USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Evidence Aggregation for Programmatic Approaches (REAPER II) Activity – Chief of Party (Contingent

USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Evidence Aggregation for Programmatic Approaches (REAPER II) Activity – Chief of Party (Contingent)

Background

NORC at the University of Chicago is one of the largest and most highly respected social research organizations pursuing high quality social science research both in the U.S. and internationally.

NORC is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) for the anticipated USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Evidence Aggregation for Programmatic Approaches (REAPER II) Activity. The activity will support RFS in strengthening programming effectiveness by aggregating and synthesizing the existing evidence base for resilience and food security programmatic approaches, and creating a range of knowledge products and measures of evidence utilization. The estimated size of the award is USD $10-25M over a 5-year implementation period.

The COP is a full-time position based in NORC’s Bethesda location, with the possibility of hybrid or remote working arrangements. This position is contingent on USAID contract award to NORC.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership for all aspects of REAPER II, assuming responsibility for the overall technical, management and financial direction of the activity, and ensuring quality and timeliness of all deliverables and compliance with USAID requirements;
• Lead and oversee activity planning and implementation;
• Serve as the primary point of contact with and represent the project to USAID and other activity stakeholders;
• Build clear channels of communication internally, with USAID and with other activity stakeholders;
• Oversee work of project teams, strategically deploying staff and consultants;
• Ensure cost effective management, financial projections and tracking systems to ensure proper use of funds;
• Other related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a Master’s Degree in a related field (PhD preferred);
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience and at least 5 years of experience leading projects of similar size and scope (large complex projects with multiple concurrent tasks);
• Experience working on large USAID contracts;
• Technical expertise in agriculture, food security, nutrition, resilience, or related fields in the context of international development;
• Familiarity with a range of evidence generation approaches and their associated levels of rigor, including systematic evidence review and synthesis, and dissemination formats to facilitate knowledge utilization;
• Excellent team leadership, management, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with evidence gap maps and innovative approaches to systematic evidence review, aggregation and dissemination;
• Previous Chief of Party experience or similar (e.g., Deputy Chief of Party, Team Leader, Country or Technical Director) on a USAID-funded award.