Director, Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) and Research – USAID Sahel Regional Resilience Activity (SRRA)

About Corus: Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. Our more than 500 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world’s most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives. Further details about the organization can be found at: https://corusinternational.org

About the Job: Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a member of Corus International, is seeking a Director, Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) and Research to lead the anticipated 5-year USAID-funded Sahel Regional Resilience Activity. The activity, implemented through the Leader with Associate Award (LWA) mechanism, is intended to provide up to $200 million in total funding, inclusive of the initial Leader Award and future Associate Awards.

The Regional Resilience Activity will strengthen individual, household, organization, and formal and informal institutions and networks to deliver improved natural resource management and the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices. The program will achieve increased food security, income generation, improved water sanitation and hygiene, climate adaptive practices, better nutrition, improved conflict mitigation, and enhanced community resilience.

The Director, CLA and Research will be a member of the Program Management Unit and will lead the technical and programmatic implementation of all project CLA and research activities. S/he will lead the project’s CLA strategy and approach – including the learning agenda – ensuring that it is context-driven and fully aligned with USAID’s CLA approach. They will be responsible for ensuring that the Associate Awards are continuously learning from each other and outside projects and adapting accordingly to ensure strong implementation. They will work with the project’s M&E staff to ensure the knowledge management and data collection and analysis systems are set up in way that allows for rapid and continuous learning and improvement.

The position will be based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and will report to Chief of Party. Actual hiring is contingent upon signed agreement and USAID approval.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide overall technical and managerial leadership of the project’s CLA, knowledge management and research components, serving as the CLA technical lead and point of contact, and driver of the project’s CLA strategy.
• Lead the design and implementation of all CLA activities and knowledge management (KM) mechanisms for continuous stakeholder engagement, learning and improvement across the project. Oversee KM systems and client relationship management (CRM) software.
• Lead the CLA, Research and KM teams, strengthening team members’ capacity to ensure a strong project CLA system supported by strong KM processes that enable research and iterative learning to inform adaptation, while also promoting professional development.
• Coordinate with the COP, HQ-based technical advisors, and country stakeholders, especially women and youth, in the design and management of context-specific, resilience-focused, risk-informed CLA interventions.
• Contribute to the development of initial and annual work plans and Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plans
• Articulate and develop the project’s learning agenda, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into project implementation to continuously improve quality of interventions and outcomes.
• Lead the design, implementation and dissemination of operations research (including management of a learning fund).
• Ensure high quality CLA and research deliverables are developed, submitted and approved on schedule and within budget parameters.
• Coordinate with the project’s M&E staff to ensure the performance data collection and analysis systems are aligned with KM and CRM data streams to best facilitate rapid and continuous learning and improvement among consortium members.
• Utilize data from operations research, CLA activities, KM and CRM data streams to inform learning agenda and ongoing program improvements.
• Develop success stories, best practices, innovations and lessons learned documents (or other learning products) for external dissemination and use in decision-making
• Liaise with other USAID implementers working in the Sahel to ensure coordination of and harmonization with other relevant activities conducting CLA interventions.
• Lead response to client requests and questions on CLA, KM and research matters; support capacity strengthening, and localization efforts as needed.
• Closely coordinate and collaborate with national and regional CLA stakeholders, communities, USAID missions, and implementers of other USAID programs, to ensure alignment of CLA and research interventions and best practices.

Qualifications:

• An advanced degree in international development, development studies, research methods, statistics, economics, quantitative/qualitative data analysis, or other relevant field.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience working on international programs in low- and middle-income countries. Technical experience in resilience, food security, humanitarian assistance, climate change adaptation, and/or livelihoods essential.
• Expert understanding of CLA principles, techniques and strategies and the ability to tailor CLA interventions to different contexts.
• Demonstrated deep experience with USAID’s CLA approach, including developing and integrating the CLA approach within project frameworks and leading CLA approaches across partners and technical focus areas to yield successful collaboration and integration.
• At least 5 years of experience leading CLA interventions for USAID projects. Experience with multi-country programs strongly preferred.
• Experience overseeing development and implementation of CLA, research and knowledge management strategies, processes and systems relevant to resilience and/or CLA projects.
• Demonstrated experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• High degree of proficiency in relevant software packages such as Adobe, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, virtual communications and presentation software and remote or cloud-based data management software. Prior experience with CRM systems preferred.
• Strong relationship management abilities, with experience engaging peer organizations, local organizations, and governments. The ability to effectively work across partner organizations is essential.
• Deep understanding of the Sahel context and experience working in the Sahel, particularly Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad, is required.
• Demonstrated leadership skills, versatility, and integrity; excellent organizational, analytical, interpersonal, and oral and written communications skills; demonstrated supervisory skills and ability to work well as a member of a team.
• Demonstrated experience in women’s empowerment, gender equality, and social inclusion.
• Willingness to travel extensively, including to unstable and non-permissive environments.
• Outstanding written and oral communication and interpersonal skills in English and French are required.