Chief of Party – Zambia Revenue Mobilization for Equity and Growth Activity

Tetra Tech International Development Services (http://www.tetratech.com/intdev), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is currently accepting expressions of interest from qualified candidates for a potential Chief of Party (COP) position on a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project in Zambia. The goal of this project is to provide support to the Government of the Republic of Zambia in achieve a more stable, equitable and efficient tax system, which will result in improved compliance, an expansion of the tax base and revenue growth over time, and the creation of the fiscal space to increase priority spending and unlock the country’s growth potential.

The proposed activity will help Zambia improve domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) and expand the fiscal space for public spending and investments in service delivery and poverty reduction. The activity will engage both government and non-government stakeholders to build capacity in tax policy analysis, improve tax compliance and administration, and strengthen the tax culture in a manner that facilitates private sector growth and accountability relationships between taxpayers and the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

Position Description:

The COP will be the principal point of contact in Zambia for procedural and substantive matters. The COP will coordinate and ultimately be responsible for all contract management and implementation. S/he will be the primary liaison with USAID/Zambia on technical matters and must adjust activities and operations in response to USAID/Zambia technical direction. The COP will also be responsible for ensuring quality control and the overall responsiveness of technical assistance provided under the award.

The COP’s primary responsibilities are aimed at providing overall leadership, management and general technical direction of the entire project, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors, and a focus on achieving the results defined in the award. This individual will be expected to identify issues and risks related to project implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This is anticipated to be a full-time position based in Lusaka.

Roles and Responsibilities:

§ Serve as the primary liaison with USAID and GRZ and provide overall leadership and technical direction, ensuring an integrated vision and strategy among different objectives and actors

§ Ensure quality control and the overall performance of the project, identifying issues and risks related to activity implementation in a timely manner and suggesting appropriate adjustments

§ Provide technical guidance in the areas of local government performance and decentralization

§ Establish a culture of adaptive management, ensuring that continuous analysis of programming results, and the institutional and political context, informs activities across objectives

§ Spearhead stakeholder engagement, ensuring that productive relationships are maintained with GRZ stakeholders, sub-contractors and grantees, and cooperating partners.

Qualifications:

§ Graduate degree, or bachelor’s degree with 10 years of experience, in public finance, economics, public policy, law, or other relevant field;

§ Minimum of ten (10) years of demonstrated, progressively responsible experience in the successful implementation of public administration, local government support, or governance reform programs;

§ Direct experience with managing and implementing donor-funded tax or fiscal reform activities of similar scale and political complexity, USAID experience preferred;

§ Exceptional managerial skills and demonstrated experience in managing donor-funded projects of similar size and scope;

§ Experience utilizing strong command of tax and revenue policy, as well as tax and revenue administration concepts and practices to advise and mentor counterparts;

§ Demonstrated ability to engage in multi-stakeholder dialogue, including sustaining partnerships and strong working relationships with donors, host country government counterparts, academic institutions, and civil society;

§ Previous experience implementing international development initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa

§ Proficiency in written and spoken English is required.