BACKGROUND
As required by the Department of State’s Program Evaluation Policy, State formulated accounting standards and performance metrics with which to evaluate projects execution, the Africa Bureau’s Office of Security Assistance seeks support in establishing a robust evaluation framework as a key aspect of program management, and to determine if programs are effective, sustainable, and appropriate; to identify lessons learned and best practices; to assess return on investment; to feed into future policy and planning decisions; and to assure accountability to U.S. taxpayers.
The Department of State’s Africa Bureau’s Office of Security Assistance has sought out the assistance of Alutiiq Information Management, LLC (AIM) in order to achieve its evaluation and program improvement goals. To that end, AIM seeks a Team Leader to lead this effort. The Team Leader will be responsible for the following:
- Serve as the primary points of contact for the Government on all contractual requirements of the contract.
- Head the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit by providing technical direction and overall guidance for all activities under this task order, and supervise the work of all contractor staff.
- Oversee the coordination and collaboration with all stakeholders and conduct outreach to M&E programs with partnering agencies.
- Develop a comprehensive results framework for programs, which would include field-based data collection and information gathering from country-specific programs to determine program results, contribution or attribution to the Department’s goals and objectives, effectiveness of programming, and to improve future programming.
- Provide support to conduct annual independent evaluations and internal review as needed; Provide additional analytical products on best practices, known methodologies, and current data and methodological trends on development and activities.
- Design and implement a system for tracking data and providing deliverables to the customer on a timely basis.
- Develop a data collection methodology and collect data to support a performance-monitoring framework.
- Establish objectives, identifying metrics and performance measures, assessing outputs and outcomes, conducting evaluations, and share results; translate program objectives into measureable performance indicators and set targets, collect data against indicators and provide analysis on progress.
Required Skills
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- ACTIVE SECRET SECURITY CLEARANCE
- 8-12 years of experience in designing and conducting large-scale monitoring and evaluations, preferably for foreign, security assistance, or development assistance.
- A Master’s degree preferably in one of the following fields: Political Science, International Relations, Security Studies, Evaluation Sciences (including Statistics and Monitoring).
- Directly related experience in leading, coordinating, and delivering comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems for long-term (3+ years in duration) development or security sector programs.
- Demonstrated experience of at least 5 years in the monitoring and evaluation of United States Government (USG) funded programs and policies of the Department of State.
- Demonstrated regional knowledge of Africa and related security issues.
- 7- 10 years of experience working with security sector assistance and/or justice sector programs.
- 5-7 years of experience with financial management systems.
- At least three (3) years of supervisory experience managing other staff and/or projects.
- Experience working with U.S. government foreign assistance agencies (preferably Department of State or USAID), implementing partners, provincial/local governments, and civil society;
- Experience with SharePoint portals and structured data management
- Experience with Nvivo or other qualitative research software.
- Proven ability to deliver a quality written product.
- Organizational/technical skills to manage personnel and financial resources for this project and support the team with field logistics.
- Demonstrated ability to work on teams and to establish and maintain effective relationships Strong (written and oral) communication and organizational skills required.
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of stakeholders of different backgrounds required.
- Ability to exercise sound judgment in a politically sensitive environment required.
- Ability to work well with others and productively under strict or short deadlines required.
- Minimum 2 years of professional and/or academic exposure to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) programs required.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the Region’s politics.
- Demonstrated ability to provide excellent customer service
- Skill and ability in managing multiple concurrent activities of varying complexity, including changing priorities and short turn-around times and be detail-oriented.
PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS
- Doctoral degree and at least 10-15 years of relevant experience in planning, managing, and supervising cultural preservation programs, with an emphasis on the planning, development, implementation, and management of programs in developing countries and/or in sub Saharan Africa.
- Experience living and working in one or more countries in the South/Central Africa.
- Extensive supervisory, team-building, and leadership experience, particularly in working with foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions.
- Hands-on managerial experience in the public or private sectors in the United States or in countries in sub Saharan Africa.
- At least three-years recent experience working in a senior level overseas position with a U.S. Embassy or non-governmental organization.
- The personnel must also be flexible, even-tempered, and able to work with staff from many different cultures in an extremely dynamic and potentially dangerous environment.
- African language preferable (Arabic, French, Swahili, etc.
Required Experience