Chief of Party, East Africa Transboundary Ecosystem Restoration

Chief of Party, East Africa Transboundary Ecosystem Restoration

Palladium Group

Kenya

This Proposal Opportunity:

Palladium is seeking a Chief of Party for the upcoming USAID/Kenya East Africa Transboundary Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Resilience Activity. The purpose of the program is to promote climate resilient transboundary ecosystem conservation and management in critical areas of biological and economic significance in the East Africa region for the benefit of the ecosystem, people and the economy.

The Chief of Party will be ultimately responsible for the efficient and effective oversight of all elements of the Project/Activity. Their primary responsibilities are to provide overall leadership, management, and general technical direction of the program, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors, and a focus on achieving the desired results. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the program. The position requires significant leadership, management and coordination skills, broad general and technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, experience in developing countries, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines.

This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Overall responsibilities, expected outcomes etc.

Program Management & Leadership

• Provide overall leadership, management, administrative, strategic and technical direction, and serve as the primary authority for all decision-making to ensure all program activities, staff, and partners achieve targeted results and that all required objectives, outcomes, targets, deliverables, and reporting are met;
• Provide clear and concise direction to the project team on the development and implementation of strategies, staffing, budgets, internal operations, project targets and milestones, communications, and reporting;
• Manage a core staff of technical and administrative program professionals, ensuring appropriate delegation of duties and assignments; and work with the US-based project support team to ensure responsive and efficient project operations;
• Monitor and manage the technical and professional performance of all project staff; providing constructive feedback and, where necessary, develop and implement performance improvement plans;
• Serve as the primary point of contact with USAID regarding the day-to-day today project implementation and administrative matters related to the cooperative agreement;
• Ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with the rules, regulations, and financial, operational, and reporting requirements of USAID and Palladium;
• Actively participate in timely recruitment of project staff, and develop and maintain a culture of professionalism and psychological safety in the workplace;
• Engage fully as a member of the Palladium staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other Palladium events.

Partner Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination

• Develop and maintain productive working relationships with broad range of public and private stakeholders, serving as the primary liaison with all stakeholders and proactively troubleshooting challenges as they arise, with support from other project staff as appropriate;
• Provide activity/intervention design and implementation oversight of work delivered by current and future implementing partners.

Technical Strategy, Oversight & Implementation

• Provide strong leadership, executive decision-making, and clear direction to technical staff in ways that create certainty, agency and accountability among team members across objectives and activities;
• Ensure that all project activities are connected to work plans and logically lead to expected results;
• Provide close oversight of progress towards program results, maintaining continuous communication with technical leads to identify and troubleshoot challenges and make clear decisions on appropriate solutions;
• Establish clear expectations for technical inputs and deliverables requested from team members, and provide timely feedback on requested inputs and deliverables;
• Ensure appropriate monitoring mechanisms are established to ensure that project/intervention progress and specific implementation concerns are regularly addressed and promptly reported to and that project objectives are met;
• Lead and oversee the development of all project reports and deliverables (including annual work plans and quarterly reports), ensuring their on-time delivery to USAID and Palladium Home Office;
• Oversee the recruitment and engagement of technical experts;
• Provide technical guidance on the development of RFQs, RFAs, and RFPs, as well as on the selection of subawardees (subgrantees, subcontractors, other service providers);
• Other related technical and management tasks requested by USAID (and in coordination with Palladium HQ) in accordance with the Project’s Scope of Work.

Key Competencies Required:

• An advanced degree or equivalent combination of education and experience in a relevant field of study, e.g. natural resource management, climate change, sustainability, conservation, or a related field;
• Significant experience providing proven leadership in the administration of international donor- supported programs with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting;
• Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations and reporting requirements;
• Knowledge of the common drivers of ecosystem degradation in East Africa, and effective strategies for achieving restoration outcomes that improve the livelihoods;
• Demonstrated experience engaging the private sector to drive restoration and/or climate resilience outcomes;
• Familiarity with community-based natural resource management and locally led adaptation approaches;
• Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams;
• Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written, to fulfil the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the contract;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• Attention to detail and ability to effectively and efficiently perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:

• Existing and productive relationships with key decision-makers in regional institutions (i.e. EAC, IGAD) preferred;
• Direct and recent experience in Kenya (Tanzania and Northern Uganda also a bonus);
• Professional proficiency in Swahili a bonus.

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