Chief of Party, Ethiopia Highlands Resilience Activity

Overview

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Please Note: This position is contingent upon award and USAID approval with an anticipated start date in/around August 2023.

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. We work with government, non-government, private sector, and community stakeholders to promote transparency, foster accountability, and access the channels they need to make their voices heard, promote change, and realize their full potential.

Global Communities positively welcomes and seeks applications from all sections of society.  We are committed to a work environment that respects the dignity and worth of everyone and offers equal opportunity.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Global Communities is seeking a dynamic, experienced Chief of Party (COP) to lead, support and inspire a multi-agency, multi-sectoral team in Ethiopia that will, if awarded, deliver on a 5-year USAID-funded $50+ million Highlands Resilience Activity (HRA) designed to strengthen the  resilience of vulnerable PSNP households in ways that ultimately lead to improved and sustained PSNP graduation rates. This multifaceted activity is expected to be a major component in USAID’s contribution to improving Ethiopia’s ability to improve resilience and enhance economic growth in the highlands regions.

The HRA is intended to facilitate the PSNP 5’s “Big Push” initiative by supporting 120,000 PSNP households to move above the graduation threshold to where they no longer require social safety net programming for household food security and where they have the capabilities and assets to withstand regular and predictable shocks. The Activity will achieve this goal by directly supporting households in increasing their on-farm, off-farm, and employment incomes and household competencies to lead a healthy life while also facilitating improvements in the market systems required to increase demand for goods and services in PSNP communities. HRA will integrate conflict sensitivity, youth, gender, and climate change adaptation into its programming approaches. In addition to overall management, Global Communities will be responsible for implementation in some of the geographic areas as well as leading support in some of the technical areas such as VSLAs, access to credit, technology and innovation.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Global Communities seeks candidates who can distinguish themselves through the following characteristics:

• Has strong development experience in supporting systems change;
• Embraces the concept of agile management and are willing to support the kind of dynamic processes and structures that enable teams to iterate, collaborate, learn and adapt;
• Is committed to, and can demonstrate success in, advancing gender equity within the project technical areas (food security, resilience, economic empowerment, crisis response).

Responsibilities

The COP is responsible for the overall implementation of the project, and s/he provides technical and administrative supervision to the project. The COP will oversee coordination with key stakeholders (including the Government of Ethiopia (GOE), civil society, the private sector, and others) and lead preparation and oversight of sub-agreements with partner organizations. Additionally, the COP will be responsible for communications with USAID, for publicly representing the project, and for liaising with the GOE and other institutions/stakeholders on issues related to food security, inclusive economic growth, nutrition, and resilience in Ethiopia, particularly in USAID’s tentative priority woredas for its upcoming Lowlands Resilience Project, in which HRA will be an important activity.

Specific responsibilities include the following:

• Provide an integrated vision for this complex, multi-sectoral project, and lead execution of inter-related activities in disaster risk management, diversification of economic opportunities, production and marketing, nutrition, and crisis response.

• Provide strategic leadership through vision, continuous improvement of quality, innovation and establishing a results-driven-management system.

• Provide strategic, technical and administrative oversight for all activities to cost-effectively achieve project objectives.

• Oversees Global Communities, partners and sub-grantees’ performance by establishing accountability mechanisms in program, finance, and data quality management.

• Establish a culture of evidence-based decision-making and data driven analytics through a well-developed monitoring and evaluation system.

• Oversee and manage the operational, financial, HR, and administrative needs of the project and Global Communities Ethiopia.

• Ensures compliance with Global Communities and USG regulations in all aspects of program implementation.

• Establish a work culture that respects and prioritizes the needs of communities, especially the most vulnerable.

• Actively engages in Global Communities’ effort to embed innovation and support the project team in doing so as well.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Economics, or Rural development is preferred (applicable experience in the fields of food security, livelihoods and related work can also be considered relevant) with a minimum of 10 years of professional experience with increasing responsibilities and duties.

• Demonstrated expertise and a minimum of 7 years of chief of party (COP) experience in managing large (preferably $15 million and above), livelihood, agricultural development and/or inclusive market systems programs with a market-orientation, preferably within an African context preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to be collaborative across activities and strong communications and interpersonal skills, with evidence of ability to productively interact with a wide range and levels of organizations (government, private sector, other activities, NGOs).

• Language: Fluency of English in reading/writing/speaking (Level IV) is required.

• Demonstrated delivery of strong results in a COP role.

• Experience managing complex, multi-million-dollar contracts and/or cooperative agreements funded by USG.

• Experience and understanding of the highlands context in Ethiopia highly desirable.

• Relevant technical expertise in food security, agriculture, nutrition, disaster risk reduction, and crisis response.

• Excellent understanding and familiarity with USG donor regulations.

• Proven leadership skills and demonstrated experience recruiting, developing, and managing/mentoring staff.

• Proven ability to communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.

• Evidence of effective communication skills, both oral and written, to fulfill the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the agreement.

• Development philosophy in keeping with Global Communities’ mission; vision; core values; and approaches to integrated, community-driven programming and women’s empowerment.