Deputy Chief of Party - Nigeria Monitoring Project at Management Systems International - MSI

Location: Nigeria
Job Type: Expat or Local
Job Classification: Project
 
Purpose of the Job

• The purpose of the Nigeria Monitoring Project (NMP) is to establish a third-party monitoring system to monitor, verify, and analyze trends on humanitarian programs in Nigeria funded by USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and the Office of Food for Peace (FFP).
• The program will create an independent and verifiable monitoring mechanism for OFDA and FFP programs in Nigeria that will increase OFDA, FFP, and their partners’ understanding of the outputs, outcomes, processes, progress, quality, challenges, achievements, and lessons learned of their projects.
• The information and findings will be critical in ensuring program learning, program accountability, and beneficiary accountability, which will be useful for real time programmatic adjustments and future program design.

Position Summary

• The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) will contribute to the technical delivery of the project by providing technical support and managerial direction to the design of monitoring of instruments, the analysis of collected data and the drafting of deliverables.
• The DCOP is further responsible for managing the technical implementation of this project to ensure that the deliverables represent outcomes of sound, ethical and verifiable data collection and analysis.
• The DCOP must have excellent oral and written communication skills, analytical skills, interpersonal skills and management skills.
• The DCOP reports to the Chief of Party (COP). The DCOP may also serve as Acting COP in the absence of the designated COP.
• The DCOP will be based in the Maiduguri project office or based in the NMP Abuja office with up to 50% time in the Maiduguri project office.

Responsibilities
The DCOP will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the NMP by providing technical contributions, quality assurance and management support to the following activities:

Technical and Operational Management:

• Work closely with and at the direction of the COP to support the goals and objectives of the project.
• Coordinate with other members of the NMP project team and MSI home office on administrative and technical activities, as needed.
• Supervise the Maiduguri field office’s staff and operations both remotely and in person when security and scheduling conditions permit.
• Maintain active and productive relationships with Implementing Partner (IP) staff in Maiduguri, local government authorities, and key traditional authorities.
• Support the design of research methodologies and data collection instruments.
• Ensure data quality and that the associated collection methodologies are consistent with the technical design requirements of the project and good practice.
• Develop frameworks and approaches for the analysis of collected data and perform analysis as required.
• Draft informative and user-friendly reports and presentations for NMP clients and stakeholders.
• Liaise with USAID and implementing partners at the direction of the COP.
• Supervise subcontractors in data collection:
  • Ensure all subcontractor staff have been recruited and trained in accordance with project requirements;
  • Perform quality assurance assessments and verification of collected data and subcontractor deliverables.

Safety and Security:

• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of local political and security developments; and suggest to the COP other strategic/tactical revisions that may be necessary to seize emerging opportunities and/or mitigate risks.
• Review and approve all security procedures and plans in coordination with the COP and security specialist.
• Adhere to project security procedures and help ensure team members to adhere to them.
• Do all possible to ensure safety and welfare of project staff.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Economics, Political Science, International Development, Social Sciences, Statistics or related fields is required. Master's degree or equivalent is highly desired.
• A minimum of 8 years of professional-level experience in monitoring and evaluation of donor-funded projects (e.g. USAID, DFID, UN, etc.) or related sector program management, and technical/monitoring and evaluation skills are required.
• Experience in strategic planning, design and application of methods and strategies to produce, analyze and use data, and share/communicate information with a variety of actors in different environments.
• Experience with common statistical packages, such as STATA, R, SPSS, SAS and power user knowledge of Excel
• Strong oral and written proficiency in English language is required.
• Must have strong inter-personal skills, such as communication, negotiation, representational and program/project management and coordination, time management, quantitative and analytical skills with ability to communicate technical information clearly and effectively with professionals.

Success Factors:

• The candidate will have strong organizational skills, ability to interact effectively with international and national staff, vendors, subcontractors and clients.
• He/she will possess strong English language verbal and written communication and will be a solid team player.
• He/she will possess a demonstrated ability to multi-task, be a strategic thinker and operate with genuine dedication to program support.