CHIEF OF PARTY, HAMZARI At CARE USA

The Chief of Party (COP) has overall authority, leadership, and vision for the five-year Hamzari Program (October 2018 – September 2023) and is accountable for delivering results. Hamzari is a USD $33 million development food security activity with a mission to enhance food, nutrition and economic security, targeting the communes of Chadakori, Guidan Sori and Guidan Roumdji, the three most vulnerable communes in Guidan Roumdji department based on indications by the Government of Niger. The program will directly impact 120,000 unique participants across these communes. The goal of Hamzari is to increase sustainable, equitable and resilient food and nutrition security for vulnerable groups in Maradi. Additionally, the program will target 142 communities with the highest proportion of households that are severely or moderately food insecure within those communes. This will involve targeting both administrative villages and smaller hamlets and communities in the program areas. While the 142 communities to be reached represent 25 percent of the 568 communities in these three communes, they contain 54 percent of the total population.

The Chief of Party will be accountable for Hamzari’s realizing its four operational objectives: the efficient use of resources; effective and adaptive management; strong technical implementation; and administrative support. The Chief of Party is accountable for the overall strategic vision and leadership of the project and is accountable for delivering results. The CARE COP will manage relationships with partners (technical partners; local implementing partners; and resource partners), stakeholders and donors, and project reporting (narrative and financial). S/he is a member of the Project Management Unit, which will coordinate interventions; develop implementation guidelines; measure project progress, performance and impact; ensure cross-sectoral integration; and manage the integration of learning and innovation. S/he will coordinate closely with CARE USA’s Food Security and Resilience management team on strategy, accountability, reporting, and implementation.

The Chief of Party will take part in CARE Niger’s bi-annual Program Quality and Learning meetings to ensure that Hamzari benefits from best practices and the most recent knowledge on CARE’s models and novel technical approaches. The Chief of Party will manage a team of five international and local staff (4 Maradi-based positions: Monitoring and Evaluation Lead, Food Security Technical Coordinator, Director of Finance and Operations; and Gender Lead; as well as the Niamey-based Strategic Learning Lead. These staff will provide overall leadership and strategic vision for Hamzari, ensuring compliance with USG rules and regulations and will be accountable for strategic and operational planning. They will also be accountable for representation with USAID/FFP, Government of Niger, and participation in senior-level partner and stakeholder events and meetings. With staff and partners, the Chief of Party translates project goals and objectives into implementable strategies and plans. S/he oversees the preparation of quarterly and annual project activity reports, M&E reports, and other deliverables, as specified in the agreement.

Given the scale and complexity of Hamzari, the COP must have a proven track record in managing food and livelihood security programs, and knowledge of all the different technical components Hamzari focuses on. S/he must also have a significant history of working with the highest levels of government counterparts, implementing partners, donors, and other stakeholders. The successful candidate should possess significant experience managing programming, financial and operations of USAID/FFP or other large multi-year international food and nutrition security projects. A thorough understanding of USAID and Food for Peace rules and regulations is important, with knowledge of Title II PL 480 programming. S/he must have experience with the design and oversight of the annual project cycle in accordance with USAID/FFP’s annual planning cycles. The Chief of Party must have considerable experience achieving results in a team setting as well as supervising and coaching senior staff, and clearly communicating performance expectations.

As this is a “Refine and Implement” program, the structure will be somewhat different than usual, requiring an intensive period of research, learning, coordination with partners and stakeholders and program refinement during the first year. This is followed by three-years of intensive and highly effective implementation. At the end of year four, and independent impact evaluation will be conducted, with an expectation that outcomes and impacts on higher level food and nutrition security indicators will fulfill or exceed expectations. The Chief of Party will coordinate these efforts with key personnel and effectively leverage support from CARE International technical and operational advisors to collectively achieve these objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Adaptive management/program, financial and commodity management
• Staff management
• Donor, partner and government relations
• Co-create and foster learning environment leading to quality implementation

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field, including development studies, international relations, agriculture, nutrition, public health or related field
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively increasing management responsibilities in international development projects
• Prior experience managing USAID-funded assistance projects of a similar size and scope in developing countries; experience managing multi-sectoral projects including agricultural development and maternal child health and nutrition
• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender and youth issues in food security programming and within staffing and management of the program
• Experience with two or more of the following types of programs is an advantage: WASH, climate change/disaster risk reduction, livelihoods (farm and/or non-farm), maternal child health and nutrition, or community resilience
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners
• Demonstrated experience in adaptive management and learning techniques is strongly desired
• Demonstrated experience recruiting, developing, and managing staff
• Experience managing programmatic and financial reporting requirements. Experience with maintaining high levels of quality despite demanding reporting schedules and short deadlines for deliverables. Ability to review and ensure accuracy of complex budget and expenditure formats
• Fluency in English and French are required. Ability to travel within project areas of Niger as needed and as security allows