Chief of Party – Feed the Future Mali 200 views0 applications

Lutheran World Relief is seeking applications for Chief of Party (COP) for the anticipated USAID Feed the Future project in Mali. The integrated project will reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty within USAID/Mali’s Feed the Future Zone of Influence. The project will contribute to USAID’s Intermediate Results (IRs) for increased and sustainable agriculture-led growth, increased employment, strengthened resilience among people and systems, and improve community nutrition, particularly among women and children.

The COP will provide overall leadership, management, and oversight for all program activities and staff in accordance with the contract and donor guidelines. The Chief of Party will be based in Mali and will report directly to the Senior Vice President at LWR. S/he will liaise regularly with key stakeholders representing the program, including assigned USAID in-country technical advisors and other staff, Government of Mali relevant Ministry stakeholders, and to civil society networks.

Duties:

• Provide overall leadership and supervision of all project activities, including sub-awardees/contractors and project personnel; lead the Program Management Unit.
• Serve as the primary person responsible for overseeing the full-time and short-term technical assistance personnel and directing program management and operations, including financial management, cost control, partner management, program planning, performance monitoring, financial reporting, and client relations.
• Serve as LWR’s representative to USAID, the Mali government, other donors and multinationals, technical agencies and other participating organizations on behalf of the project.
• Oversee quality and timely reporting in line with donor requirements according to the contract/award agreement; monitor progress of program objectives and work with the country director and the program officer in headquarters to ensure quality control.
• Ensure the development and implementation of key project deliverables, including the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan and work plan. Monitor staff performance and provide capacity strengthening support when needed
• Hold team and partners accountable to meet objectives in timely manner; ultimately responsible for management of fiduciary risk, attention to value for money and continual performance improvement.
• Ensure visibility of program results, achievements and lessons learned through presentations at conferences and workshops and/or publishing articles through professional journals.
• Lead and manage LWRs program team, including staff with administrative related duties, and consortium staff, to ensure that they are able to successfully implement efficiently all program operations and achieve program objectives.

The position requires a competent and experienced person with the following attributes:

• Master’s degree or higher in economics, business, international development, agricultural economics, agribusiness or a related field; Doctorate level degree is desirable
• Minimum 10 years of increasingly higher levels of responsibility working in international development, preferably in commercial value chains, food security, and economic growth with an emphasis on development and marketing of agricultural products;
• Chief of party level experience on donor funded economic growth, livelihoods, rural agriculture or food security projects is required.

· Experience overseeing sub-awardees/sub-contractors to achieve program results; familiarity

and expertise in overseeing the financial and contractual management aspects of program management.

· Minimum of 10 years’ experience working with development programming in contexts similar to Mali; experience working in West Africa, particularly in Mali.

• Demonstrated experience working with farmer cooperatives in market development, value added processing, and the formation of market linkages to private sector actors;
• Knowledge or understanding of social, economic, and political context governing rural economic development and food security in West Africa
• Knowledge of US Government regulations, policies, and procedures, preferably USDA, or those of an equivalently complex international government funding organization
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (including in making presentations); high degree of political savvy in interacting with senior government and civil society stakeholders.

· Excellent written and spoken English and French.

· Mali nationals are highly encouraged to apply.