USAID Building Capacity for African
Agricultural Transformation (Africa Lead II) Project
Scope of Work
Title: Program Management Specialist
Location: Nairobi, Kenya (with in-country and periodic
international travel)
Period of Performance: Candidates should be available from early October
2015 – September 30, 2018 (funding dependent)
Background: The USAID Building Capacity for African
Agricultural Transformation (Africa Lead II) Project is a five-year effort to
support and advance the agricultural transformation in Africa as proposed by
the African Union Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program
(CAADP), while simultaneously contributing to the Feed the Future goals of
reduced hunger and poverty, by building the capacity of men and women African
leaders, institutions and stakeholders to develop, lead, and manage the
structures needed for the transformation process.
This project has three components:
- The establishment of
institutional/organizational architecture to lead African
agriculture transformation at the national and regional levels,
operating at the highest level of effectiveness;
- The operationalization of capacity to manage
policy change and alignment process; and
- The effective participation and leading when
necessary, of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the CAADP process.
The Opportunity:: Africa Lead requires a Program Management
Specialist to support the planning and implementation of various program
activities.
Because of the broad nature and
complexity of issues and institutions addressed by Africa Lead, the position
requires outstanding conceptual thinking, activity design, organization, work
ethic and dedication to detailed planning and compliant operations.
Responsibilities: The Program Management Specialist will have responsibility for coordinating and overseeing the design and implementation of multiple, fast-paced activities.
Core responsibilities would include
drafting Concept Notes and Activity Descriptions, authoring budgets, composing
logistics worksheets, coordinating logistics for events or trainings and
tracking all relevant implementation details for the activities in their
portfolio.
The Program Management Specialist
will be required to coordinate a portfolio that contains multiple activities,
involving multiple stakeholders and whose outcomes are highly visible at the
regional level.
Additional duties include but are not limited to:
Additional duties include but are not limited to:
- Work with the Technical Director to develop
and maintain comprehensive tracking tools to manage the assigned portfolio
of activities
- Responsible for tracking activity budgets, and
proactively communicating concerns, with support from finance
- Responsible for detailed, comprehensive record
management for the assigned portfolio of activities
- Play an active role in seeking out strategic
communications opportunities
- Work closely with procurement and logistics
teams on all aspects of planning
- Play an active role in recruiting/sourcing
short term team members – i.e. facilitators – as required by activities
- Play a representational role, when needed, in
key meetings
- Convene activity meetings and communicate with
colleagues and stakeholders
- Travel to events/trainings and play on-site
role overseeing logistics
- Support M&E and Knowledge Management
functions as directed
Performance Criteria: Africa Lead II is a performance-based project,
highly dependent on individuals and team core competencies. Each staff member
will participate in a semi-annual evaluation and receive feedback.
Based on this evaluation, decisions
related to promotion or salary increase will be made.
Supervision: This position will report to the relevant Country Lead but will collaborate closely with other senior staff members as necessary to ensure the smooth implementation of activities.
Qualifications, Background and Experience:
Successful candidates will have
strong interpersonal, leadership and program management skills.
They will be detail oriented, have
exemplary organization and planning skills and will have demonstrable
experience implementing USAID programs, including knowledge of USAID
regulations.
This position straddles technical
programs and operations and successful candidates will be able to clearly talk
about personal strategies for implementing technical objectives in a compliant
and operationally sound manner.
The Program Management Specialist
must have a “can-do” “handson” attitude and must be a person who understands
how to simultaneously undertake long term planning while remaining flexible and
able to solve problems.
Specific qualifications include:
- Minimum degree required in agricultural or
development economics, management, economics, social sciences, or other
related field of study
- Applicants must have a minimum of 5 years of
demonstrated program management and implementation experience
- Experience with USAID programs mandatory –
specific experience with procurement, grants, contracts should be highlighted
- Strong written, verbal and presentation skills
- Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills,
creative problem solving, conflict and ethical management skills
- Computer literate in Microsoft Office
mandatory
- Fluent Swahili and English language skills
required
If you believe you qualify for this
job, kindly submit your CV and current and expected salary to
hrafricalead@dai.com by September 17, 2015.
Only qualified candidates will be contacted.