Chief of Party (MEL, Bangladesh)

Position Description

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

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

• Master’s degree and 12 years’ experience; or PhD and 10 years’ experience in international development/studies, business, statistics, or a related field required
• Excellent communication, both verbal and written English skills required
• Experience managing complex relationships with a variety of stakeholders and ability to work with host-country governments at different levels required
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively increasing responsibility managing large comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and learning contracts of similar nature, size and complexity, preferably for USAID or other donors
• Minimum of five (5) years of supervisory experience
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, program design, knowledge management and/or organizational capacity strengthening

Experience and Skills

• Prior experience as a chief of party (COP), or project director leading complex USAID-funded projects, as well as managing sizeable USG-funded contracts and budgets strongly preferred
• Significant experience with USAID monitoring and evaluation policy and guidance required, CLA practices, preferred
• Demonstrated experience in performance monitoring, strategic planning, project design and implementation, evaluation, tracking data quality, data management, and/or training in performance management topics
• Familiarity with USAID/Bangladesh Mission or prior experience working in Bangladesh or region
• Significant experience building MEL capacities of USAID staff, implementing partners, and government counterparts highly preferred

We encourage local professionals to apply

NOTE: This is a proposal position and is contingent upon award. CVs that do not have previous international development experience will not be considered.

EnCompass LLC is a progressive Equal Opportunity Employer. We promote, celebrate, and support a diverse and inclusive organizational culture and workforce. We are committed to providing all of our employees with an environment free from discrimination and harassment, where all are treated with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate, and explicitly prohibit, discrimination or harassment of any kind, at any time, in all aspects of employment. This includes recruitment, hiring, promotions, disciplinary measures, terminations, compensation, benefits, social and recreational programs, and training. EnCompass also does not tolerate retaliation against individuals who report discrimination or harassment. Our continuing commitment to the principle of Equal Opportunity Employment for all means all employment decisions are based only on the job requirements, the candidate’s qualifications, and the needs of EnCompass as a business—not on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, belief, sex (including pregnancy and related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability status, veteran status, genetic information, HIV status, family/marital/parental status, or any other status protected by the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions where we work.