Senior Environmental and Climate Smart Aquaculture Specialist

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

LOE: Full-time

Start Date: March 2025

Job Description

DevWorks International (DevWorks) is a U.S. based NGO that was founded in 2011. DevWorks supports people and institutions to enhance service delivery, strengthen local capacity, and enable equitable economic growth and prosperity. We deliver inclusive, market-based solutions across several technical areas: agriculture and food security, water security, sanitation and hygiene (WSSH), private sector development, governance, and climate and resilience.

DevWorks is recruiting for a Senior Environmental and Climate Smart Aquaculture Specialist for the Feed the Future Bangladesh Sustainable Aquaculture Activity. The Activity aims to enhance inclusive and sustainable aquaculture sector growth in Bangladesh through a market system approach to improve rural household income and nutrition.

The Senior Environmental and Climate Smart Aquaculture Specialist will be responsible for ensuring environmental compliance and promoting climate-smart aquaculture practices within the Activity. They will lead the implementation of the Environmental Management and Mitigation Plan (EMMP) and the Climate Risk Mitigation (CRM) Plan, ensuring alignment with USAID and Bangladesh’s environmental laws and guidelines. This role involves integrating environmental and climate-smart considerations into the Activity’s work plan, identifying and mitigating environmental and climate-related risks, and promoting sustainable and resilient aquaculture technologies and practices. They will collaborate with stakeholders, build partnerships, and lead capacity-building efforts to enhance technical knowledge and adoption of innovative climate-smart technologies and practices, ensuring the aquaculture sector’s sustainability and resilience.

Major tasks and responsibilities include:

• Environmental Compliance: Ensuring the project complies with USAID’s and Bangladesh’s environmental laws, regulations, and guidelines. Regularly reviewing project activities to assess and verify environmental compliance. Coordinating with stakeholders to align project operations with environmental standards.
• Lead Implementation of the EMMP: Leading the implementation of the EMMP and making revisions as necessary based on learnings and/or any changes in government or USAID policies. Identifying potential environmental risks and propose mitigation strategies to minimize adverse impacts of project activities. Monitoring the implementation of mitigation measures and documenting compliance with the EMMP.
• Implementation of the CRM Plan: Implementing the CRM Plan to address potential climate-related risks of project activities and make periodic revisions as applicable. Providing technical guidance on integrating climate-smart practices into project activities and enhancing climate resilience in aquaculture systems.
• Climate Smart Aquaculture Technologies and Practices: Identifying and assessing climate smart aquaculture technologies and practices that enhance productivity, sustainability, and resilience to climate risks. Strengthening aquaculture management practices to ensure compliance with policies that promote the judicious use of inputs. This includes implementing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from aquaculture fields while enhancing sustainability and environmental resilience. Designing and implementing strategies to promote the adoption of climate smart aquaculture technologies and practices among smallholder farmers and other relevant stakeholders.
• Climate Information Service: Working with the Activity team to establish a tailored ‘Climate Information Service’ that addresses the specific needs of Activity targeted working areas, in collaboration with meteorological services, aquaculture departments, relevant agencies, and private service providers.
• Environmental Monitoring and Reporting: Designing and implementing frameworks and tools to track project impacts on the environment. Conducting field assessments and preparing regular reports on environmental compliance and climate risk mitigation. Documenting lessons learned and recommending improvements for environmental management practices.
• Collaboration and Technical Support: Collaborating with project staff to ensure environmental considerations are integrated into project planning and implementation. Collaborating with partner projects and agencies to enable collective impact. Building and strengthening partnerships with government agencies, private sector actors, research institutions, and development organizations to design and implement joint initiatives that promote and scale climate smart aquaculture solutions. Collaborating with research institutions, universities, and industry experts to stay updated on emerging trends and incorporate cutting-edge climate smart practices and technologies into the Activity interventions. Providing technical input to government and development partners to align climate-smart aquaculture initiatives with national climate and aquaculture strategies.
• Capacity Building and Awareness: Training project staff, partners, and stakeholders on the EMMP and CRM Plan. Developing tailored training modules and materials on climate smart aquaculture practices, technologies, and management strategies. Conducting capacity building sessions for smallholder farmers, extension agents, hatcheries, nurseries, input suppliers and other relevant stakeholders to enhance technical knowledge, support production, and promote the distribution of climate smart aquaculture inputs and technologies.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL): Together with the MEL team, designing and implementing monitoring frameworks to assess the impact of climate-smart aquaculture practices on productivity, income, and resilience. Documenting lessons learned, success stories, and best practices to contribute to knowledge sharing and advocacy efforts.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in an environmental management and mitigation role on a USAID-funded project, and in the agriculture or aquaculture sector, in Bangladesh. Experience on a Feed the Future project is preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in exploring, piloting, and scaling up climate-smart aquaculture technologies and practices.
• A bachelor’s degree or higher in aquaculture, environmental science, or relevant field.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English required.