WCS

About Us

Background

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization based at the Bronx Zoo, New York, USA with over 100 years of experience in the field of international conservation in over 60 countries.

WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation actions, education and inspiring people to value nature.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been working in Afghanistan since 2004, beginning with wildlife surveys conducted by Dr George Schaller. In 2006 WCS received funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for a comprehensive project entitled “Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resource Management” in Afghanistan. In 2010, USAID funded a four-year follow-on project entitled “Improving Livelihoods and Governance through Natural Resource Management in Afghanistan”. In 2014 UNDP-GEF-5 funded WCS to execute a five-year program on “Establishing Integrated Models for Protected Areas and their Co-Management in Afghanistan”. With those donor supports, WCS has established a high-performance team with over 50 full-time staff in Afghanistan to work on conservation and sustainable nature resource management schemes. The goal of the WCS Afghanistan Program is to enhance rural livelihoods by improving management and protection of the scarce and valuable natural resources, with a particular emphasis on preserving Afghanistan’s unique biological diversity. Our work is focused in the provinces of Bamyan and Badakhshan, with a national capacity-building component in Kabul.  WCS has helped design and create Afghanistan’s first two protected areas, Band-e-Amir National Park (2009) and Wakhan National Park (2014), and works with all communities in these areas and the government to build capacity to manage the parks and associated landscapes, along with the wildlife and rangelands.

Currently, WCS is implementing the EU 46 month-long program on “Improving participatory management and efficiency of rangeland and watershed”, the location of the action is in Wakhan District (Badakhshan Province), Saighan, Kahmard, and north of Yakawlang Districts (Bamyan Province), and Kabul. In addition, WCS is implementing the UNDP-GEF-6 – a 36 month-old program on “Conservation of Snow Leopards and their Critical Ecosystems in Afghanistan”, the location of the action is mainly in Wakhan District and Kabul.

Recently, WCS has been granted an award by the UNEP-GEF a 24 month-long project on “Revising the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP)”, the location of the project is in Kabul with some countrywide/zone wise interventions.

The present ToR refers mainly to a position for the Gender and Environment Expert for NBSAP project (UNEP-GEF) and will provide support to the EU- and UNDP-GEF-6-funded projects.