Chief of Party for the Building Sustainable Livelihoods Project in Nigeria at Nuru Nigeria

Organization Background:

Nuru Nigeria is a local NGO with affiliates in the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Our mission is to build resilience corridors of strong, locally owned farmer cooperatives driving profitable livelihoods in vulnerable communities of the Northeast.

Nuru Nigeria prioritizes the smallholder farmers it serves and works to cultivate lasting meaningful choices through a community-led, community-driven and community-sustained livelihood programs across the agriculture value chain.

About The Building Sustainable Livelihoods Activity:

The BSL Activity is a two years USAID-funded project through an obligated Two Million Dollar ($2,000,000) cooperative agreement to be implemented by Nuru Nigeria from 9th April 2021 to 8th April 2023.

The activity is focused on nutrition-sensitive agribusiness development through the formation of farmers' cooperatives (group-based intervention) targeting 13,000 individuals across Hong, Gombi, and Michika LGAs.

Position Description

Provide technical leadership and program management of USAID Building Sustainable Livelihoods Activity in Nigeria. The position will be responsible for overseeing every aspect of the activity’s compliance and management. Regular communication and a spirit of teamwork among colleagues, both hierarchically and laterally, are essential to make Nuru Nigeria’s communication structure thrive.

This position is based in Yola, Adamawa State, while the project sites are in Hong, Gombi, and Michika LGA of Adamawa State with possible expansion.

Key Responsibilities

1. Manage the continuation of USAID Building Sustainable Livelihoods Activity

• Maintain relationships with relevant government authorities and partner agencies for project implementation established by Nuru Nigeria and the Chief of Party.

2. Programmatic

• Develop, guide and oversee all the technical, managerial and operational aspects of the project.
• Lead and oversee the overall planning, coordination and implementation of project activities, including updates to strategic planning, technical direction, work plan and budget development as required.
• Lead and oversee the results reporting to monitor the project’s performance, including preparing quarterly, annual and other ad-hoc reporting as well as other materials to USAID.
• Ensure that activities are implemented in compliance with the requirements of USAID Nigeria.

3. Management

• Establish and maintain strong relationships with government officials, partner agencies, and donors, including other USAID-funded activities, security agencies, and humanitarian partners in the region.
• Coordinate and liaise regularly with USAID Feed the Future Activities, including participation in regular coordination meetings to move forward activities to achieve the project objectives.
• Oversee and manage staff and technical consultants hired by the project in Nigeria, including recruitment as required.
• Ensure project performance to meet results and deliverables in the work plan and take any corrective actions as necessary.
• Build a high-performance team and create a supportive working environment to deliver expected results. Guide and support staff in their development, planning succession, and taking prompt action to address issues of underperformance and any other issues impacting their professional conduct or implementing their duties and responsibilities.
• Manage any sub-contractor/agreements with international affiliates, including ensuring quality and timeliness of deliverables.
• Communicate program results through reports, policy briefs, national and community-level workshops, etc.

4. Other

• Ensure the BSL Activity Gender Equality Strategy is understood and incorporated into activities as appropriate.
• Ensure 100% compliance with USAID regulations.
• Other duties as assigned on an ad hoc basis by the Managing Director.

Job Requirement

Competencies

• Superior leadership, management and communication skills to lead a multi-faceted USAID-funded project. This includes professional experience interacting with US Government agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience working effectively in teams and cross-cultural settings.
• Excellent time management and personal organization skills.
• Ability to respond rapidly to shifting implementation scenarios.
• Capacity to direct multiple long and short-term activities simultaneously with minimal supervision.
• Ability to oversee monitoring and evaluation plans to determine activity results and monitor impact.
• Knowledge of USAID regulations, policies, strategies, and program priorities.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or MBA in international development, agriculture, or a related field.
• At least 8 years of professional working experience leading complex USAID funded programs.
• Demonstrated experience working and/or collaborating with government ministries and other development partners in multi-sectoral programming.
• Substantial institutional and staff expertise in implementing complex capacity-building programs in resource-constrained environments and conflict fragile environments.

Nuru Nigeria Offers:

• Salary is competitive depending on qualifications, skills and experience.
• Positive atmosphere of dynamism and motivated team setting.
• Atmosphere of a forefront professional and flexible NGO with a unique new development approach.
• Annual, Maternity, and Paternity leave benefits.
• Transport costs and communication allowance.
• 13th Month Salary.
• Training and capacity building program and intensive mentorship by expat team.
• Life Insurance covering accident, disability and related benefits.
• Health Insurance covering employees and family.
• Pension benefits.
• Atmosphere of diversity committed to providing equal employment opportunities, forbidding discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, nationality or ethnic origin, age, and disability, with respect to policies and visions.
• Other Labor best practices apply.

Non-discriminatory employment clause:

Applicants will not be discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity, colour, gender, religion, socio-economic status, age, disability or health status. The management of Nuru Nigeria reserves the right to verify all of the applicant's information and conduct background checks on shortlisted candidates including reaching out to his/her previous employer.

Only Shortlisted candidates will be contacted.