About Corus: Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. Our more than 500 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world’s most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives. Further details about the organization can be found at: https://corusinternational.org
About the Job: Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a member of Corus International, is seeking a Director, Localization and Capacity Strengthening to lead the anticipated 5-year USAID-funded Sahel Regional Resilience Activity. The activity, implemented through the Leader with Associate Award (LWA) mechanism, is intended to provide up to $200 million in total funding, inclusive of the initial Leader Award and future Associate Awards.
The Regional Resilience Activity will strengthen individual, household, organization, and formal and informal institutions and networks to deliver improved natural resource management and the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices. The program will achieve increased food security, income generation, improved water sanitation and hygiene, climate adaptive practices, better nutrition, improved conflict mitigation, and enhanced community resilience.
The Director, Localization and Capacity Strengthening will be a member of the Program Management Unit and will lead the development and implementation of the project’s local capacity building and localization efforts, in an effort to ensure local partners are ready to transition to receiving direct funding from USAID. This will include particular focus on strengthening internal systems and financial management of the sub-recipients, human resources for health and financial management, and building their competence in overall program management.
The position will be based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and will report to Chief of Party. Actual hiring is contingent upon signed agreement and USAID approval.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead the development and implementation of the project’s overall localization and strategy to strengthen the technical and organizational capacity of local organizations and transition local organizations to direct donor funding, in collaboration with the project management unit.
- Ensure that the project is fully aligned with and contributing to the realization of USAID’s Local Capacity Strengthening Policy.
- Conduct organizational capacity assessments (OCAs) on local funding recipients. Assist local organizations in determining their capacity strengthening needs and designing, implementing, and monitoring capacity strengthening activities. Oversee the management of country-based capacity strengthening teams.
- Responsible for day-to-day monitoring implementation of capacity development activities by mentoring technical teams, ensuring adherence to targets, timelines, budget management, and achievement of objectives.
- Support the financial, administrative, human resources, IT, managerial and organizational capacity of the project’s local partners and funding recipients through mentoring and coaching and capacity strengthening.
- Monitor potential risks and actively engage with program team on mitigation of risks as they arise.
- Lead/coordinate strategy development, implementation, and monitoring of all project activities concerning capacity development.
- Coordinate the management of rapid response mechanism grantees in collaboration with the Director, Finance and Operations and grants manager.
- Contribute to the development of initial and annual work plans and Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plans.
- Support the development and realization of local organizations’ resource mobilization and sustainability strategies.
- Track local funding recipient’s progress on capacity strengthening; analyze capacity outcomes to recommend local funding recipients for direct USAID support.
- Support local organizations to comply with USAID rules and regulations and maintain their status in all the required USG systems.
Required Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in international development, international studies, economics, social sciences, human resource development, or related field is required.
- At least 8 years of experience designing, implementing, and monitoring capacity strengthening activities for local partners or government bodies in low- and middle-income countries.
- At least 8 years of experience managing activities involving grants or subcontracts to partners in low- and middle-income countries. Experience overseeing sub-awardees to achieve project results.
- At least 8 years of experience managing the performance and professional development of staff members, including across geographies and diverse cultures.
- Experience managing technical, management, and financial capacity strengthening efforts for local partners, government bodies or other key stakeholders.
- Experience successfully preparing organizations to become prime recipients of USG funds.
- Demonstrated experience in needs, organizational capacity, and risk assessments, design of capacity building and training programs, working in teams/groups, presenting training material and/or providing coaching and mentoring.
- Demonstrated understanding of USAID’s localization agenda and approaches.
- Deep understanding of USG federal compliance requirements and evidence of experience in their application.
- Deep understanding of the Sahel context and experience working in the Sahel, particularly Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad, is required.
- Demonstrated leadership skills, versatility, and integrity; excellent organizational, analytical, interpersonal, and oral and written communications skills; demonstrated supervisory skills and ability to work well as a member of a team.
- Demonstrated experience in women’s empowerment, gender equality, and social inclusion.
- Demonstrated understanding of disaster risk management and humanitarian assistance
- High degree of proficiency in relevant software packages such as Adobe, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., virtual communications and presentation software and remote or cloud-based data management software.
- Willingness to travel extensively, including to unstable and non-permissive environments.
- Outstanding written and oral communication and interpersonal skills in English and French are required.