Chief of Party (COP)- Bangladesh (MEL)

Position Description

EnCompass LLC seeks Chief of Party (COP) candidates for an anticipated five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) support activity to be based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The MEL Activity will provide USAID/ Bangladesh with analytical and advisory services to improve performance management and advance learning in support of the Mission’s 2020-2025 Country Development Cooperation Strategy, Performance Management Plan, and Collaboration, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Agenda. The Activity will provide comprehensive MEL services, including capacity strengthening and technical support, to USAID/Bangladesh, local organizations, and potentially the Government of Bangladesh.

In addition to providing overall leadership, management, and technical direction, the COP will have experience working in performance management, organizational development, strategic decision-making, quality control, and project learning, preferably in the USAID context and with CLA practices.

We are looking for someone who can facilitate learning and build relationships, with high political acumen and strong conflict prevention and management skills. They must be an inclusive leader, who can navigate change with flexibility and emotional resilience. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience focusing on results and impact, with strong strategic vision and an understanding of systems approaches to programming. They will understand how to foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning and will maintain high self-awareness and personal improvement skills.

The position will be full-time and be based in Dhaka with travel throughout the country.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

The COP will lead the Activity, providing technical guidance to and supervising both international and national staff and consultants. The COP will be the primary point of contact with USAID/Bangladesh staff, including the Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representation (CO/COR).

Essential functions:

Administration/Management:

• Serve as the main point of contact for the activity, providing vision, direction, leadership, and management for the contract.
• Provide technical, operational, and managerial oversight to all aspects of the Activity to ensure all activities, and deliverables are executed with quality and timeliness
• Establish and maintain highly collaborative working relationships with the Government of Bangladesh, USAID/Bangladesh and USAID/Washington as required, along with relevant in-country stakeholders; serve as the primary point of contact for USAID and as the principal liaison with USAID staff, institutions, and country partners to exchange information and develop professional relationships.
• Manage the country team, ensure technical capacity of staff; provide technical assistance and backstopping when required
• Ensure that all activities are undertaken in full compliance with EnCompass’ standard operating procedures, USAID policies and regulations, and national policies and laws
• Ensure documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned
• Ensure optimal use of human, financial, and physical resources to successfully meet project milestones, objectives, deliverables and targets

Technical:

• Responsible for the overall technical direction of the activity, ensuring quality and timeliness of all deliverables
• Promote sustainability of project activities with effective networking, linkages to other programs, capacity building of project staff, and institutional strengthening in support of Bangladesh’s journey to self-reliance, as defined by USAID

Other:

• Engage fully as a member of the EnCompass staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other EnCompass events, and providing administrative support to other team members as needed
• Other duties as assigned

Position Requirements

Qualifications

Academic Qualifications

• Master’s degree and 12 years’ experience; or PhD and 10 years’ experience in international development/studies, business, statistics, or a related field required

Experience and Skills

• Minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in developing performance monitoring systems, data quality control and reporting for USAID projects and systems
• Minimum of fifteen (15) years’ experience working in the area of M&E and results-based management
• Strong experience with evaluation standards and practices required
• Experience working in performance management, strategic decision-making, and project learning
• Experience building monitoring, evaluation, and learning capacities of USAID staff, implementing partners, and government counterparts highly preferred
• Experience managing complex relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including host country governments at different levels; experience mentoring staff and working with international and national consultants and staff
• Substantial experience in managing a team using mixed research methods of similar magnitude
• Demonstrated leadership, strategic thinking/planning, management, and presentation skills required
• Working knowledge of and experience with USG-funded program management, policies, regulations and procedures
• Prior experience managing staff/teams
• Strong familiarity with USAID CLA practices, M&E design and principles
• Familiarity with USAID/Bangladesh Mission is preferred; local candidates prioritized
• Former supervisory experience required
• Excellent communication skills in English and preferably Bengali (written and verbal)
• Ability to travel within Bangladesh, as necessary