Legal Officer
IUCN
Legal
Angola · Swaziland · Namibia · Pretoria, South Africa · South Africa
Posted on Oct 14, 2025
Characteristic Duties
TRAFFIC is seeking a Legal Officer based in Antananarivo to support TRAFFIC’s growing project portfolio in Madagascar. The successful candidate will support the team in implementing a portfolio of projects focused on law enforcement, trade monitoring, and capacity building to counter the illegal national and cross-border trade in wild species.
The Legal Officer will mainly support the implementation of the EU-funded GUARD Wildlife programme in Madagascar. GUARD Wildlife (Global United Action to Reduce and Dismantle Organised Wildlife Crime) is a three-year, EU-funded project implemented by UNODC, INTERPOL, WCO and the CITES Secretariat in cooperation with Civil Society Organisations. GUARD Wildlife supports selected countries in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific with a view to contributing to (i) the halting of extinction of threatened and endangered species of plants and animals, (ii) the preservation of healthy and functional ecosystems and the maintenance of the services these ecosystems deliver for local communities, and (iii) the strengthening of the rule of law globally, aligned with international gender and human rights standards. As implementing partner of GUARD Wildlife in Madagascar, TRAFFIC will promote inter-agency cooperation and foster a unified approach to the fight against wildlife crime across government departments; build the capacity of law enforcement and prosecutors to better detect, investigate, and prosecute wildlife crime; raise awareness with judicial authorities to strengthen the judicial response to wildlife crime; and support the reform of Madagascar’s relevant legislative and regulatory framework.
The Legal Officer will conduct legal reviews; support the development of training contents for a range of criminal justice stakeholders; organise and deliver training workshops with target audiences; develop high level guidance on wildlife law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing; facilitate relevant governmental coordination processes; and carry out other activities as required by project needs. The Legal Officer will work closely with the GUARD Project Manager, the Finance and Administration Support Officer, as well as with other TRAFFIC staff and project partners.
Specific Duties
Technical Assistance to Malagasy Authorities
• Support and participate in TRAFFIC’s engagement with government authorities to secure high-level buy-in and effective collaboration from the project’s main partners, i.e. Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), Ministry of Justice, law enforcement departments, and the judiciary.
• Actively liaise with authorities during the lifetime of the project to ensure the smooth implementation of activities and address challenges as they arise.
• Organise, facilitate, and follow up on legal review meetings with government departments and legal scholars towards advancing legal and regulatory reform processes. Support and participate in the review of the country’s legislation on IWT, in close coordination with the MEDD and the Ministry of Justice.
• Work with TRAFFIC’s partner organisations on developing law enforcement and judiciary training materials and delivering training workshops. Deliver part of these trainings, with a focus on training contents that relate to the Malagasy legislation.
• Support the finalisation of a Rapid Reference Guide (RRG) for wildlife crime investigators and prosecutors and support its introduction via a series of training workshops country wide.
• Drive and support efforts to enhance the capacity of wildlife crime investigators and prosecutors to conduct financial investigations and financial crime-based prosecutions.
• Drive and support efforts to provide tailored training to Madagascar Customs personnel to address the smuggling of wild species based on existing training modules.
• Support efforts to enhance the capacity of frontline law enforcement (i.e. customs, environment, police, gendarmerie, fisheries officials) to detect illegal wildlife shipments through risk profiling and to identify key species with confidence.
• Support efforts to establish an inter-agency coordination mechanism supporting real-time investigations and prosecutions (wildlife crime task force), as well as a national database aggregating key data on wildlife crime.
• Support the development of prosecution and sentencing guidelines on wildlife crime.
• Support the development of ‘wildlife crime impact statements’ compiling authoritative information and sound evidence on the seriousness and manifold impacts of wildlife crime in Madagascar.
• Support the development and implementation of a pilot, tailored mentorship programme for wildlife crime investigators as required.
Research
• Support and conduct desk and field-based work that will include literature reviews, surveys, data collection and entry, analysis, and publications when required for project and programme objectives.
• Assist with data analysis and the write-up of research reports.
• Ensure adherence to TRAFFIC’s research and data management protocols.
Cross-Cutting Support
• Prepare technical analyses of the Malagasy policy framework, legal framework, as well as criminal justice proceedings to extract relevant insights regarding capacity gaps and procedural challenges, as required.
• Assist with the analysis and write-up of reports and project outputs.
• Provide timely legal advice and detailed analyses of Madagascar’s IWT legislation to project managers, as required. Provide proactive legal support to the TRAFFIC team whenever appropriate for the implementation of key project activities.
• Provide thoughtful input into the production of quarterly/annual technical reports and work plans and other documentation as required by project managers, colleagues, and donors.
Partnership Building
• Support managers in consolidating relationships with current and potential project partners, including Madagascar government departments, judicial and law enforcement authorities, amongst others.
• Assist in establishing and maintaining relationships with local, regional, and international stakeholders including government, academic, civil society, and private sector organisations.
• Represent TRAFFIC at national, regional, and international meetings and other events as required.
• Support managers in liaising with potential donors and explore possibilities of securing funding to expand TRAFFIC’s portfolio of work in Madagascar and the Western Indian Ocean.
• Support the development of project proposals as the need arises.
Others
• Contribute to the dissemination and distribution of the results of TRAFFIC’s work.
• Perform other tasks relevant to the role as the need arises and as directed by the GUARD Project Manager, the Programme Office Director, and the Senior Programme Coordinator.
Supervision
The Legal Officer will work under the supervision of the GUARD Project Manager, to whom they will report.
The Legal Officer will supervise in-country legal consultants and project-related staff when required.
TRAFFIC is seeking a Legal Officer based in Antananarivo to support TRAFFIC’s growing project portfolio in Madagascar. The successful candidate will support the team in implementing a portfolio of projects focused on law enforcement, trade monitoring, and capacity building to counter the illegal national and cross-border trade in wild species.
The Legal Officer will mainly support the implementation of the EU-funded GUARD Wildlife programme in Madagascar. GUARD Wildlife (Global United Action to Reduce and Dismantle Organised Wildlife Crime) is a three-year, EU-funded project implemented by UNODC, INTERPOL, WCO and the CITES Secretariat in cooperation with Civil Society Organisations. GUARD Wildlife supports selected countries in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific with a view to contributing to (i) the halting of extinction of threatened and endangered species of plants and animals, (ii) the preservation of healthy and functional ecosystems and the maintenance of the services these ecosystems deliver for local communities, and (iii) the strengthening of the rule of law globally, aligned with international gender and human rights standards. As implementing partner of GUARD Wildlife in Madagascar, TRAFFIC will promote inter-agency cooperation and foster a unified approach to the fight against wildlife crime across government departments; build the capacity of law enforcement and prosecutors to better detect, investigate, and prosecute wildlife crime; raise awareness with judicial authorities to strengthen the judicial response to wildlife crime; and support the reform of Madagascar’s relevant legislative and regulatory framework.
The Legal Officer will conduct legal reviews; support the development of training contents for a range of criminal justice stakeholders; organise and deliver training workshops with target audiences; develop high level guidance on wildlife law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing; facilitate relevant governmental coordination processes; and carry out other activities as required by project needs. The Legal Officer will work closely with the GUARD Project Manager, the Finance and Administration Support Officer, as well as with other TRAFFIC staff and project partners.
Specific Duties
Technical Assistance to Malagasy Authorities
• Support and participate in TRAFFIC’s engagement with government authorities to secure high-level buy-in and effective collaboration from the project’s main partners, i.e. Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), Ministry of Justice, law enforcement departments, and the judiciary.
• Actively liaise with authorities during the lifetime of the project to ensure the smooth implementation of activities and address challenges as they arise.
• Organise, facilitate, and follow up on legal review meetings with government departments and legal scholars towards advancing legal and regulatory reform processes. Support and participate in the review of the country’s legislation on IWT, in close coordination with the MEDD and the Ministry of Justice.
• Work with TRAFFIC’s partner organisations on developing law enforcement and judiciary training materials and delivering training workshops. Deliver part of these trainings, with a focus on training contents that relate to the Malagasy legislation.
• Support the finalisation of a Rapid Reference Guide (RRG) for wildlife crime investigators and prosecutors and support its introduction via a series of training workshops country wide.
• Drive and support efforts to enhance the capacity of wildlife crime investigators and prosecutors to conduct financial investigations and financial crime-based prosecutions.
• Drive and support efforts to provide tailored training to Madagascar Customs personnel to address the smuggling of wild species based on existing training modules.
• Support efforts to enhance the capacity of frontline law enforcement (i.e. customs, environment, police, gendarmerie, fisheries officials) to detect illegal wildlife shipments through risk profiling and to identify key species with confidence.
• Support efforts to establish an inter-agency coordination mechanism supporting real-time investigations and prosecutions (wildlife crime task force), as well as a national database aggregating key data on wildlife crime.
• Support the development of prosecution and sentencing guidelines on wildlife crime.
• Support the development of ‘wildlife crime impact statements’ compiling authoritative information and sound evidence on the seriousness and manifold impacts of wildlife crime in Madagascar.
• Support the development and implementation of a pilot, tailored mentorship programme for wildlife crime investigators as required.
Research
• Support and conduct desk and field-based work that will include literature reviews, surveys, data collection and entry, analysis, and publications when required for project and programme objectives.
• Assist with data analysis and the write-up of research reports.
• Ensure adherence to TRAFFIC’s research and data management protocols.
Cross-Cutting Support
• Prepare technical analyses of the Malagasy policy framework, legal framework, as well as criminal justice proceedings to extract relevant insights regarding capacity gaps and procedural challenges, as required.
• Assist with the analysis and write-up of reports and project outputs.
• Provide timely legal advice and detailed analyses of Madagascar’s IWT legislation to project managers, as required. Provide proactive legal support to the TRAFFIC team whenever appropriate for the implementation of key project activities.
• Provide thoughtful input into the production of quarterly/annual technical reports and work plans and other documentation as required by project managers, colleagues, and donors.
Partnership Building
• Support managers in consolidating relationships with current and potential project partners, including Madagascar government departments, judicial and law enforcement authorities, amongst others.
• Assist in establishing and maintaining relationships with local, regional, and international stakeholders including government, academic, civil society, and private sector organisations.
• Represent TRAFFIC at national, regional, and international meetings and other events as required.
• Support managers in liaising with potential donors and explore possibilities of securing funding to expand TRAFFIC’s portfolio of work in Madagascar and the Western Indian Ocean.
• Support the development of project proposals as the need arises.
Others
• Contribute to the dissemination and distribution of the results of TRAFFIC’s work.
• Perform other tasks relevant to the role as the need arises and as directed by the GUARD Project Manager, the Programme Office Director, and the Senior Programme Coordinator.
Supervision
The Legal Officer will work under the supervision of the GUARD Project Manager, to whom they will report.
The Legal Officer will supervise in-country legal consultants and project-related staff when required.
