Project Director- West Africa Peace through Evaluation, Learning and Adaptation II Activity (PELA II)

EnCompass LLC seeks Project Director candidates for an anticipated five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Peace through Evaluation, Learning and Adaptation II Activity (PELA II) to be based in the Accra, Ghana.

PELA II will provide Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA) and M&E support to USAID/West Africa’s peace and governance initiatives. PELA II aims to strengthen USAID/West Africa’s effectiveness implementing its projects; coordinating its activities; learning from its experiences; and serving as an information, communication, and thought leader regarding peace promotion and countering violent extremism in the West Africa region.

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

We are looking for someone who can facilitate learning and build relationships, with high political acumen and strong conflict prevention and management skills. They 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. They 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 based in Accra, Ghana; travel throughout the West Africa region expected, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Nigeria.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

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

Essential functions:

Administration/Management:

• Serve as the main point of contact for the activity, providing vision, direction, leadership, and management for the contract.
• Provide technical, operational, and managerial oversight to all aspects of the Activity to ensure all activities, and deliverables are executed with quality and timeliness
• Serve as the primary point of contact for information on the progress and current status of all activities under PELA II and establish appropriate mechanisms to ensure that Activity progress and specific implementation concerns are regularly and promptly reported
• Manage the preparation and presentation of work plans, M&E plans, and all reports
• Establish and maintain highly collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders in West Africa; serve as the primary point of contact to USAID and as the principal liaison with USAID staff, institutions, and country partners to exchange information and develop professional relationships.
• Manage the 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
• Ensure documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned
• Ensure optimal use of human, financial, and physical resources to successfully meet milestones, objectives, deliverables and targets

Technical:

• Responsible for the overall technical direction of the activity, ensuring quality and timeliness of all deliverables
• Promote sustainability of project activities with effective networking, linkages to other programs, capacity building of project staff, and institutional strengthening

Other:

• Engage fully as a member of the EnCompass staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other EnCompass events, and providing administrative support to other team members as needed
• Other duties as assigned

Position Requirements

Academic Qualifications

Master’s degree (PhD Preferred) in monitoring and evaluation, public administration, political science, international relations, conflict resolution and peacebuilding or related field

Experience and Skills

Minimum of 6 years of experience managing monitoring and evaluation, CLA, analytical research, and/or program support mechanism

● Experience in Countering Violent Extremism or Peace Promotion highly preferred

● Ability to successfully manage and develop staff in a multi-country and multi-cultural setting as demonstrated by past experience

● Ability to manage USAID contracts and all required reporting requirements

● Experience establishing or supporting networks preferred

● Ability to perform internal control functions to manage day-to-day operations of the Activity

● Fluency speaking, reading and writing in English, with a minimum of professional proficiency in French.

Additional preferrable requirements:

• Familiarity with USAID West Africa regional Mission is preferred
• Ability to travel within the West Africa region, as necessary
• Experience managing complex relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including host country governments at different levels; experience mentoring staff and working with international and national consultants and staff
• Strong experience with evaluation standards and practices required, CLA a plus
• Previous experience as Project Director, Chief of Party or similar position highly preferrable: overseeing the program management, finance and technical side.