Senegal: SPRING Chief of Party (Fluent in French)

Established in 1915 with Helen Keller as a founding trustee, Helen Keller International ****(HKI)**** is dedicated to saving the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Headquartered in New York City, HKI currently conducts programs in 21 countries in Africa and Asia, as well as in the United States. Renowned for its reliability, efficiency and high level of technical expertise, HKI promotes the development of sustainable, large-scale programs that deliver effective preventative and curative services for nutrition, eye health and neglected tropical diseases. The hallmark of the organization’s work is its proven success in developing, testing and scaling-up nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions and integrating them within government and community structures to support and build local capacity and sustainable solutions.

Strengthening Partnerships, Results and Innovations in Nutrition (SPRING) is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide state-of-the-art technical support and facilitate country-led, regional, and global programs to improve the nutritional status of women and children, with a special emphasis on resilience through the prevention and treatment of under-nutrition targeting the first 1000 days. The SPRING implementation team consists of JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., Helen Keller International (HKI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Save the Children (SC), and The Manoff Group (TMG).

****Background****

Beginning in Senegal in 2004, HKI supports the government’s efforts in the fight against malnutrition by implementing a wide range of activities including: Vitamin A supplementation, food fortification, eye health in Ziguinchor, community nutrition, and nutrition support to people living with HIV. We have experience with enhanced homestead food production, a nutrition sensitive approach that combines nutrition education and behavior change with horticulture and poultry production, targeting women of reproductive age. HKI Senegal also supports the Ministry of Health’s programs to control soil-transmitted helminthes through deworming events during Child Health Days (CHD).

The SPRING project is being funded by USAID/Senegal to provide support in achieving their goal to expand and scale up evidence-based high impact nutrition-sensitive and specific interventions and proven approaches described as the Nutrition-led Agriculture (NLA) package, in the Southern Forest Zone. The package encompasses five key elements regarded as proven, effective approaches currently utilized by Yaajeende. SPRING will leverage and collaborate closely with existing food security, community health and nutrition programs currently active in FTF zones: specifically Naatal Mbay, Yaajeende, and Community Health Project, as well as other USAID efforts. SPRING will follow a similar development hypothesis to Yaajeende, assuming that an integrated approach to agriculture, economic growth, and nutrition can more rapidly and sustainably lower the rate of undernutrition rather than focusing on agriculture or economic growth alone. The SPRING activities will include a nutrition- sensitive component and a nutrition-specific component, with gender and social behavior change and communication (SBCC) integrated within and across all activities. SBCC messaging and approaches will be critical to support the use and adoption of high impact agriculture and nutrition practices.

HKI is seeking a seasoned Chief of Party (COP), with experience in nutrition and/or food security as well as a deep understanding of the West Africa (Sahel) context. The position may be based in in the HKI-Senegal office in Dakar (with substantial travel to Kaolack, Fatick, Kaffrine and Ziguinchor) or in the SPRING project office likely to be in Kaolack (with regular trips to Dakar).

The two year SPRING activity has an estimated budget of $7.5million, contingent on availability of funds.

Scope of the Position

The Chief of Party is the SPRING project’s highest level representative in Senegal. The incumbent will be responsible for defining the strategic direction for SPRING Senegal, and will oversee implementation of the program. S/he will supervise a team of national staff, coordinate and oversee the technical support provided by SPRING Headquarters (HQ), and serve as the primary point of communication with USAID Senegal. The Chief of Party will be formally supervised by HKI Senegal’s country director, but will also report to the SPRING country support team lead in Arlington, VA.

Specific Responsibilities

1. Provide strategic leadership and direction for SPRING/Senegal. Identify opportunities for project growth and development as well as collaboration with other projects/programs in the four targeted Regions (Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine and Ziguinchor)
2. Develop and oversee all aspects of the SPRING/Senegal project.
3. Manage relationships and ensure regular communication with counterparts in the Government of Senegal, HKI, SPRING partners, USAID and other key stakeholders at country level as well as SPRING/HQ,.
4. Lead development of work plans, scopes of work, and budgets. Secure approval from SPRING HQ and USAID/Senegal as needed
5. Prepare project budgets and monitor expenses. Supervise a team of high performing national technical and operations staff.
6. Oversee implementation of all project activities, and ensure performance of the project team against targets. Take corrective action where necessary.
7. Oversee and supervise one or two HKI sub-offices (one in Kaolack and possible one in Ziguinchor) where project team will be based.
8. Ensure the technical integrity of the project. Identify technical assistance (TA) needs, and work with SPRING Washington to identify appropriate TA providers.
9. Develop and oversee project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in collaboration with the project’s M&E officer. Ensure use of data for decision making, and ensure timely quality reporting to SPRING HQ, USAID/Senegal and USAID/Washington.
10. Ensure compliance with HKI and SPRING policies and procedures, as well as USAID rules and regulations related to finance and administration, sub-awards and grant compliance. Comply with Senegalese laws and regulations.
11. Represent SPRING in national and regional forums. Document program successes and serve as an advocate for SPRING/Senegal.
12. Represent SPRING global program interests at country level, and contribute to SPRING global success at global level.
13. Travel domestically and internationally as needed; may be up to 50%.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in nutrition, public health, agriculture, social sciences, international development, or a related field, plus at least 8 years of experience leading, managing and implementing large international development projects in nutrition, public health, WASH, behavior change communication, community development, agriculture, food security, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated success across the whole range of project management responsibilities: strategic program planning; work planning and budgeting; financial, administrative, contractual management and oversight; relationship management with multiple clients; oversight of program monitoring and evaluation; and documentation of results for USAID-funded programs.
• Superior leadership, management and communication skills, including demonstrated experience interacting with U.S. Government agencies, host country governments and other relevant stakeholders.
• Excellent English language skills, both written and spoken, with strong presentation skills. Able to prepare reports with appropriate content requiring little to no editing and to prepare and disseminate project findings, success stories and other documents effectively.
• Fluent in French, both oral and written. Able to read, analyze and interpret complex documents.
• Proficient at word processing, spreadsheets, and exploiting the Internet.
• Strong interpersonal skills in dealing with external contacts, as well as internal colleagues; demonstrated capacity to network and to develop and maintain productive relationships.
• Demonstrated successful experience in managing teams for high productivity.
• Willingness and ability to travel, as required.

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to HKI.Recruitment@hki.org noting the job title in the subject line. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.