Ethiopia: Chief of Party, Food for Progress, Ethiopia

Self Help Africa (SHA) is currently recruiting a Chief of Party (COP) for an anticipated multiyear, USDA- funded Food for Progress project in Ethiopia. This five-year, estimated $19 million project will focus on developing the livestock feed sector in Ethiopia. The project will be implemented in the Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, SNNPR, Afar and Somali regions of Ethiopia.

Specifically the project seeks to: (1) Increase the productivity of livestock and poultry in Ethiopia by developing the feed ingredient supply chain, developing feed manufacturing enterprises, developing sustainable forage production systems, introducing and expanding feedlot, poultry and dairy enterprises, and promoting improved on-farm feeding practices; and (2) Expand trade of agricultural products in the livestock and poultry sector by introducing and expanding feedlot and dairy enterprises.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Chief of Party will provide overall vision, technical and administrative leadership and expertise for the program. The COP is responsible for management of all aspects of the program implementation in meeting the objectives of the initiative including, but not limited to, technical, administrative, operational, and logistical management interventions. The COP will take a leadership role in coordination among the SHA program team, consortium members, other implementing partners, public and private sector partners, and government stakeholders, and will liaise with USDA as necessary. Responsible for ensuring that the programmatic implementation meets expected standards of technical quality in compliance with USDA requirements, including monitoring, evaluation and learning. S/he will ensure completion of reports, evaluations, analyses, assessments, and deliverables in compliance with USDA quality standards.

The ideal candidate will have commercial livestock feed sector experience and exemplary relationship management skills, as well as experience in designing and implementing private sector development programs, familiarity with market systems facilitation approaches, significant understanding of the private sector, and experience working in Ethiopia. S/he should also demonstrate previous experience of managing a large-scale US- Government funded program or programs with comparable compliance standards.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Providing strategic direction to the project, guiding implementation strategies and methodologies;

• Ensuring timely and effective delivery of all project results, managing all aspects of the activity implementation on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards

• Ensuring strong compliance with USG funding regulations;

• Supervising project staff in all project locations;

• Stakeholder engagement including with senior Ethiopian government officials,

  USDA, other development partners/collaborators and key players in the livestock industry, thus providing a community of interest and support.

  REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of a master’s degree (in agricultural economics, economics, business, international development, public policy, or other relevant field);

• 10 years or more of progressively responsible experience in operational support, management, and finance/budget oversight while working on private sector development projects in a developing country and preferably in Ethiopia or in other East African countries;

• Minimum of 7 years of CoP experience in managing large, complex donor-funded agricultural development programs

• Experience in successfully leading and managing more than one large scale, complex project in a development context;

• Understanding and experience in the development of commercial livestock feed sectors and linking smallholder farmers to commercial supply chains, particularly in developing country contexts;

• Experience in design and implementation of agriculture development activities in East Africa and ideally in Ethiopia;

• Familiarity with USAID/USDA rules and regulations, compliance and procurement procedures.

• Strong project management experience, including managing multiple implementation partners and coordinating with other stakeholders;

• Experience consulting, engaging, managing relationships and collaborating with governments, NGOs, the private sector, project beneficiaries and other stakeholders, and ability to establish and sustain credibility with all such parties;

• Strong results-based management expertise (particularly in the use of Results Frameworks or Log Frames, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting to donors);

• Excellent understanding of gender, human rights and environmental issues and ability to analyze these and incorporate meaningful and appropriate strategies to address them within Activity design and implementation;

• Fluent in English;

• Understanding of commercial agribusiness industry practice and drivers;

• Direct private sector experience;

• Experience with major bilateral and/or multilateral donors;

• Strong knowledge of the Ethiopian context;

  DESIRABLE

• Previous experience of managing USDA or USAID funding

• Experience working in effective consortia for program delivery

• Experience of program risk assessment and management

  JD for Chief of Party, Self Help Africa Page 2 of 3

KEY RELATIONS Internal

o Ethiopia Country Director (Line Manager)
o Livestock Feed Sector field and technical staff (Direct Reports)
o Head of Programmes & Finance Team (Liaison)
o CFO and Finance Managers (Liaison)
o Director of Programmes, Deputy Director of Programmes and Programme

Support Coordinators (Liaison)
o SHA Senior Management Team (Liaison)

External

o Members of the consortium
o Government departments,
o Private firms in the livestock feed sector

REPRESENTATION

• In coordination with the CD and Head of Region(East Africa), represent SHA at national, regional and international levels; to donors, local and national government authorities, other NGOs, and any other parties as required;

• Support the SHA’s strategic co-operation initiatives with government and national/international NGOs and CBOs active in Ethiopia;

  ROLE COMPETENCIES

• Excellent verbal, analytical, organisational and written skills

• People management skills

• Proactive and motivated with a strong commitment to Self Help Africa’s vision,

  mission and values

• Excellent ICT skills including a good knowledge of MS Office and Powerpoint

  Presentation

• Attention to detail and the ability to produce timely and accurate reports

Interested candidates should send their CVs with a 300 word cover note highlighting three reasons why they are a good fit for the position to ethiopia@selfhelpafrica.org.