Chief of Party at Jhpiego - John Hopkins University

Overview

• The Chief of Party (COP) provides vision, leadership and direction to ensure the strategic, programmatic, technical, and financial integrity for an upcoming USAID integrated maternal, newborn and child health program.
• The project aims to reduce maternal, newborn, child mortality and morbidity and strengthen health systems to support integrated quality primary health care services.
• The COP will have the overall responsibility for leadership and management and reporting of all project activities.
• The COP will be responsible for making key decisions and solving problems in short timeframes while ensuring operational and project quality and integrity.
• The COP will serve as the project’s main point of contact with USAID and the Government on routine and strategic matters.
• The COP will ensure effective organizational management and communication with host country governments and key stakeholders at all levels, including international entities.

The project is expected to operate over a five-year period.

This position is contingent upon award from USAID. Nigerian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and strategic direction to ensure programmatic and financial integrity of the project and to achieve rapid and sustained goals, objectives and targets
• Ensure the project is technically sound, evidence-based and responsive to the needs of countries, its people and donors
• Ensure compliance with the terms of the award and organizational compliance and adherence to policies and guidelines;
• Represent Jhpiego and the project’s progress, achievements and lessons learned to donors, other key stakeholders, and through meetings, conferences, and presentations
• Provide technical leadership and ensure the quality and sustainability of interventions
• Collaborate with the project team to build capacity in areas of health systems strengthening, MNCH, primary health care.
• Lead the annual work planning process with the project team, and in close collaboration with USAID, MOH, and district/sub-district offices, key stakeholders, partners, and ensure effective resource planning and utilization;
• Responsible for the overall management of the project budget and ensure the project delivers on time, on scope and on budget;
• With the Technical Director /deputy COP oversee the preparation, and timely submission of quality project reports to donor
• Participate in relevant technical working groups and other knowledge exchange forums and provide technical leadership and guidance as required.
• Mentor, support, supervise and manage a team of highly qualified staff and align their efforts to ensure rapid and sustainable results
• L ead and motivate the project team, ensuring high levels of performance across all areas, fostering a culture of critical problem solving, innovation and strategic thinking;
• Provide guidance, in collaboration with staff, to sub-grantees and partners to ensure they deliver on their scope.
• Support the development of local organization capacity development plans;
• Write and/or review project materials and publications
• Work with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) staff to develop M&E frameworks and effectively track data/results
• Work with finance and project staff to develop and track project budgets.
• Coordinate efforts with the country team lead to ensure alignment with organizational strategy, mission and goals.

Required Qualifications

• Advanced degree in public health or a related field;
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in establishing project systems and overseeing project start-up and close-out
• Experience working with sub-/grantees, local and international and knowledge of capacity development approaches for locally-led development
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills and ability to translate data into action, and communicate results to wide ranging audiences.
• Previous experience working in Nigeria with intimate understanding of local health system and gaps and opportunities in the above-mentioned technical areas;
• Experience hiring and supervising personnel and ensuring they acquire the necessary training and skills to meet evolving project needs
• Excellent diplomacy skills and a proven ability to establish and maintain interpersonal and professional relationships with USAID, host-country counterparts and representatives from other key stakeholders such as NGOs and CSOs
• Previous experience working on USAID-funded projects, matched with an in-depth knowledge of USAID regulations, compliance and reporting requirements
• Expertise in research to practice—identifying and adapting best practices to specific project contexts
• Excellent skills in facilitation, team building, and coordination
• Excellent verbal, written interpersonal and presentation skills in English
• Ability to coach, mentor and develop technical capacity in regional and national projects and technical staff
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally