Collaboration, Learning & Adaption (CLA) Team Leader — Ethiopia

Overview

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development, and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. We work with government, non-government, private sector, and community stakeholders to promote transparency, foster accountability, and access the channels they need to make their voices heard, promote change, and realize their full potential.

The Collaboration, Learning and Adaption (CLA) Team Leader is part of the Resilience in Pastoral Areas (RIPA) South project that will improve resilience to enhance food security and inclusive economic growth for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities. The program also aims to reduce undernutrition among women and children, improve the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) capacity of government at all levels and improve women’s empowerment. RIPA strategies focus on systems change, with a strong learning component to ensure interventions are adapted per the latest analysis and research.

The CLA Team Leader is a key personnel position for the project and is responsible to coordinate the development, refinement and implementation of RIPA’s CLA strategy, including managing a team of CLA staff who support the project team’s efforts to capture and use relevant knowledge and evidence to guide program strategy, support adaptive management and continuous improvement, and advance learning.

Responsibilities

Responsibility Area: Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation

• Support the regular review and updating of the CLA Framework and Plan for the project, in close collaboration with COP and Technical Leads.
• Guide and facilitate collaboration with/across key stakeholders to regularly identify and capture lessons learned from program activities. Facilitate the documentation and dissemination of learning through various platforms such as Global Communities’ website, reports, blogs, conferences, and relevant media outlets
• Coordinate the Design and improvement of CLA-related processes and tools, including RIPA’s Agile management software platform, to support effective project implementation and collaboration, learning and adapting in relation to the program, especially around resilience building approaches and impact
• Coordinate internal collaboration efforts between technical teams to sequence, layer, integrate and leverage each other’s strategies to maximize resource utilization and increased complementarity of RIPA interventions
• Work closely with project leadership to integrate CLA activities into the project workplan, M&E system, and into job descriptions and individual performance goals.
• Manage the design and application of the Agile management approach to RIPA, providing guidance, capacity building and training for all program staff on agile management. Manage and train scrum masters for the project; serve as scrum master for the Addis-based members of the project team.
• Collaborate closely with the MEL team to ensure alignment of MEL systems and activities with CLA strategy, including the analysis and utilization of program monitoring data and implementation of priority studies and activities in the program’s resilience learning agenda
• Design and implement effective mechanisms for learning including joint program reviews, after-action reviews, pause-and-reflect sessions, documentation and dissemination, knowledge exchange, mentorship, and accompaniment to facilitate knowledge uptake and applied learning
• Develop effective processes and serve as a knowledge broker to link and “translate” evidence and knowledge between program staff, partners, and M&E teams, to identify technical knowledge gaps, performance and quality issues in implementation, or evidence gaps in the theory of change
• Establish a culture of learning and evidence-based decision-making through systematic inquiry, analysis, and data-driven quality improvement

Responsibility Area: Partnerships Coordination & Capacity Development

• Support engagement with partners for collaboration and learning opportunities on a regular basis. Facilitate partner and stakeholder collaboration through activities including joint work planning, regular partner meetings that facilitate knowledge sharing, and/or working groups organized along geographic or technical lines.

• Coordinate the operational, financial, and programmatic monitoring and support of all RIPA consortium partners; Lead the development of partner templates and contracts/agreement modifications in consultation with HQ; Ensure that partners meet all contractual requirements as listed in their subgrant agreements.

• Coordinate and facilitate all partner meetings, including regular scrum meetings

• Lead the annual mapping of potential partners for development, emergency response, with a particular emphasis on local organizations; update the potential partner tracker/ database periodically, as needed.

• Lead coordination and communication with key partners, including disseminating information on project activities and partnerships, as needed.

• Develop and manage implementation of a CLA-capacity strengthening strategy for program staff and partners, including CLA focal points within partner organizations. Coordinate the organization and facilitation of capacity and risk assessments for potential partners. Contribute to development of capacity strengthening/training materials for CLA.

Responsibility Area: Management and Leadership

• Supervise, mentor, coach and train the CLA team in the country office and program with support from MEL technical advisors

• Build the RIPA program team’s capacity on CLA and Agile management and related areas, in particular CLA and MEL teams

• Facilitate and ensure coordination across project leadership (COP), MEL and Technical Leads, and regional teams on project planning, implementation, monitoring, review, and adaptation.

• Serve as senior management team member

Responsibility Area: Knowledge Management, Documentation and Reporting:

• Contribute to the development of a knowledge management repository/system to ensure program information, best practices, and evidence are accessible to all staff and partners
• Ensure the organization and maintenance of comprehensive electronic files for project documents including partner/sub-recipient information on the Shared Drive
• Working with the COP and relevant component leads, coordinate the submission and review of monthly internal reports; compile, review and edit quarterly donor reports in coordination with HQ; and support government reports/agreements as needed/requested.
• Support effective communication and coordination with relevant HQ departments including programs, compliance, and regional program management units.
• Support effective and polished professional communications with external audiences as appropriate.

Other: Representation and Special Tasks

• Coordinate the work of the RIPA South component leads to ensure all deadlines are met on time and that all products are of high quality.
• At the request of the senior management, represent COP at relevant coordination meetings and relay important information from those meetings to relevant staff as appropriate.
• Support collaboration efforts with the RIPA North Activity; including but is not limited to coordinating and planning learning sessions, maintaining a common learning agenda, and having shared indicators, measurement, tools, and approaches.
• Actively engage in advancing Global Communities’ mission, vision, and values, including advancing collaboration, continuous improvement, and innovation throughout the project

POSITION SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Position is expected to travel 20% of the time within Ethiopia.
• Position will be responsible for supervising several staff on the RIPA team
• Promote a culture of excellence, inclusion, learning, support, diversity, and innovation

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated skills in data management for the purpose of data use, i.e., skills in data management systems, analytics, data visualization, data presentation platforms, and user-centered system design
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and demonstrated ability to foster collaboration internally between CLA and program teams, with partners, and external stakeholders
• Excellent writing, editing, presentation, public speaking, and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize, summarize and present complex information in a simple and user-friendly ways for non-M&E audiences.
• Proven leadership skills and demonstrated experience developing, mentoring, and building the capacity of staff and partners.
• Excellent facilitation and training skills
• Excellent analytical and self-motivation skills; excellent advocacy and persuasion skills; able to think critically, systems-thinker.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a related discipline and a minimum of four years of related work experience or a minimum of eight years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated professional experience in project management, CLA and/or knowledge management and learning; project management certification preferred
• Relevant programmatic expertise in business management, food security, agriculture, nutrition, disaster risk reduction, and/or crisis response
• Experience with scrum/agile management approach highly desirable, including solid understanding of agile management and continuous improvement principles. Experience working with agile CRM software/services such as Knack, Jira, Pipedrive, Act! Salesforce, etc. highly desirable
• Understanding of the pastoral and agro-pastoral context highly preferred
• Experience in Ethiopia highly preferred, or experience working in similar contexts
• Experience working with USAID programs highly preferred
• Native or advanced professional-level fluency in English (verbal and written) required
• Development philosophy in keeping with Global Communities’ mission, vision, core values and approach to integrated, community-driven programming. A passion for the mission and values of Global Communities

Global Communities positively welcomes and seeks applications from all sections of society. We are committed to a work environment that respects the dignity and worth of everyone and offers equal opportunity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to (but not limited to) age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, ancestry, citizenship, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender expression, indigenous status, or political affiliation.