DRC: Chief of Party - USAID’s Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems Activity

Jul 25, 2022 | Mercy Corps
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Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger and resilient communities from within. Now, and for the future.

The Program/Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in Eastern DRC, with the overall country goal being to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps DRC’s key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to 1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development; 4) Support peacebuilding and local governance. Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo.

In October 2020, Mercy Corps started the five-year USAID’s Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems Activity, with a budget of $32 million to be implemented in 4 locations across North and South Kivu. Building on the successes of Mercy Corps’ IMAGINE program, and those of other WASH actors in Eastern DRC, USAID’s Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems Activity (SWASSA) has brought together a consortium of 3 international partners (Mercy Corps, TetraTech and Sanergy) to focus on water and sanitation. In partnership with USAID and in line with Development Objective 2 of USAID’s DRC Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), SWASSA aims to show that it is possible to achieve genuinely sustainable increases in access to clean water by implementing contextually relevant, performance-based contractual models for water service delivery in collaboration with state and local entities including Territorial (ETDs) and Provincial Administrations. The consortium of international partners works interconnectedly, leveraging their expertise in different areas to ensure the success of the Activity. Led by Mercy Corps, Tetra Tech will focus on the design of the infrastructure and market system delivery plan; and Sanergy provides the technical expertise in sanitation.

The Position

The Chief of Party (COP) provides strategic vision, overall leadership, technical oversight (particularly for WASH market systems), and team and program management of this multi-million dollar USAID-funded program, while managing staff, partners and resources to ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on-time, on scope, and within budget.

The CoP will work closely with the Senior Leadership Team composed of the Deputy Chief of Party –Stakeholder Engagement & Governance, Director – Program Controls, Director – Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning; and 6 Program Delivery Managers. Together, they will be responsible for supervising program staff and ensuring accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations. 

Key responsibilities

Program Leadership

  • Drive a culture of collaboration, learning and adaptation throughout the team and prosecute continuous improvement
  • Maintain focus and promote attention throughout the team of the overarching program goal, consistently ensuring alignment throughout all activities.
  • Lead overall cross team coordination efforts, bringing together different stakeholders to proactively find a collective and innovative solution for challenges.
  • Contribute to country wide team building efforts through collaboration with the Mercy Corps DRC team and influencing the development and strengthening of the organization.
  • Represent the program across the Mercy Corps global team and internally at Mercy Corps DRC, promoting best practice, sharing lessons learned and influencing the global strategy.

Technical Oversight

  • Provide direction for Market Systems Development to ensure the approach and performance can be sustainable with developed service implementation models. Work closely with Tetra Tech to ensure the highest standard of MSD strategy and implementation across four program sites. Critically analyze and provide feedback on the proposed plans, ensuring integration and synergy with the other components, particularly governance.
  • Provide technical direction, leadership and oversight of all technical elements. This encompasses Markets System Delivery, Stakeholder Relations and Governance, Water Infrastructure, Sanitation, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Gender, Youth, and Communication.
  • Environment – ensure cross program strategy aligns with USAID environmental regulations and best practice. Oversee Environment focal point, and the development of USAID required documents including: the global environmental management plan, the site-specific environmental review of factors, site specific environmental review reports and annual environmental management and mitigation report.
  • Resilience – ensure cross cutting resilience strategies are purposefully introduced to ensure the program is implemented in a sustainable way. This includes introducing an increased focus on climate resilience.

Strategy and Vision

  • Ensure programs are running in alignment with Mercy Corps’ principles, values and the program’s strategic plan, particularly in regard to maintaining a focus on gender equality and social inclusion across the program.
  • Recognize, promote and act on opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where this is regularly encouraged.
  • Set the direction and support the Director – Program Controls in the development of annual, integrated strategic work-plans for the program.

Team Management

  • Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where accountability is promoted, alternative viewpoints welcomed, the team strives to achieve excellence, and is conducive to professional growth. A key facet of the SWASSA team is to ensure accountability and to build trust; maintaining and strengthening a healthy team culture is essential to this role.
  • Promote a team culture which values ongoing collaboration, learning and adaptation, integrating an increased Resilience approach to program implementation.
  • Supervise the Senior Leadership Team existing of 6 team members from Mercy Corps and partners. Clearly establish and communicate performance expectations and regularly provide constructive feedback via performance reviews with direct supervisees.
  • Strengthen the ownership of the Senior Leadership Team, empowering them to make decisions individually, contribute to strategic discussions and invest in continuous growth.
  • Promote a team culture that values diversity, equity and inclusion and work closely with HR and the Senior Leadership Team to actively promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the SWASSA team composition and leadership structure 
  • Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
  • Work with the Director of Program Controls to implement a workforce development plan, actively managing and promoting professional development and ongoing training of staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities.

Program Management

  • Work closely with the Director of Program Controls to ensure oversight and implementation of the highest standard of program management tools. This includes risk management, updated and timely workplans and accurate budgeting.
  • Lead Consortium Management, with the two critical international program partnerships to ensure sound coordination in the context of an overall program strategic and resilience-building framework
  • Provide oversight of all component implementation, including ensuring that each component has a detailed implementation plan aligned and coordinated with others.
  • Supervise and manage all program staff to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented in a coordinated fashion according to schedule, budget and quality.
  • Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve objectives.
  • Act as program lead on relevant incident management responses, in coordination with country level leadership, as they arise.

Operations, Finance and Compliance Management

  • Ensure Positive coordination with operations, finance and other support departments, ensuring open and transparent communication and coordination between both parties and knowledge and adherence to processes and policies. 
  • Ensure effective systems and structures (including finance, logistics, procurement, security, administration and human resources) are implemented to maximize support to field activities whilst ensuring compliance with regulations and policies.
  • Hold ultimate accountability for budgetary oversight and management, whilst building the team’s capacity to understand budgeting and financial management.
  • Promote compliance with USAID regulations, Mercy Corps policies and procedures and ensure all activities are implemented accordingly.
  • Confirm that programs are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security management priorities.

Coordination and Representation

  • Primary program representative for USAID and other cooperating sponsors, donors and high-level international stakeholders, including private sector entities, NGOs, public utilities, etc. Responsible for building strong relationships in the sector and ensuring proactive and continuous engagement to promote the program and maintain abreast of sector specific news and events.
  • Support the DCoP – Stakeholder Engagement, in engaging regularly with local government and civil society, Community and Water Sector based partners building a strong reputation for the program and creating support.
  • When required, act as the media spokesperson on behalf of the program, giving interviews, delivering speeches and hosting press conferences under the strict guidance of the Communication team.

Supervisory Responsibility

Deputy Chief of Party – Stakeholder Relationships & Governance; Director – Program Controls; Director – Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning; Environment, Sanitation & Infrastructure Delivery Manager; Market Systems Development Lead (Tetratech), Water Infrastructure Manager (Tetratech).

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Country Director, DRC Program Directors, Deputy Chief of Party, Program Delivery Managers (M&E, Market Service Delivery, Governance, Infrastructure), Heads of Offices, Operations Director, HR/Admin Director, Finance Director and associated Managers.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

  • MA/MSc in business, program management, financial administration or equivalent.
  • 10 years or more of management experience in increasingly responsible positions – preferably as the lead for a comparable water and sanitation project or senior leadership/management position on a larger project.
  • Experience working with water or electricity utilities, either public or private.
  • Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, private sector entities, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with USAID policies, procedures and approaches with regards to design, implementation, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation for projects of a similar size.
  • Exceptional relationship building skills, with demonstrated experience in management of large and cross cultural teams. Must be committed to promoting equality and inclusion throughout their management style.
  • Strong preference will be given to applicants with private sector experience, business acumen and interest in public-private partnerships and contractual agreements (involving interlinked infrastructure and service delivery).
  • Certified in program management or commitment to achieve certification within first 3 months of position.
  • Fluency in oral/written English and French at high intermediate level is required.
  • Previous experience leading programs in a similar context to DRC is strongly desired.