Sr. Governance Officer

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department

Programs – Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Position Overview

The Senior Governance Officer will develop and apply their technical expertise to support Pact in delivering robust, responsive, and innovative programming. They work closely with other members of the Governance team and the wider Programs team, to provide technical support to country offices, lead and contribute to business development efforts, and drive thought leadership. The Senior Program Officer will prioritize providing demand-driven service to country programs, partner organizations, and peer departments, often “leading from beyond” as they help country offices and partners implement and realize their visions for change. The Senior Governance Officer will help Pact stay at the forefront of tools, methodologies and best practice within the democracy, human rights, and governance sector. This will include advancing Pact’s competence in at least one priority technical area, such as citizen security, civic technology, or combating dis/misinformation.

This position is open to remote candidates.

Key Responsibilities

Ensuring Quality Programming

• Provide or arrange for technical support to country programs to ensure program quality, in collaboration with country office leadership and technical and management teams in DC.
• Lead and contribute to complex governance assessments, including applied political economy analysis (APEA) studies.
• Provide training in Governance-related methodologies and approaches to country office and DC-based teams.
• Identify and recruit and manage program staff and consultants, including developing and refining scopes of work, participating in interviews, and reviewing final products for submission.
• Manage consultants carrying out technical work in support of the Governance team’s interventions.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of Pact’s organizational strategy, the Programs Department work plan and budget, and the Governance team’s work plan and learning agenda.

Learning, Leveraging, and Thought Leadership

• Serve as internal lead within the Governance team for at least one priority technical area of internal strength, such as citizen security, civic technology, or mis/disinformation.
• Build upon and deepen Pact’s core strength in leading practical political analysis that supports quality and adaptive programming, allows for contextually-informed project design, and helps influence other development actors, including donors.
• Represent Pact at external events, including presentations and facilitation of conferences and other public forums, participation in donor meetings, and networking with other implementing organizations.
• Design, contribute to, and lead research and analysis and draft articles, blogs, and other materials that position Pact as a thought leader in the Governance field.
• Support technical learning across Pact, networking with global technical stakeholders, and sharing that learning in relevant and actionable ways across the organization.
• Promote Pact’s technical capabilities and programming at donor meetings and public forums.
• Support and lead the development of Governance-focused tools and methodologies.
• Maintain and nurture relations with practitioner networks to stay abreast of trends, evidence and advances within the Governance sector.

Innovative Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation

• Participate in and lead scoping trips, proposal design meetings, recruitment of partners and key personnel, responses to donor questions, and presentations to donors.
• Serve as a technical lead and/or technical writer for Governance-focused proposals.
• Engage in and lead project design for proposal development, including the use of appropriate DRG approaches.
• Forge strategic partnerships for new project opportunities and gather intelligence on upcoming funding opportunities.

Basic Requirements

• MA plus 6 years of relevant professional experience or BA plus 8 years of relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to Governance programs relevant to Pact’s global work, such as civil society strengthening, decentralization/local governance, and social accountability.
• Proven analytical skills, with experience leading government assessments or related qualitative research, with preference for candidates with demonstrated experience conducting political analysis.
• Strong English language writing skills, including willingness and ability to write technical sections of USAID and other donor proposals.
• Strong understanding of trends and key approaches within the Governance sector, including an understanding of how Governance approaches can be integrated into programming across Pact’s impact areas (i.e., Health; Environment, Energy, and Extractives; Sustainable Markets and Livelihoods).
• Ability to work as part of a team, building strong relationships with DC and country office-based colleagues; the advisor must be able to provide demand-driven support to country office teams and local partners, supporting them to develop and define optimal technical solutions appropriate for the project and country context.
• Ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks.
• Ability to travel frequently, sometimes at short notice

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated expertise in one or more sub-area of focus within the DRG sector, with priority areas including citizen security, civic technology, and combatting mis/disinformation.
• Two or more years of relevant field experience in low-resource setting.
• Strong priority will be given to candidates with proficiency in at least one priority language, with Spanish being most preferred followed by French and Arabic.
• Experience with integrating DRG approaches into other sector areas.
• Experience with training and curriculum development.
• Past experience managing consultants and other staff.
• Experience coordinating with country offices or international field offices.

Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, citizenship status, genetic information, matriculation, family responsibilities, personal appearance, credit information, tobacco use (except in the workplace), membership in an employee organization, or other protected classifications or non-merit factors.