mangrove ecosystem services, aquaculture enterprises, community-based reproductive health service delivery, and ecotourism businesses.

500 millionpeople worldwide depend on

small-scale fisheriesof global fish stocks are either

overfished or fully fished

90%>1billionpeople worldwide rely on fish as a source of protein

Our mission is urgent and critical

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Achieving impactWe’re always learning. At every stage, from incubation to replication, we monitor and evaluate the impact and sustainability of our work in order to refine our models, and ensure cost effectiveness and scalability.

We’ve created the largest locally managed marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean, proven new models for community-led fisheries management, built sustainable aquaculture businesses, and developed effective, replicable approaches for integrating community health services with marine conservation Our award-winning ecotourism social enterprise provides year-round sustainability and match funding to enhance the impact and stability of our field programmes in West Indian Ocean, SE Asia and Central America.

Over the past decade our models have guided national fisheries policy and been replicated by fishing communities, NGOs, businesses, donors and government agencies along thousands of miles of coastline. So far our work has impacted the lives of more than 250,000 coastal people.

DEVELOPM

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PRO

VIN

G S

CALA

BILIT

Y & SUSTAINABILITY

HANDOVER PARTNER SUPPO

RT

The inception stage is the starting point of all our models. Our crab fattening, and sea cucumber ranching models are currently in this phase as we explore their feasibility through pilot programmes in one or two villages.

If appropriate for replication, the model is then scaled across multiple locations to determine its longer term sustainability. For example, our homestay model which originated in Belize has now been replicated in Madagascar and Timor-Leste.

Increasingly, our established models are moving into the partner support phase during which they are implemented by other organisations, typically in other countries. Our short-term octopus fishery closure model is currently here, as we work with new partners in almost a dozen countries to replicate this approach.

Once a model has become established in a given location, ownership is gradually transferred to the local community or other partners during the handover phase. Our seaweed farming model is in this phase as day-to-day management is now handled directly by community farmers and commercial partner Copefrito.

During the development phase, the model is trialled, tested and adapted on a broader scale. Our lionfishery model in Belize and blue carbon credit models in Velondriake are currently here. We recognise that some models may never progress beyond this stage, while others may also return to this phase for re-evaluation as part of our regular review process.

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Communities FirstAbove all, we listen to community needs, responding in a sensitive and pragmatic way for lasting benefits.

Passion & BeliefOur mission is urgent and critical, we believe that our models work, and we’re determined to get the job done.

Valued People & Effective TeamsWe work in diverse and inclusive teams where all members have a voice and influence.

Innovation & CourageWe’re resourceful and creative. We’re prepared to take risks and challenge broken paradigms.

Openness & HumilityWe’re an open source social enterprise. We work in a transparent and collaborative way to share what we learn.

Grounded in EvidenceWe have high standards and aren’t afraid to be self-critical. If something doesn’t work, we change tack until we’re on the right course.

Our values

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Supporting partnersOnce we’ve developed an effective model for conservation, we work with partners to apply and adapt this approach in new geographies. We offer toolkits, training, technical advice, mentoring, learning exchanges and direct field support to guide our partners through every step of the process.

Whether it’s how to organise a temporary fishery closure to build community support for marine conservation, or how to work holistically and integrate reproductive health services with such initiatives to enhance women’s engagement in local marine management efforts, we’re dedicated to supporting our partners to build on our experiences by taking our models to the regions where they work.

We work with like-minded organisations, governments and businesses worldwide to build networks of thought leaders in marine conservation. By facilitating learning exchanges between fishing communities, we nurture grassroots marine conservation movements at national and regional scales.

Our efforts to refine and drive adoption of these conservation catalyst models are growing exponentially. In 2018 we manage a diverse programme portfolio with over 180 staff positioned internationally supporting projects at different stages of development across seven countries: Belize, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Timor-Leste.

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Role DescriptionSummary Job DescriptionThis new position will lead our Human Resources (HR) function and manage and develop the evolving human resources needs of our growing international team. The position will oversee the planning, implementation and evaluation of a broad range of HR services, policies, programmes and best practices across Blue Ventures (BV). The purpose of the role is to promote a high performance and positive culture, and ensure managers and employees are equipped to manage people, systems and operations efficiently and effectively.

ResponsibilitiesHR Department Management

• Develop the global HR strategy and HR operating plan and change management process

• Develop the Human Resources team in the UK and throughout our countries of operation

• Monitor the global HR market including benchmarking, compliance and competitor intelligence

• Review skills requirements, analyse gaps and propose strategic capacity building plans

• Manage HR budgets for international staff including pay, benefits, training and cultural initiatives

• Review and implement HR policies (e.g. salaries, health and safety, discrimination, safeguarding)

Recruitment• Lead recruitment and support line managers for all roles worldwide• Advise managers on budgets and terms and conditions of employment,

and share best practice• Devise search and advertising strategies, and draft job descriptions with

line managers • Launch budgeted recruitment campaigns through advertising and search

agencies• Work with managers on filtering applications, organising interviews and

liaising with candidates• Engage with partners and managers on internships and graduate

volunteering to attract new talent

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Onboarding and Leaving• Standardisation of staff onboarding systems and processes (e.g.

templates, induction, handbooks)• Monitor and support manager compliance with recruitment, onboarding

and HR processes• Ensure offers, reference checks, contracts, insurance, visa, immigration are

secured• Collate and store personal data to meet legislative requirements (e.g.

GDPR)• Ensure staff have email, cloud drive and group accounts, and their details

are on the BV website• Provide briefing information, policy and guide content for the

multilingual BV intranet • Support line managers with inducting new staff (e.g. offices, systems and

processes)• Lead and support line managers with leaving staff (e.g. exit interviews,

reclaiming data / equipment)• Synthesise feedback from exit interviews to capture recommendations

for organisational improvement

Personal Development and Training• Develop and support staff appraisals and the performance management

process across all countries• Support managers with personal development and training programmes

for each member of staff• Engage training partners, volunteers, coaches and mentors for

international staff training processes• Produce content and roll-out technical, operations and management

training programmes and tools• Facilitate digital sharing and remote access to staff training materials,

events, workshops and seminars • Plan the logistics of staff training days and workshops (e.g. facilities

bookings, invitations, travel)• Promote internal training and skills sharing, capitalising on internal

diverse experience and expertise• Implement staff mentoring and coaching initiatives (e.g. peer-to-peer

learning, exchanges and talks)

HR Support Services• Ensure all offices and sites comply with local regulatory and socio-

economic contexts• Manage complex employee relations casework (e.g. dispute resolution,

grievances, redundancy)

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• Support the crisis management system to ensure all staff are briefed on health and safety policies

• Administer payroll and payroll records and keep the finance department apprised of any changes

• Maintain human resources documents, templates, policies and briefing information on staff intranet

• Support managers with the planning and logistics of staff meetings, conferences and events

• Provide content for internal newsletters for staff updates and sharing information between teams

• Manage the tracking of staff annual leave and absence processes across all countries

• Support the Chair of the Board with recruitment, briefing, registration and removal of charity trustees

Culture• Develop and promote equality and diversity, with staff being

representative of the cultures we serve• Continually guard and instil Blue Ventures’ core values in everything we

do across the organisation• Ensure BV provides a positive working environment in offices and sites,

reflecting BV’s culture• Support managers to provide nurturing and proactive pastoral care to

staff• Monitor and communicate staff opinion and feedback surveys through

staff consultations• Instigate and support cultural initiatives (e.g. away days, celebrations,

activities)• Promote openness, sharing lessons learned and storytelling through

informal exchange and ‘vao vao’

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Person SpecificationCandidates will ideally be able to demonstrate the following:

Qualifications• Education to degree level or equivalent• A CIPD level 7 qualification or MBA in human resource management

Experience• Leading an international HR team with geographically dispersed

employees

• Mid to senior level HR professional with 5-10 years at HR Manager or Head of HR

• Management of HR within a growing small-to-medium sized company or charity

• Planning and delivering HR strategies, policies and change management• Willingness to undertake “hands-on” tasks (e.g. interviews, contracts,

reports and budgets)• An understanding of employment law and regulatory compliance

including health and safety

Skills/Competencies• Care for the well-being of others and contribute to a positive and creative

internal culture• Able to balance high performance with the BV family’s values• Experience in developing and supporting line managers through change• Maintain confidentiality and act with discretion, sensitivity and

diplomacy• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to

support, inspire and engage• Professional and articulate representation of the organisation to

prospective employees• Fostering and maintaining constructive and positive relationships with

colleagues• A proactive team player with strong customer service and problem

solving skills• Ability to work under pressure, with the ability to prioritise and manage

conflicting demands• Fluency in French would be desirable

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Terms and ConditionsSalary: Competitive salary based on experienceHoliday allowance: 25 days plus statutory daysPension: A workplace pension will be availableWork Location: London or Bristol with occasional travel to our field sites in Madagascar, Mozambique, Belize, Comoros, Indonesia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, and other countries as required.

ApplicationTo discuss this role informally please contact info@blueventures.org or find further details, including an online application form, at https://blueventures.org/job/head-of-hr/

Closing date: 20th April 2018Initial telephone interviews: w/c 30th April 2018In person interview: w/c 7th May 2018

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"This is a unique opportunity for an emotionally-intelligent and strategically-minded Human Resources professional to join Blue Ventures at an exciting stage in our development.

We are experiencing a period of significant expansion, and we are looking for a passionate, talented, and caring leader to join our team to help accelerate our impact even further.

I would strongly encourage qualified Human Resources professionals with an interest in conservation and a passion for making a difference to apply."

JONATHAN KATZCHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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Blue Ventures, Level 2 Annex, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7697 8598 Fax: +44 (0)800 066 4032

Email: enquiries@blueventures.org www.blueventures.org