Chief of Party, USAID/Sudan Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (SMEL) IDIQ At Social Impact

Proposal Objective:

Social Impact is preparing a proposal for the upcoming five-year USAID/Sudan Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (SMEL) contract to provide independent monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) services. It will also build the capacity of USAID/Sudan’s staff to systematically collect, analyze, and use information to make informed decisions and ensure more effective implementation of ongoing and future activities.

Position Description:

SI seeks an experienced Chief of Party (CoP) with applied MEL expertise and long-term experience leading projects in complicated, non-permissive environments. The COP will lead the SMEL mechanism, provide technical leadership over a subset of SMEL activities, and supervise expatriate and local staff. This will be a full-time position and may be regionally based.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as Social Impact’s representative and point of contact for the contract. Serve as primary liaison with the USAID/Sudan COR and Contracting Officer.
• Manage and oversee the project’s operations, human resources, administration, and financial and contractual accountability throughout the implementation.
• Provide oversight and supervision of the Sudan office, long- and short-term personnel, and expatriate and local staff.
• Coordinate and ultimately be responsible for all project tasks, ensuring quality assurance and responsiveness. Make necessary adjustments to meet the requirements of USAID.
• Provide technical advice and leadership on key technical activities.
• Oversee the design and implementation of evaluations, capacity building approaches, learning events, knowledge management efforts and other technical tasks conducted under this contract.
• Establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including government officials, for smooth implementation.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in international relations, economics, political science, public policy, or another relevant field.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in technical and managerial oversight and direction on international development projects.
• Technical knowledge and understanding of MEL design, implementation, and management, including (but not limited to) indicator development, data collection and analysis, data quality assessments, performance reporting, evaluation design, evaluation planning, and management/dissemination of evaluations.
• Prior demonstrated experience managing personnel, funds and resources for multi-year, multi-task projects. Proven successful leadership in an intercultural team environment in a development context. Ability to supervise a team to complete tasks on time and on budget.
• Strong understanding of and experience with USAID policies and procedures regarding human resource management, financial management, financial reporting, procurement processes, etc.
• Knowledge and understanding of USAID Evaluation Policy, ADS regulations, and USAID initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience developing long-standing and trusted relationships with clients and stakeholders.
• Ability and willingness to be based in Sudan or similar conflict areas.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Preferred:

• Prior experience as COP on USAID-funded contracts and contracting agreements, and prior experience managing large and similarly complex USAID MEL support contracts.
• Experience working in Sudan or with Sudan’s development challenges.
• Proficiency in written and spoken Arabic.
• Understanding of USAID’s Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting framework, or experience with facilitating workshops, creating learning agendas, implementing adaptive management, and similar activities.