Chief of Party I- Youth and Livelihoods, Liberia

Job Title: Chief of Party I- Youth & Livelihoods, Liberia
Job Location: Monrovia, Liberia
Job Type: Regular, Full Time
Reports To: Head of Programming

*Position contingent upon donor funding.

About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

CRS first began working in Liberia in 1957, with a permanent country program office opening in 1990. During the ensuing 14+ years of conflict and war, CRS was one of the few agencies to maintain a constant presence in the country, providing life-sa ving humanitarian assistance to tens of thousands of people. With the establishment of peace, CRS and partners focused increasingly on reconstruction and development activities, working in health, agriculture, livelihoods, peace and justice, and micro-savings.

In 2013, the country program began scaling down and beginning in 2016, CRS progressed from Ebola recovery activities and began implementing development programming in the areas of youth livelihoods, peacebuilding, urban WASH and community health.

Job Summary:
The Chief of Party (COP) will provide leadership and overall management for an anticipated USAID-funded youth livelihoods project in Liberia. This project will seek to increase economic self-reliance for youth in Liberia leading to increased incomes. The COP will provide the vision and overall leadership and management to the youth livelihoods project. S/he will be responsible for overseeing the overall management of the project, incl uding the quality of programmatic implementation and administrative elements of the project, including the coordination of all consortium partners, and monitoring the budget. The COP will serve as the primary point of contact to USAID as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders. S/he will be responsible for ensuring compliance, including oversight of partner budgets, finance and administration, and reporting to USAID. The COP will ensure that project results are achieved on time and on budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability, and that the budget is executed as planned. In addition, your strategic leadership, management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in Liberia. As a senior leader s/he will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks

Roles and Key Responsibilities:
* Lead all aspects of the development, implementation and consolidation of the Youth Livelihoods project, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Serve as the primary point of contact to USAID as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders.
* Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability. Ensure coordination between program and operations leads. Ensure the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL policy and procedures.
* Effectively manage senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
* Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
* Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Ensure compliance with USAID grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to USAID. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
* Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
* Coordinate relationships with consortium partner organizations, including organization of review/planning workshops. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.

Basic Qualifications
* Masters degree in International Development, International Relations or a relevant technical area. PhD a plus.
* 7 or more years relevant management and technical experience.
* 5 years experience managing donor funds, including multi country grants. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
* 5 years of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching senior program staff.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
* Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
* Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
* Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
* Strong communications and presentation skills; able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
* Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Required Languages – English fluency required.

Travel – Ability to travel nationally at the field level and internationally as required, up to 30% of the time.

Key Working Relationships:
Supervisory: MEAL Coordinator, Technical sector leads and other key staff to be determined.

Internal: Country Representative, Head of Programing, Regional Technical Advisors, HQ specialists

External: Project partners, government officials, public and private sector stakeholders, USAID, industry experts, local/international NGOs, and local and international Catholic agencies.
Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.