Prosper Africa Program Analyst

Position description

The Prosper Africa initiative is a whole-of-U.S. Government effort to substantially increase trade and investment in the United States and Africa.  Prosper Africa will mobilize and coordinate the U.S. Government’s full range of capabilities, influence, and assistance to substantially increase trade and investment while supporting jobs at home and abroad.   The initiative aims to improve the U.S. government’s ability to encourage and facilitate engagement by U.S. businesses in Africa, accelerate African economic competitiveness and the growth of the continent’s middle class, and improve the business environment in promising African economies.  Importantly, while Prosper Africa is a strategic investment by the U.S. Government, it will be responsive to the interests and direction of the private sector. 

The Prosper Africa Executive Secretariat (PAES, or Coordinator’s team), supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks a program analyst to provide support for the PAES as it coordinates, synchronizes, convenes, monitors, and reports on interagency members’ Prosper Africa-related trade and investment efforts to substantially increase two-way trade between the United States and African countries.  As a critical member of the PAES, the analyst, under the guidance of the Executive Secretariat, will support the Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator and PAES staff with a range of program and operational tasks.  The individual must develop a working knowledge of USG and USAID communications systems and applications; USG interagency programming, particularly focused on trade and investment in the United States and in African countries; a range of USG programmatic and management  processes and procedures related to materials development, inter- and intra-agency clearances; planning and conducting high-level events, meetings, and other activities for senior USG and African government and non-government officials and executives.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical and administrative support to Prosper Africa Technical Teams to implement their programs including data input into the SalesForce system and other databases, drafting and/or editing reports, briefing papers, talking points, blogs, newsletter articles, journal articles, and social media input as needed.
• Receive requests from other Agency members for information concerning the USG Prosper Africa Initiative efforts. Assembles requested information from available background data or follows up to ensure that points of contact submit the required answers within the specified time.
• Facilitate and track clearance of Prosper Africa memos, reports and other action items.
• Engage in and disseminate research and information related to advancing the goals of the Prosper Africa Initiative, as appropriate, such as Agency member efforts to achieve a substantial increase to two-way trade between the United States and African countries.
• Help prepare presentations (in PowerPoint and other presentation applications) for senior PAES officials for meetings and events for a wide range of internal USG and external audiences.
• Help develop and continuously update timelines with key actions necessary for developing and implementing Prosper Africa operational, and implementation plans, taking into account funding, staffing and Administration/Interagency priorities.
• Limited support with logistical arrangements including travel.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree is required in a field such as international relations, economics, finance, trade, business, international development, or public policy with a minimum of 2 years of relevant work experience. This can be substituted with at least one year of graduate education in a relevant field and one year of relevant work experience, or a master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience working and collaborating with U.S. government agencies and private sector organizations, including officials with international organizations, foreign and domestic government officials, and development partners.
• Experience in written and oral communication involving coordinating, negotiating and motivating individuals to take action.
• Knowledge of relevant disciplines including trade, private sector development, and investment required.
• Demonstrated ability to work with teams, often with high pressure and time constraints.
• Proficient in Google (Docs, Drive, etc.) and Microsoft (MS Word, Excel, etc.).
• Written and oral communication skills at presenting information through reports and discussions to effectively support senior level officials responsible for providing guidance and direction across the interagency and to work across teams and with various levels of leadership.
• Ability to work collaboratively with team members as well as inter-agency colleagues in the United States and Africa, U.S. and African government officials, donors, private sector officials, and implementing partners.
• Ability to obtain a secret clearance.

Application instructions

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