Position
Implementation Director
Period of Performance
Life of Project
Base of Operations
Dubai, UAE / Hybrid
Position Reports to
Chief of Party
1. Background
DAI
Global, LLC (DAI) is implementing a new USAID-funded agriculture
program which aims to reinvigorate agricultural livelihoods and catalyze
private sector engagement to address food insecurity, income gaps,
target populations’ empowerment, and communities’ resilience to climate
change. The activity actively facilitates implementation with and
through local systems actors (such as anchor firms, business development
and advisory service (BDAS) providers, education and financial
institutions, and local communities). This approach centers a
competitive, performance-based Partnership Facility (PF) to design
interventions that: incorporate local Afghan knowledge, engage target
populations, and leverage resources to ensure local ownership and
sustainability. Utilizing performance-based grants, DAI will partner
with stakeholders to achieve the below three objectives.
Using
a private sector-led, market systems development (MSD) approach, the
activity is aimed at driving local system actor behavior change. In
doing so, the activity endeavors to meaningfully improve Afghan lives
and agriculture sector performance through the following objectives:
Objective
1: Food Security Improved Through Increased and Inclusive Resilience,
Productivity, Diversification, and Stability of Agricultural Value
Chains
Objective 2: Enhanced Communities’ Resilience to Climate Change-Induced Shocks, Specifically Water Stress
Objective 3: Target Population Economic Empowerment Strengthened
2. Purpose
The
Implementation Director will provide leadership, oversight and overall
targeted support several functional units within WAMA. Specifically, the
Implementation Director will work across the technical, communications,
and grants teams in coordination with the Value Chain Director,
DCOP-Technical and other related department leads. To achieve technical
rigor, accuracy and to ensure compliance, the Implementation Director
will actively work to ensure project implementation follows USAID/DAI
rules and regulations and adherence to the project’s market systems and
private sector development approaches. The Implementation Director will
work with the Chief of Party, Deputy Chiefs of Party, and key team
members to coordinate tasks between the operations and technical teams,
prioritizing activities, and working to produce a wide range of
communications products as well as engaging in social media on behalf of
the project, as appropriate.
This
position will have direct contact with USAID and must have adequate
communication and presentation skills in addressing the client. This
position also requires a solid understanding of both the technical and
operational aspects necessary to run a project of magnitude, with a
focus on compliance.
3. Responsibilities and Duties
· Operationalize and support the implementation of the vision of the Chief of Party.
· Work
with Kabul and regional teams in managing partnerships and agreements
with local firms, grantees, and other stakeholders, reviewing agreements
and contributing to budget planning.
· Facilitate
consistent collaboration and communication with internal teams
including Technical, Procurement, Finance, M&E, regional teams, and
external partners on the progress of technical activities against
partnership agreements.
· Identify
areas of improvement in internal processes and communication between
functional teams to optimize implementation of activities and provide
COP and management on process improvement suggestions.
· Ensure
complete compliance of WAMA activities (concept notes and grants) with
USAID and DAI rules, regulations and policies, including serving as
reviewer in TAMIS.
· Support the production and review of project pipelines and budgeting.
· Support the development of the WAMA Annual Workplan at the direction of the COP.
· Lead ad hoc technical and partnerships activities as assigned by the COP and/or his/her designee.
· Work
with the MEL & Communications Director and communications team on
the development of weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on the
project’s progress.
· Review and prepare any external communications and materials to ensure quality control and consistency.
· Direct
regular production of project marketing materials such as success
stories, presentations, social media presence and briefers, in
collaboration with technical and M&E teams.
· In
consultation with the Communications Team, develop and implement a
Strategic Communications Calendar to capture significant events and
time-bound communications submissions to USAID.
· Build
a strong relationship with the USAID/Afghanistan DOC office and provide
guidance to the project team on communications, branding, marking, and
other relevant matters.
· Prepare any ad-hoc requests from DAI home office, USAID, and other relevant stakeholders.
· Other duties as assigned by Chief of Party.
4. Qualifications
· A
minimum of nine years of relevant project experience, preferably in
USAID or USG-funded international development programming required.
· A minimum of seven years of staff management experience required.
· Experience developing and monitoring activity-level and program-level budgets required.
· Master’s degree in a related field required.
· Experience working in agriculture, firm-level support or communications required.
· Experience in working in Afghanistan is highly desirable; work in the region and/or conflict/post-conflict regions preferred.
· Demonstrated
familiarity with USAID rules and regulations, in addition to DAI
processes and requirements, for contractor compliance required.
· Strong
communications and presentation skills with fluency in English
required. Very strong English writing, editing and proof-reading
required.
· Ability to work well in a team environment and to communicate, coordinate and collaborate effectively with various stakeholders.
· Ability to maintain effective working relationships with all levels of staff and local partners.
· Ability to synthesize information and produce deliverables for different audiences.
· Ability
to serve as a key liaison and project representative to project
stakeholders including local/domestic enterprises and vendors, USG
representatives, and other relevant groups/individuals.
This position is currently open; qualified applicants are encouraged to apply immediately for consideration.
