Chief of Party I, West Africa Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience (ER4) Activity At Catholic Relief Services

This post is contingent on donor funding and donor approval of the candidate.

About the West Africa Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience (ER4) Activity:

WARO is preparing a response to the RFA for the West Africa Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience (ER4) Activity. The proposed initiative aims to strengthen the resilience of individuals, communities, institutions, and systems in Ghana and Sierra Leone to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural hazards and climate-induced risks while safeguarding development gains.

The design promotes anticipatory actions, localization, gender equity, and social inclusion, ensuring active and equitable participation of all community members, especially women, youth, and marginalized groups. It will collaborate with local organizations and government structures to align with national priorities and strengthen governance for disaster risk management and climate adaptation at subnational and community level. Key aspects include community-led disaster risk management, climate adaptation, and capacity building at sub-national and community levels. By collaborating with local actors and integrating solutions into government policies and systems, the project will foster local ownership and establish sustainable, gender-responsive mechanisms to alleviate vulnerabilities and manage climate and disaster.

Job Summary:

As Chief of Party, you will provide leadership and overall management and representation of the West Africa ER4 Project to serve the poor and vulnerable. Your leadership, management, and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in the humanitarian and disaster risk reduction (DRR) field. As a senior leader, you will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of the BHA West Africa ER4 Activity, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight of the West Africa ER4 project throughout the project cycle to ensure project start-up, implementation, and close-out are in line with CRS quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices.
• Serve as the primary point of contact to BHA (Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance) as well as public, private, and non-government stakeholders.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability.
• Ensure coordination between Partnership and MEAL Leads.
• Ensure the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning) policy and procedures.
• Effectively manage senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
• Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Ensure compliance with BHA grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration, and reporting to BHA. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
• Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
• Coordinate relationships with partner organizations, including the organization of review/planning workshops. Contribute to the coordination of the roles and activities of staff from Partner organization members in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Oversee technical assistance and capacity strengthening activities Local partners, especially for the area of Disaster Risk Reduction and Resiliency for staff and partner organizations to enhance program quality and impact.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for the sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance.

Required Languages – Strong oral and written English language skills.

Travel – Position based in Ghana or Sierra Leone, must be willing and able to travel up to 40 % to project sites anticipated.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Supervisory: Directly supervises senior program leadership (Partnership Lead, MEAL Manager, others)

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Country Representative, Head of Programs, Heads of Office, Head of Operations, EMPOWER Coordinator, Empower Technical Advisers, WARO RTAs, Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality (DRD/PQ), Deputy Regional Director for Operations (DRD/Ops), and Finance Managers.

External: Local Partners, Donor representatives, Government representatives (national, provincial and district levels); other stakeholders.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
• Strong communications and presentation skills; able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Basic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in development studies, international relations, or a relevant technical area.
• Required minimum of seven years of progressively increasing management responsibility in international humanitarian and development projects, at least five years of which must be field based.
• 5 years of staff, as well as experience in managing programmatic and financial reporting.
• 5 years’ experience managing donor funds, including multi country grants. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
• 5 years’ of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching senior program staff.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience of successful program management, including management of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects, with complicated logistics.
• Demonstrated experience in adaptive management and learning techniques is highly encouraged.
• Ability to represent and present at high levels.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.
• Demonstrated experience recruiting, developing, and managing donor funds, including multi country grants. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in DRR and Resilience and experience in managing program
• Demonstrated commitment to the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership and localization strategy a plus.
• Prior experience effectively managing humanitarian and DRR activities involving implementation by multiple sub-awardees, including local organizations, and demonstrated experience managing partners and overseeing the implementation of activities remotely.
• Proven success serving in a leadership role for a project addressing issues related to disaster risk reduction or emergency response, preferably in West Africa, and demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
• Strong understanding of national disaster risk governance structures, local and community-level DRR, and the global humanitarian architecture.
• Proven leadership skills managing projects of a similar size and scope in developing countries.

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.