Liberia: Chief Resilience Officer

Feb 23, 2017 | Axis Human Capital
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The City of Paynesville would like to hire a Chief Resilience Officer to provide technical leadership on resilience building. The Chief Resilience Officer will be a key Advisor to the Mayor and other heads of departments to mainstream resilience in all activities of the city.  He/She will be the primary point of contact for the development, advancement and implementation of the city’s Resilience Strategy and dedicate most of his/her time to the development of resilience planning, integration of existing operations & systems; extension of resilience into community-based activities through the city’s service platform. The ideal candidate will also be supported by shared administrative staff. During the Resilience Strategy development process, the CRO will be accountable for liaising with appropriate staff across relevant municipal and central government departments to coordinate their input. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Provides leadership and is responsible for development, implementation, monitoring and measurement of a comprehensive resilience program that incorporates resilience into municipal operations and community life.
• Keeps the City focused on opportunities for balancing equity, economy and the environment in all decision-making.
• Serves as the primary spokesperson on resilience.
• Prepares the Mayor and other staff leadership to make public presentations on issues related to resilience.
• Provides technical assistance to the municipal staff, the Mayor, and City Council, based on research.
• Works closely with municipal departments in the development, coordination and administration of resilience policies for the City of Paynesville, especially acting as a liaison between the planning, development and infrastructure investment functions of government.
• Establishes a citywide resilience program that includes assessing the impact of practices to the City of Paynesville.
  Direct/support systems analysis, strategic planning processes, organization development processes
  Successfully manage operational problems; ability to interpret and apply statutory requirements
  Establish and maintain effective working relationships with public sector management, employees, private sector, governmental officials and the public

Leadership:

• Demonstrate strong leadership and innovative thinking
• Serve as the principle point of contact for all 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) programming and administrative activities.
• Lead the creation of the Paynesville Resilience Strategy in conjunction with the 100RC process.
• Participate and engage in the 100RC network, while creating connections between local networks and 100RC partners.
• Identify opportunities to change institutional behavior, create policies, and develop practices that reduce costly, resource-intensive and inefficient activities
• Work in conjunction with city departments such as Waste & Sanitation, City Planning, Community Services, Environmental Health, Solid Waste Management, City Police, Legal Department, City Council Members, local government authorities, civic leadership, and the private sector to create a more efficient, resilient, and prosperous city that reduces its impact on natural and fiscal resources for current and future generations;
• Engage both internal (city) and external (national) stakeholders to develop and implement policies and actions to transform the City of Paynesville into a more resilient place;
• Lead the advancement and implementation of high economic value, low environmental impact citywide investments, policies and community wide practices.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work independently and collaboratively

Management capacity:

• Manage the relationship with 100RC consultant(s), resource providers and local executive staff participating in resilience building programming.
• Possess planning, budgeting and financial management experience
• Successful candidate will be an innovative individual who identifies the tools and resources needed to stay current in the field of resilience
• Be a master collaborator who will work effectively in relationship building and garner trust among stakeholders to achieve goals
• Demonstrate problem solving, analytical and management skills.

Administrative:

• Administers CRO office staff and budget as required
• Oversee the PCC Resilience team (which includes a deputy CRO and members from all departments mentioned above and as warranted)
• Coordinate and facilitate policy and program development
• Staffs City/ national commissions related to resilience
• Build and engage professional networks to further resilience
• Create and maintain PCC Resilience program documents

Resilience Strategy:

• Leads the planning, development and implementation of PCC Resilience Strategy and initiatives
• Leads policy analysis, development and advocacy efforts
• Leverages the Resilience Strategy to help establish the City of Paynesville as a leader in the field of resilience at the state, regional, national and international level
• Serves as an advisor to the Mayor and PCC leadership
• Leads engagement in local, national and international resilience and networks
• Delivers presentations to citizen groups, elected and appointed boards or committees as assigned

Resilience initiatives and program management:

• Identifies, recommends and advances implementation of programs and incentives to build PCC’s resilience
• Advises and responds to elected officials about resilience issues
• Resource development for resilience projects
• Promotes resilience within the government and citywide culture
• Benchmarks and communicates resilience goals and progress
• Develops and execute strategies to address issues such as energy efficiency, land use planning, development, resource conservation, materials management, pollution reduction, transportation, and building design
• Coordinates department agency directors/managers in managing, measuring and monitoring resilience initiatives
• Engage with community, state, federal, other local governments and/or non-government interest groups
• Works with department and developers to prioritize system integration in design processes for new construction and renovation

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• 10-15 years of International development, Urban planning, Engineering, Economic development, and or/ Public health related experience. And/ or any combination of education and experience equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university with Master’s Degree in Project Management or Public Administration, Health systems, Development financing, Sanitation, Environmental and minimum of five years’ experience in similar position to CRO role as described.
• Be passionate and understand current concepts of urban development, resilience systems
• Develop positive relations with other departments and agencies, and elected officials, and to facilitate collaborative planning processes
• Effective organizational, administrative, report writing and research skills; skills in time management
• Knowledge of key policy areas: environment, local government, community development•Knowledge of climate change science, principles of energy and environmental management, and economic development
• Knowledge of public administration and public policy
• Knowledge of Liberia’s local and central government structure