October 8, 2024

Corus International

Quito

OTHER

Chief of Party – USAID Climate Change Mitigation via Sustainable Land Use (Ecuador)

About Corus: Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include Lutheran World Relief, IMA World Health, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. Our more than 800 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives. Further details about the organization can be found at: https://corusinternational.org
Founded in 1945, Corus member Lutheran World Relief (LWR) collaborates with local partner organizations to develop and implement programs that grow inclusive and climate resilient rural economies, reduce poverty, and respond to emergencies and humanitarian crises.

About the job: LWR is currently recruiting a Chief of Party (COP) for a USAID-funded project in Ecuador. This five-year, $10-24.9 million project will promote sustainable livelihoods and advance natural climate solutions in areas affected by deforestation and land degradation through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and mitigation efforts.

The COP provides overall vision, technical, and administrative leadership and expertise for the program. The COP is responsible for management of all aspects of the program implementation in meeting the objectives of the initiative, including, but not limited to, technical, administrative, operational, and logistical management interventions. The COP will take a leadership role in coordination among the program team, consortium members, other implementing partners, public and private sector partners, and government stakeholders, and will liaise with the donor as necessary. Responsible for ensuring that the programmatic implementation meets expected standards of technical quality in compliance with USAID requirements, including monitoring, evaluation and learning, the COP will also ensure completion of reports, evaluations, analyses, assessments, and deliverables in compliance with USAID quality standards.

The COP position will be based in Ecuador. Actual hiring is contingent upon successful agreement award and USAID approval. The anticipated start date is currently projected to be on or around October 2025.

Responsibilities

Leadership, Vision and Strategy
Has leadership, supervisory, and management responsibility for all program staff, including consortium member program staff, and will work closely with LWR management and support staff (including finance, administration, and program)

Lead thought leadership efforts in biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, climate change, community-based governance, nature-based solutions, and private sector engagement.

Plans, organizes, and supervises the overall program activities

Ensures that all activities conform to the terms and conditions of the donor agreement, meet the expected technical quality standards, and that the strategic objectives and results of the program are accomplished
Program Management and Administration
Manages all operations related to the project according to the work plan, project documents, and implementation strategy

Develops and manages relationships with the public and private sector

Provides overall supervision for the implementation and integration of all program activities, and provides overall direction to daily implementation plans to ensure all program goals are met

Manages program funds and other resources for the program

Prepares status reports, budget information, and other documentation as needed, and ensures timely reporting to USAID
Program Quality
Oversees the design, monitoring, evaluation and learning of the project in accordance with M&E requirements

Ensures that program activities are implemented, and monitors the achievement of results, ensuring compliance with project indicators

Ensures that program activities and approaches adopt best practices in gender-responsiveness, protection, governance, and participant accountability

Ensures the delivery of quality training, technical assistance, and administrative and financial support to all partner agencies and government, including the selection and coordination of sub-grantees and consultants
Representation
Provides leadership and oversight to the consortium, ensuring that all members work cooperatively and that sub-grantees' targets for their portion of program activities are fully met according to their scopes of work and sub-award terms

Serves as primary contact to USAID, the public and private sector, and the host country government, taking responsibility for addressing all matters related to the program

Strengthens linkages with existing partners and develops linkages with potential partner agencies

Oversees communication strategies for the program in compliance with donor's branding and marketing requirements, as well as LWR's internal procedures
Human Resource Management
Manages the recruitment of a team of skilled, competent, qualified, and innovative program staff, in collaboration with LWR regional and country program management

Ensures staff compliance with all USAID and LWR administrative and operational policies and procedures, as well as applicable donor regulations

Leads and manages LWR's program team, including staff with administrative related duties, and consortium staff, to ensure that they are able to successfully implement efficiently all program operations and achieve program objectives

Encourages a culture of learning, innovation, and creativity, and contributes to an environment conducive to professional development among program staff

Qualifications:

Minimum of a master's degree in economics, business, international development, agricultural economics, agribusiness, or a related field; Doctorate level degree is desirable
Minimum of 10 years of experience, with increasingly higher levels of responsibility, working in international development, preferably in climate change mitigation, sustainable landscapes, commercial value chains, food security, and economic growth.
Proven experience in providing leadership around: biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods and commodities, climate change, Nature-based Solutions, private sector engagement
Demonstrated ability to lead (and a track record of successfully leading and managing) donor-funded programs of a similar scope and scale; experience leading U.S. government-funded programs preferred
Chief of Party-level experience on climate change mitigation, sustainable landscapes, economic growth, livelihoods, COP-level experience on USAID-funded projects is highly desirable
Experience working effectively with private sector, civil society, local, regional, and central-level government authorities, as well as with U.S. Government entities and other development partners; experience working with USAID specifically is highly desirable
Knowledge and/or understanding of social, economic, and political contexts governing rural economic development, sustainable landscapes, and climate change mitigation in Ecuador
Knowledge of U.S. Government regulations, policies, and procedures (including FAR), preferably of USAID, or those of an equivalently complex international development funding organization
Demonstrated capabilities in managing complex consortia and/or partnership relationships
Demonstrated capabilities in organizational capacity building
High level of strategic vision, leadership, interpersonal, technical, and analytical skills, including a demonstrated ability to interact effectively and collaboratively with a broad range of public and private sector counterparts and other key stakeholders
Familiarity with and commitment to gender integration in programming
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point, Access; familiarity with other program and financial management programs and software
Fluent oral and written English language skills required; high degree of proficiency in oral and written Spanish also required
Ability to travel up to 50% of the time, both within Ecuador, as well as internationally, as required
Commitment to LWR's core values and ability to model those values in relationships with colleagues and partners