Chief of Party

BACKGROUND:

The IRC has been providing humanitarian assistance to refugees in Thailand since 1976, working with refugees and displaced people from Myanmar/Burma since 1990. The IRC as prime leads the USAID-funded Project for Local Empowerment (PLE), which promotes access to health, education, food security and protection services and rights for conflict-affected populations in South East Myanmar (Burma) as well as those displaced in Thailand. IRC leads the project in coordination with consortium members Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), The Border Consortium (TBC), and World Education (WE), and supports a network of over 35 local partners. The project builds the technical, management, and leadership capacities of local partners to deliver services in four states and two regions in South East Myanmar, as well as six provinces and nine refugee camps in Thailand.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The Chief of Party (COP) ensures the Project for Local Empowerment (PLE) is implemented in accordance with the cooperative agreement, USAID regulations, and internationally recognized quality of humanitarian assistance standards. The COP holds primary responsibility for ensuring the achievement of the core PLE objective of providing healthcare, education, food and other assistance in ways which are impactful, cost-effective, and strengthen the resiliencies of the most vulnerable persons from Myanmar. This includes lead responsibility for PLE’s convergence strategy in Myanmar, which promotes the recognition by, and collaboration with, local partners by the Government of Myanmar, as well as by international and local organizations in Burma, in order to strengthen social services and access to rights in conflict affected areas in ways that build on local capacities and promote peace building; and lead responsibility for PLE’s transition strategy in Thailand, which transitions project leadership and management to local partners, who will work with government agencies to provide quality services to displaced Burmese beyond PLE. The COP is the primary representational link with USAID staff in the Regional and Burma Missions, and works closely with the Regional and Burma Missions to provide project updates, discuss strategies, obstacles, performance plans, and indicator success, and liaise with USAID contracting officers, technical support staff and outside contractors as required. The COP also holds lead responsibility for interactions with PLE consortium partners, as well as oversight of the project partnerships with the governments of Myanmar and Thailand, non-governmental organizations, and local partner organizations. In addition, the COP represents PLE to all key stakeholders, government officials and donors at coordination fora and other related seminars and meetings. The COP reports to the Regional Director for Asia, the Caucuses and the Middle East.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to all PLE project components to achieve the greatest coverage and impact possible, ensuring that project initiatives appropriately address the needs of the most vulnerable beneficiary population in the most efficient, cost-effective manner;
• Lead responsibility for ensuring the achievement of the core PLE project Assistance Objective of providing healthcare, education, food and other humanitarian assistance in ways which are impactful, cost-effective, and strengthen the resiliencies of the most vulnerable persons from Myanmar;
• Lead responsibility for executing the core PLE strategies of, in Myanmar, promoting the recognition by, and collaboration with, local partners by the Government of Myanmar, as well as by international and local organizations in Myanmar, in order to strengthen social services and access to rights in conflict affected areas in ways that build on local capacities and promote peace building; and in Thailand, transitioning project leadership and management to local partners, who will work with government agencies to provide quality services to displaced Burmese beyond PLE;
• Lead the overall project by planning, monitoring and evaluating project activities in accordance with the cooperative agreement;
• Review, in coordination with key project staff, yearly work and performance plans to ensure long-term and short-term priorities are on track;
• Manage relations with consortium partners, and oversee relations with all other project partners, including government ministries, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations;
• Ensure strong collaborative partner relationships - based on principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual accountability, reciprocity, inclusion and transparency – with all project partners throughout the life of the project;
• Ensure that sub-grant award and monitoring processes are aligned with project goals and objectives;
• Host the Project Management Group (the consortium governance mechanism), chairing on behalf of IRC as appropriate;
• Ensure strong and coordinated project monitoring and evaluation systems, overseeing the development and maintenance of systematic data collection, storage and dissemination tools, and support to partners on improving monitoring capacity and data quality;
• Ensure the best use of resources through financial and technical management that includes sound budgets, regular monitoring of project expenses and timely submission of financial reports to the donor;
• Overall responsibility for ensuring that technical assistance needs are identified and addressed;
• Support project staff by creating and maintaining a work environment that promotes teamwork, trust, mutual respect, and empowers staff to take responsibility;
• Manage and evaluate project staff performance;
• Assist as needed in the preparation and submission of compliance-related matters, including handling and documenting compliance-related inquiries;
• Manage project properties according to the IRC and USAID regulations;
• Serve as the primary representational link with USAID staff, working closely with the Regional and Burma Missions to provide project updates, discuss strategies, obstacles, performance plans, and indicator success, and liaise with USAID contracting officers, technical support staff and outside contractors as required;
• Maintain an on-going dialogue with the USAID AOR and respond in a timely manner to AOR's inquiries; 
• Report to USAID through both formal and informal debriefings, annual and quarterly reports;
• Manage external relations by representing the project and the organization in the public and ensuring the distribution of information about project achievements and lesson learned;
• Supervise Deputy Chief of Party, Senior Advocacy Coordinator, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, and Sub Grant Compliance Coordinator.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Graduate or post-graduate degree in humanitarian assistance, civil society development, community development, or other related field;
• Minimum of eight years’ experience in leading humanitarian and/or development assistance programs;
• Demonstrated expertise in managing a complex program portfolio spanning humanitarian and development assistance across multiple sectors in a variety of operating contexts (conflict, post-conflict and asylum) and beneficiary populations (IDP, refugee, migrant), and in partnership with a diverse array of project partners (government, non-government and community-based partner organizations);
• Demonstrated expertise in facilitating collaboration between state and non-state social service providers toward recognition and constructive integration;
• Demonstrated expertise in facilitating the transition of project leadership and management to local partners to promote program sustainability, effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness;
• Technical expertise in one or more sectors relevant to the PLE project, including: health, education, emergency cash and food assistance, rights protection (legal assistance, GBV, protection mainstreaming), institutional capacity building, advocacy, with a demonstrated ability to foster the close integration of multiple project sectors;
• Demonstrated expertise in community participation management and supporting the institutional capacity strengthening of project partners;
• Demonstrated ability to foster strong collaborative partner relationships - based on principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual accountability, reciprocity, inclusion and transparency – with all project partners throughout the life of the project, with an ability to foster a common project vision among a wide array of diverse partner organizations;
• Demonstrated ability to ensure appropriate monitoring and evaluation of a complex program portfolio, encompassing the provision of assistance through host government ministries, non-governmental and community-based partner organizations, including in areas with limitations on access for project staff;
• In-depth experience and knowledge of the PLE operating environment, including knowledge of the range of humanitarian and other actors operating in that environment, an asset;
• Demonstrated experience in effective liaison with USAID, working closely with USAID to foster a collaborative and constructive relationship that effectively addresses the requirements of USAID;
• Ability to work at community, provincial and national levels;
• Ability to lead large multi-cultural teams delivering complex humanitarian and developmental assistance involving a wide array of project partners and varying implementation contexts with diverse beneficiary populations;
• Strong strategic planning, monitoring, management, supervision, and budgeting expertise;
• Strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written;
• Demonstrated understanding of USAID regulatory framework and IRC management systems;
• Demonstrated ability to promote the integration of project efforts with other programming implemented in the same contexts;
• Indigenous and local language (Burmese, Karen, Karenni, Shan, Thai) capability preferred.