Chief of Party

Chief of Party

JOB from Near East Foundation

Near East Foundation (NEF)

Job Announcement

Position: Chief of Party

Location: Bamako, Mali

Travel: Frequent travel to project sites

Position contingent on funding. The anticipated start date is October 1, 2020

The Near East Foundation seeks a Chief of Party (COP) candidate for the anticipated USAID Office of Food For Peace Development Food Security Activity in Mali. The five-year $60M activity has the objective to improve food security and resilience of communities in conflict-affected areas through strengthening local systems and community participation.

For over 100 years, NEF has worked to build a more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive communities in the Middle East and Africa through economic development and governance initiatives. NEF’s work is organized around three core program areas: Inclusive Economic Development, Climate-resilient Development, and Stabilization and Peacebuilding.

Position Description

Working within NEF’s regional program structure, the CoP will lead a team of technical and project management specialists to deliver excellent programming. The COP is responsible for overall leadership, administration, operations oversight, management and representation of the activity. S/he will be responsible for leading the consortium of partners implementing the Activity with NEF, including regular and productive coordination, ensuring clear roles and responsibilities, capacity building, and providing operations oversight.

S/he will be the primary liaison with USAID, represent the project to stakeholders, and ensure coordination with other initiatives in the region. Working with NEF staff in Mali and Headquarters, partners, and USAID, s/he will provide sound technical direction and project delivery to achieve desired outcomes and impacts.

Responsibilities

● Serve as primary project representative and contact point for USAID and client relations.

● Work collaboratively with the project team and partners and coordinate closely with USAID to develop overall project strategy and direction and to develop and implement annual program work plans and performance milestones plans.

● Work closely and coordinate with NEF – Mali Country Director to support project delivery and ensure harmony among in-country programs.

● Establish the administrative framework to monitor and assure progress toward achieving project goals and objectives, in compliance with USAID and NEF policies and regulations.

● Work closely with designated NEF staff, USAID, and project partners to ensure a smooth and rapid start-up of the program.

● Assume responsibility for overall project administration, financial management, team management, coordination, operations oversight, delivery and progress against approved work plan and reporting against the project performance-monitoring plan.

● Identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments.

● Ensure the timely and quality completion of all program technical and financial deliverables and reports in accordance with the contract and USAID guidelines.

● Represent the project in public communications, outreach and networking.

● Support capacity building of local NEF and partner staff.

● Contribute to the project’s safety and security approach, working with NEF-Mali and NEF headquarters teams, USAID, and partners to adaptively manage the activity in a dynamic context to ensure beneficiary, staff, and partner safety and to achieve desired outcomes.

● Facilitate collaboration with the donor, NEF field offices, partner organizations, and other project stakeholders.

Qualifications

● Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. development studies, international relations, agriculture, nutrition, public health, business administration) or bachelor’s degree and 2 years of experience.

● Minimum of 10 years of progressively increasing management responsibility in international development projects implementing agriculture, value chain development, market-systems, and capacity building projects, is required.

● Proven track record in project management, including project planning, implementation and oversight, including managing budgets in developing countries.

● Demonstrated experience recruiting, developing, and managing staff, as well as experience managing programmatic and financial reporting.

● Proven leadership skills managing projects of a similar size and scope in developing countries, ideally in conflict-affected and non-permissive environments such as Mali or similar contexts in sub-Saharan Africa.

● Current working knowledge and demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.

● Experience in effective people and team management, including implementation of code of conduct, safeguarding and anti-corruption measures.

● Experience in managing the safety of staff and assets.

● Prior experience managing USAID projects and a strong working knowledge of USG rules, regulations and policies.

● Understanding of the concepts behind, and practical application of humanitarian codes and standards such as SPHERE, People In Aid Code, and Core Humanitarian Standard.

● Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, and French, is required.

● Ability to pass a comprehensive pre-employment background check.

Preferred Qualifications

● Relevant Knowledge of local languages

This is non dependent/s post.