Senior Natural Resource Management Officer

ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAMME BACKGROUND

Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian and development organization working with communities to address conflict, disaster, poverty and climate-related shocks. Its Nigeria programmes cover food security, livelihoods, financial resilience, youth empowerment, conflict management and humanitarian assistance.

The Senior Natural Resource Management Officer will support the Protecting Food Security Against Flood & Drought Cycles project within Mercy Corps Nigeria’s Resilience and Climate Adaptation portfolio. The project combines watershed restoration, sustainable land management, climate-smart agriculture, degraded-ecosystem rehabilitation and community-based natural-resource governance in Katsina State.

ROLE PURPOSE

The officer will provide technical leadership for the planning, implementation, supervision, quality assurance and monitoring of natural-resource-management and ecosystem-restoration interventions. The position will guide staff, government counterparts, contractors and community institutions to ensure that nature-based solutions reduce climate risks, restore degraded landscapes and improve agricultural and pastoral livelihoods.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the technical design and implementation of natural-resource-management activities.
• Prepare annual and quarterly NRM implementation plans.
• Ensure interventions are technically sound, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable.
• Integrate ecosystem restoration and landscape-management principles across the project.
• Lead watershed restoration, sustainable land management, soil and water conservation, vegetative restoration and dune-stabilization activities.
• Guide climate-smart agriculture and sustainable rangeland-management interventions.
• Strengthen community institutions responsible for shared natural resources.
• Facilitate participatory land-use planning and inclusive governance involving women, young people, farmers and pastoralists.
• Support community natural-resource-management plans and strengthen local mechanisms for resolving land, water and grazing disputes.
• Design capacity-building activities, training materials and demonstration sites.
• Conduct environmental screening and monitor the environmental effects of infrastructure and restoration activities.
• Promote biodiversity conservation and donor environmental compliance.
• Work with the MEAL team to develop technical indicators and monitor vegetation recovery, land rehabilitation and adoption of sustainable practices.
• Support field monitoring, technical assessments, documentation of lessons and preparation of technical reports.
• Maintain relationships with government departments, communities and programme partners.
• Represent Mercy Corps in technical working groups and environmental-coordination forums.
• Supervise Community Mobilizers, Field Assistants, Environmental Facilitators and Community Restoration Teams.
• Provide technical oversight to contractors implementing restoration and land-rehabilitation works.
• Identify innovative approaches for landscape restoration and climate resilience.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management, Forestry, Environmental Management, Environmental Science, Agriculture, Range Management, Geography, Climate Change or a related discipline.
• A master’s degree in Natural Resource Management, Environmental Management, Climate Change, Watershed Management or a related field is highly desirable.
• At least five to seven years of progressively responsible experience implementing donor-funded NRM, climate-adaptation, watershed-management, environmental-restoration or resilience programmes.
• Demonstrated experience implementing ecosystem-restoration and sustainable-land-management projects.
• Experience working with rural communities and local government.
• Strong knowledge of watershed management, nature-based solutions, ecosystem restoration, soil and water conservation, sustainable rangeland management and community-based natural-resource governance.

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Natural-resource management and ecosystem restoration.
• Environmental safeguards and technical quality assurance.
• Community mobilization and participatory governance.
• Capacity building, facilitation and stakeholder engagement.
• Analytical planning and technical reporting.
• GIS, remote sensing or environmental-monitoring tools are an advantage.
• Fluency in English.
• Hausa and languages spoken in Katsina State are highly desirable.

CONTRACT DETAILS

• Employment type: Full-time.
• Duty station: Katsina State, with frequent travel to rural restoration sites.
• Reports to: Technical Project Manager.
• Supervisory responsibility: Community Mobilizers, Field Assistants, Environmental Facilitators and Community Restoration Teams.
• Contract duration: Not specified.
• Salary and benefits: Not specified.
• Official opportunity reference: 74f81cff-d74f-4ffb-a192-5985e40466a1.

SAFEGUARDING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Mercy Corps is an equal-opportunity employer committed to a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. It prohibits discrimination and promotes community ownership, participation and accountability.

Mercy Corps does not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment. Staff must uphold its Code of Conduct, safeguarding standards and professional-behaviour requirements.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Applicants must apply through Mercy Corps’ official UKG recruitment portal before 14 August 2026.

Required application documents: Not specified on the accessible official vacancy page.

No recruitment fee is charged.