Afghanistan: Technical Deputy Chief of Party

Nov 21, 2015 | Chemonics
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Chemonics seeks a long-term technical deputy chief of party for the $70 million USAID Regional Agricultural Development Program - West (RADP-W) located in Herat, Afghanistan. The objective of RADP-West is to improve food and economic security for rural Afghans in Badghis, Farah, and Herat provinces by improving the productivity and profitability of targeted value chains in the wheat, high-value crop, and livestock sectors. RADP-W will achieve its objective through a long-term agricultural value chain approach designed to address sustainability as well as by supporting policy, legal and regulatory development. The technical deputy chief of party will supervise the project component leaders for value chains, productivity, and enabling environment, and will provide technical management for the teams managing the provinces of Herat and Badghis. We arelooking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

Responsibilities include:

  • Supervise the project's productivity team, value chain team, enabling environment team
  • Provide technical coordination of private sector and government partners, stakeholders, and other key value chain actors
  • Assess subcontractor performance against indicator targets in the wheat, high-value crop, and livestock sectors
  • Provide technical input for a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to measure progress and the impact of technical activities in each value chain. In addition, ensure that technical activities are achieving the objectives, deliverables, and indicators as per the contract, annual work plan, and M&E Plan
  • Maintain a close working relationship with USAID staff and work with the chief of party to keep the contracting officer representative (COR) well informed about technical activities, challenges and achievements
  • Prepare scopes of work related to technical program consultancies under the RADP-W contract
  • Apply current international agricultural development best practices and track activities in Afghanistan relevant to RADP-W technical activities and implementation
  • Provide technical leadership on the market systems and facilitative value chain approach to project stakeholders and USAID counterparts
  • Collaborate with team members to develop workshops, seminars, fairs, demonstrations, and training activities for businesses, lead farmers, and other stakeholders and partners

Qualifications:

  • Degree in agriculture, economics, international development, business management, or a related field required
  • Strong technical background in facilitative value chain approaches, market systems, agricultural capacity building, and agribusiness required
  • Minimum seven years of progressively responsible experience in managing and implementing large donor-funded agriculture or alternative livelihoods programs, particularly in transitional, Islamic, or post-conflict countries
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate diverse staff to be accountable for program outcomes
  • Experience mentoring and building the capacity of national staff
  • Experience with agricultural development programs implementing agricultural extension, agribusiness, or value chain development activities
  • Experience working with host-government and private sector partners in planning and evaluating agriculture development activities at the national and sub-national levels
  • Experience working with a range of stakeholders, including high-level government officials and rural farmers
  • Experience designing and managing quality assurance and quality control activities, with an emphasis on results management
  • Ability to interact regularly and professionally with senior host-government counterparts on policy and other strategic planning issues
  • Strong writing and organizational skills and a strong track record of meeting deliverables and deadlines
  • Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
  • Equivalent to a FSI S4/R4 proficiency in English required; professional proficiency (equivalent to FSI S3/R3) in Dari or Pashto desirable

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Application Instructions:

Send electronic submissions to radpwtdcoprecruit@chemonics.com by December 4, 2015. Please include "technical deputy chief of party" in the subject line. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted.

In addition, please download and complete Chemonics’ equal employment opportunity self-identification form and submit it separately to EEOselfidentify@chemonics.com with only "technical deputy chief of party - RADP-W" in the subject line. If you prefer not to disclose your sex, race, or ethnicity, you may check “I do not wish to complete the information requested.” Thank you for completing the form and supporting our equal employment opportunity reporting requirements.