Chief of Party – Liberia

About the role: This is a new, 5 year role with accompanied terms based in Monrovia with frequent visits to project areas with a salary of Grade 6 of range from € 54,054 to 60,059

You will report to the Country Director and the Programme Steering Committee. Regular day to day liaison and coordination will be with the Programme Director. You will work closely with both local and international downstream partners and grantees, the Core Project Management Team, Concern’s Technical Advisors/Specialists, Programme Managers, Finance and system departments, Concern HQ and the donor

Start date is contingent upon award of the USAID grant, anticipated quarter 3 or 4 of 2022 (position subjected to grant approval)

Concern Worldwide is leading a Consortium, which intends to implement the Liberia Food Security, Nutrition, and Resilience (FSNR) Activity subject to award of the grant by USAID. FSNR will support smallholder farmers, subsistence farmers, cooperatives, women, and youth groups to achieve increased sustainable agricultural production and productivity. FSNR will target rural and peri-urban communities within the counties of Lofa, Bong, Nimba, Margibi, Grand Bassa, and Montserrado. This activity has four (4) specific objectives: 1.Strengthen smallholder farmers, women, and youths’ ability to sustainably produce a diverse mix of nutritious and high-value crops using climate-smart agriculture practices. 2. Increase aggregation, farm-level processing, value addition, and marketing of targeted staple and commercial crops to increase incomes and create employment opportunities especially for women and youth. 3. Support economic development and resilience through alternative livelihood opportunities, improved access, and participation in markets for smallholder farmers, agriculture cooperatives, women and youth groups, and subsistence farmers. 4. Enhance year-round availability, accessibility, and the utilization of nutritious food by households in targeted communities to enable them to improve their health and nutrition

Your purpose:

The COP will report to the Country Director of Concern Worldwide. The COP will provide overall leadership and management with an integrated approach for the program to achieve the desired results. The COP will work with USAID and liaise with implementing partner heads, government and other stakeholders. The COP will supervise project staff including professional performance management and coaching. A priority for the COP role extends to capacity building and knowledge transfer to high performing Liberian team members with a view to empowering their success during the life of the project.

You will be responsible for:

· Setting, communicating and delivering the strategic direction of the programme and ensuring consistency of the overarching objectives of the project.

· Provide overall leadership and oversight of the project’s delivery and results and on planning, designing and the implementation of project activities in the light of donor strategic priorities and project design/objectives.

· Providing line management to the Core Project Management Team staff in accordance with the organisational policies and procedures.

· Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with downstream partners; maintaining regular communication, including negotiating scope of works, addressing requisite revisions in project work, and addressing issues that may arise.

· Representing Concern and the partners to the donor and serve as the key liaison to relevant government authorities.

· Oversee and monitor project risks (including financial, logistical and other support systems, security and safeguarding) and flag issues in a timely manner to the Concern Country Director and Programmes Director.

· Ensure that gender equality and diversity principles are upheld in the recruitment, orientation, performance and management of staff.

· Ensuring compliance with organisational and donor rules and regulations, particularly with respect to financial and contract management, budget and expenditure monitoring.

· Ensure adherence/compliance with Concern’s Code of Conduct, Programme Participant Protection Policy, Safeguarding policy and associated policies.

· Promote and ensure accountability to programme participants and Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and Do No Harm principles, and ensure high ethical research standards, particularly given the sensitive nature of the topic areas throughout programme implementation.

· Provide overall managerial and technical support throughout the implementation of the project across all pillars (while downstream partners will contribute specific areas of expertise).

· Provide strategic and operational leadership for the project and lead on quarterly and annual work planning, programme implementation, M&E and donor reporting.

· Ensure that efficient systems are in place to support all aspects of the project, including grant management, M&E systems, and technical assistance provision, in compliance with organizational procedures.

· Ensure adherence to agreed project quality standards, M&E guidelines, frameworks for the project and provide technical support to embed M&E and accountability throughout all aspects of the project implementation.

· Manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders including the Government of Liberia, which involves ongoing political economy and stakeholder analyses – for local partners, in collaboration with a local team of advisers.

Accountability

· promote and ensure compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) commitments and quality criteria

· ensure that all staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Concern’s Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that information about Concern’s commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities

· ensure that the CRM is functional, effectively implemented and accessible in all programmes’ locations, enabling safe reporting of both programmatic and sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns

· ensure that complaints are welcomed, managed and responded to in a timely, fair and appropriate manner; ensure that sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns, are handled with utmost confidentiality and that the safety of the complainants and those affected is prioritised at all stages.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

· Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in designing and implementing USAID projects.

· Minimum of ten (10) years of work experience in developing countries, preferably in West Africa.

· Minimum five (5) years of successful experience as Chief of Party, Team Leader, Project Director or equivalent position for USAID or a similar donor agency-funded project.

· Master’s degree or higher in Agricultural Development, Agricultural Economics, Business, International Development, Public Policy, or another related field.

· Strong financial management and donor compliance skills.

· Experience in the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems.

· Ability and experience in building and maintaining effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, particularly USAID. INGO and Government structures and to represent at national or international level fora.

· Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.

· Strong coordination skills specifically with the ability to effectively coordinate influence and negotiate with partners and grantees.

· Strong understanding of and background in one or more of the following technical areas: climate-smart agriculture, market systems development, economic and environmental resilience, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, gender equality and social inclusion, and youth empowerment.

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

· Excellent written and spoken English languages skills.

We would also like:

· Excellent interpersonal skills

· Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.

· Good sense of humour

· Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, protection and participation.

· Excellent communication skills

· Demonstrated experience of team building and working in a participatory manner.

· Flexible and adaptable approach to working in a changing environment.