The Donkey Sanctuary is an international animal welfare organisation, offering care and protection to donkeys worldwide. Our vision is a world where every donkey has a good quality of life, and our mission is to improve the lives of donkeys every day. We will achieve this by transforming the lives of donkeys in need worldwide by fostering greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships.  Globally, we support projects in countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, transforming lives through direct care, community training, collaborative partnerships and advocacy work to improve the way donkeys are treated.

We have an excellent opportunity for a Donkey and Mule Welfare lead to join our team at our Nairobi, Kenya office.  You will quality assure all work within the Kenya Strategy ensuring that global Donkey and Mule learning and standards are effectively implemented, and build an evidence base for Kenya that links sustainable welfare outcomes to evidence-based interventions, alongside contributing to global thought leadership, by representing Donkey and Mule Welfare at National and Regional Fora.

About you:

• A Degree in Veterinary Medicine with at least 4 years’ experience in donkey health practice.
• Must have at least 3 years of experience in Kenya of the Animal Welfare or International Development sector.
• Demonstrable knowledge of Equid Health, harnessing and Nutrition.
• At least 2 years’ experience of advocacy work at national and international levels.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Fully competent in Microsoft office 365.
• Fluent in English and Swahili (written and verbal).
• Kenya full valid driving licence.

About the role:

Your principal duties and responsibilities will include –

• In collaboration with the global Head of Programme Quality, lead on the donkey and mule welfare quality assurance to The Donkey Sanctuary Kenya (TDSK) directly implemented, and partner led programmes, to transform Donkey and Mule welfare through improved welfare in priority areas (Nutrition, Water and Working Practices).
• Be a proactive member of global technical working groups to build Kenya equine learning into global policy and standard practice.
• Lead in the development and dissemination of donkey and mule appropriate health and welfare educational material for use in training and awareness creation among various stakeholders including animal health students, practicing professionals, and donkey owning communities in line with The Donkey Sanctuary (TDS) standards.
• Provide technical input and support to the communication, advocacy and campaigns strategies, with key focus on the campaign against Donkey Skin Trade and Donkey Bush Slaughter in Kenya.
• Monitoring of equine diseases within Kenya, and have regional awareness of, in particular those affecting working donkeys and mules, and zoonotic ones, through regional stakeholders such as WOAH, FAO, DVS, CDVSs, Kenya Vet Association, KALRO, ILRI and Tertiary Institutions.
• In collaboration with TDS stakeholders be the country lead in the design, data collection and analysis of Donkey and Mule welfare and non-intrusive research.
• Represent TDSK and TDS organisations in all relevant technical meetings at National and Regional levels and develop effective working relationships and collaborative partnerships with all key stakeholders in collaboration with the Advocacy and Campaigns department.
• To carry out any other reasonable duty as may be required.

What we offer in return:

This  is a full-time permanent contract, working 37.5 hours per week. The post is currently based at The Donkey Sanctuary Kenya, Nairobi office, however the post holder has some flexibility to work from a location that suits their needs and the needs of the organisation in accordance with our Hybrid Working Guidelines.

Applicants for this role must have the legal right to live and work in Kenya..

Closing date for completed applications: Sunday 1 March 2026.

The Donkey Sanctuary is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (children and adults), and expects all staff and volunteers to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment processes, including an application for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check where required for the post.

The Donkey Sanctuary also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, for relevant posts, may request information from applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

Please note: The Guaranteed interview scheme is only applicable to candidates who consider themselves to have a disability applying for roles based within the United Kingdom.

NOTE TO APPLICANTS: We look forward to receiving your application, but we do ask you to complete this in your own words, and not to employ an Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing tool or assistant. Applications that are considered not to be an applicant’s own work may not be shortlisted for interview.