Chief of Party, USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

Overview

Counterpart International is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) for a 5-year USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program which aims to reduce hunger and improve literacy and nutrition among school-age students, especially girls. With the support of the local and headquarters staff, the COP will provide vision, technical leadership, financial and administrative oversight of the program and will serve as the principle institutional liaison to USDA, local implementing country organizations, and host government agencies. The COP should have competence and extensive past experience relevant to leadership, management, project implementation and training of staff. The COP will also provide staff management and development, and ensure the highest quality of project monitoring, evaluation, reporting and communications.

The COP will collaborate with the Ministries of Education, Ministry of Health, and other critical partners to provide high-level support for effective capacity building at the local level and sustainability of the project interventions. The COP will oversee a team of experts and support staff, prepare reports and annual operating plans, align project initiatives with in-country priorities and ensure the program is compliant with USDA and Counterpart International’s regulations. The project must be designed to align closely with the current objectives of the Government of El Salvador.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary liaison to USDA, Country headquarters, local and national governmental authorities, local NGOs, community organizations, and other donor organizations.
• Lead design and implementation of all program components and activities.
• Overall leadership, recruitment, training and supervision of office staff and partner organization.
• Facilitate learning and integration of Counterpart’s regional best practices on food security and nutrition initiatives and the program’s technical areas.
• Provide mentoring and professional development support to project staff, with emphasis on building capacity.
• Oversee budget preparation and provided overall financial oversight to ensure strict fiscal accountability.
• Ensure the highest quality of program implementation, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and communications.
• Ensure compliance with Counterpart and USDA rules and regulations, particularly with respect to financial and grant management.
• Facilitate learning and integration of Counterpart’s regional best practices on food security and nutrition initiatives and the program’s technical areas.
• Provide mentoring and professional development support to project staff, with emphasis on building capacity.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in food security and nutrition, with a specific focus on school feeding, formal education, literacy training.
• Successful track record leading implementation US Government-funded projects (USDA or USAID) in developing country contexts, including oversight and management of personnel, finances, partnerships, host country relationships, and administration.
• Experience working on programs pertaining to commodities management, proven track record working with a range of government and community actors and managing teams in multiple offices and locations.
• Experience in the management of USDA school feeding programs desired, or similar USG programming.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, oral and written communications skills.
• Demonstrated supervisory and leadership skills in multi-cultural contexts.
• Professional proficiency in English and Spanish, oral and written, required.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, oral and written communications skills.
• Good command of Microsoft Office, particularly word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Preferred

• Master’s Degree in a relevant field.
• Experience managing USDA programs.
• Recent developing country management experience in Central or South America and a thorough understanding of the cultures, opportunities and challenges of those regions.

Counterpart is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, age, or other legally protected characteristics.

Accessibility Notice: If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to recruiting@counterpart.org. Please view Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Posters provided by OFCCP here.

Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls, please.