Chief of Party (COP) - USAID Nigeria MEL

Job Description

Position Description

EnCompass LLC seeks Chief of Party (COP) candidates for an anticipated five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) program in Nigeria. This anticipated 5 year project will provide USAID/Nigeria with a central platform for the procurement of support services that will strengthen, support, and facilitate USAID’s capacity for utilizing MEL approaches that will improve development outcomes and strengthen the capacity of USAID/Nigeria’s strategic partners. The program will also provide support to USAID/Nigeria and implementing partners on performance monitoring, data verification, evaluations, organizational learning and capacity building, and knowledge management.

In addition to providing overall leadership, management, and technical direction, the COP will have experience working in performance management, organizational development, strategic decision-making, quality control, and project learning, preferably in the USAID context and with Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA) practices.

We are looking for someone who can facilitate learning and build relationships, with high political acumen and strong conflict prevent and management skills. S/he must be an inclusive leader, who can navigate change with flexibility and emotional resilience. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience focusing on results and impact, with strong strategic vision and an understanding of systems approaches to programming. S/he will understand how to foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning and will maintain high self-awareness and personal improvement skills.

The position will be full-time and be based in Abuja with travel throughout the country.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

The COP will lead the activity, providing technical guidance to and supervising both international and national staff and consultants. The COP will be the primary point of contact with USAID staff, including the Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representation (CO/COR).

Essential functions include:

• Serve as the main point of contact for the activity, providing vision, direction, leadership, and management for the project
• Provide technical, operational, and managerial oversight to all aspects of the program to ensure all activities, and deliverables are executed with quality and timeliness
• Establish and maintain highly collaborative working relationships with the Government of Nigeria, USAID/Nigeria and USAID/Washington as required, along with relevant in-country stakeholders; serve as the primary point of contact for USAID and as the principal liaison with USAID staff, institutions, and country partners to exchange information and develop professional relationships
• Manage the country team, ensure technical capacity of staff; provide technical assistance and backstopping when required
• Ensure that all activities are undertaken in full compliance with EnCompass’ standard operating procedures, USAID policies and regulations, and national policies and laws
• Promote sustainability of project activities with effective networking, linkages to other programs, capacity building of project staff, and institutional strengthening in support of the journey to self-reliance
• Ensure documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned
• Engage fully as a member of the EnCompass staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other EnCompass
• Ensure optimal use of human, financial, and physical resources to successfully meet project milestones, objectives, deliverables and targets
• Other duties as assigned

Position Requirements

Qualifications

• A graduate degree in a social science, economic, development studies or a related field
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively increasing responsibility in managing large comprehensive contracts of similar nature, size and complexity, preferably in Nigeria or West Africa
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in monitoring and evaluation and/or capacity building preferred
• Former supervisory experience is required

Experience and Skills

• Prior experience as a senior manager or COP working on complex USAID-funded projects strongly preferred
• Strong experience with evaluation standards and practices required
• Experience working in performance management, strategic decision-making, and project learning
• Experience building monitoring, evaluation, and learning capacities of USAID staff, implementing partners, and government counterparts highly preferred
• Experience managing complex relationships with a variety of stakeholders
• Ability to work with host-country governments at different levels
• Substantial experience in managing a team using mixed research methods of similar magnitude
• Strong communication, supervision, and management skills required
• Working knowledge of and experience with USG-funded program management, policies, regulations and procedures
• Strong familiarity with USAID CLA practices
• Familiarity with USAID/Nigeria Mission is preferred
• Excellent communication, both verbal and written English skills

How to Apply

Please submit CV and cover letter and complete the application

The employer will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required of personnel so classified.

The incumbent must be able to work in a fast-paced environment with demonstrated ability to juggle and prioritize multiple, competing tasks and demands and to seek supervisory assistance as appropriate.

About the Organization

EnCompass is a women-owned business offering innovative and customized solutions for leadership, capacity strengthening, technical assistance, and monitoring and evaluation. We have experience in more than 70 countries and a team of more than 100 staff and 1,200 experts around the globe.

We partner with government and multilateral agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations around the world, offering thought leadership, rich diversity, and technical expertise in global health, inclusive development, education, human rights, and food security.