Democratic Republic of the Congo: Chief of Party, Community Resilience in Central Africa (CRCA)

About Invisible Children

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Invisible Children is an international non-profit organization working to end violent conflict and exploitation facing our world’s most isolated and unprotected communities. We partner with local visionaries in volatile conflict zones to build community-led initiatives and drive global policy change to end violent conflict and ensure communities have the safety they deserve. When Invisible Children was founded in 2004, our primary aim was to hasten an end to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) crisis in central Africa and support the lasting recovery of communities in the region targeted by the LRA and other armed groups. Our comprehensive approach to the LRA crisis has integrated every level of intervention, from direct partnerships with local communities to advocacy campaigns targeting international policymakers.

Over the course of 12 years working with remote communities in central Africa, we have contributed to significant progress in ending the LRA crisis, while refining and adapting our programs to address violence perpetrated by a number of armed groups and other destabilizing forces threatening the central Africa region. Invisible Children’s current work focuses on developing innovative and sustainable solutions to regional insecurity and armed group violence. In recent years, this has included the exploration of community-based initiatives and conflict analysis to address the intersection of human security and illicit wildlife trafficking in the central Africa region.

Position Summary

Invisible Children is seeking an experienced and dynamic Chief of Party (CoP) to oversee the successful execution of Community Resilience in Central Africa (CRCA), a five-year multi-million dollar project funded by USAID. CRCA aims to strengthen community resilience to security threats and improve the safety of both humans and in central Africa’s Mbomou Uele border region, which spans northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and eastern Central African Republic (CAR).

In addition to maintaining a vision and overall strategy for the project that will enable it to achieve its objectives, the CoP is responsible for overall planning, implementation, monitoring, and management of project performance. The CoP must prioritize the safety of project staff and ensure adherence to Do No Harm principles in project research, design, and implementation. Given the dynamic and challenging nature of the area of operation, the CoP is expected to promote innovative and adaptive management, and foster healthy collaboration with project partners and other key stakeholders that are necessary for the project’s success. Additionally, to ensure project sustainability and reinforce the goal of community resilience, the CoP is expected to prioritize capacity-building and the transfer of skills to local partners. This position is based in Kinshasa, DRC, with frequent travel to all Invisible Children field offices and to various project implementation sites in northeastern DRC and eastern CAR.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Provide Strategic Vision

· Maintain an integrated vision and approach for the project in achieving CRCA’s intermediate results (IRs) as defined in the award, while maintaining excellence and accountability to project beneficiaries and USAID, and upholding Invisible Children’s organizational values; and

· Oversee the development of annual, integrated strategic work-plans for the project.

Promote the Security of Project Personnel

· Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by organizational leadership; and

· Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Ensure Quality Programming

· Oversee remaining aspects of project start-up and ongoing project management and administration of teams across all field locations;

· Plan, direct, and coordinate technical activities to ensure that CRCA goals and objectives are accomplished within prescribed timeframes and funding parameters and in compliance with USAID regulations and Invisible Children policies;

· Oversee the development and execution of detailed implementation plans, flowing from annual strategic work- plans, ensuring that they are aligned with the project’s logical framework and intermediate results (IRs);

· Provide technical leadership in community-based protection and community resilience (particularly in the context of violent conflict and insecurity), with expertise including (but not limited to) early warning systems, local peacebuilding and conflict mitigation, community-based livelihoods initiatives, trauma healing, and community-based conservation;

· Ensure that project beneficiaries are effectively identified according to established criteria across consortium partners;

· Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate;

· Collaborate with technical specialists, other team staff, and stakeholders beyond the project to avoid gaps and overlaps and to ensure coordination of materials and communication strategies;

· Oversee periodic technical reviews and manage changes in program direction and focus;

· Oversee monitoring and evaluation of project indicators, knowledge management activities, and manage changes in program direction and focus as needed;

· In collaboration with Invisible Children program staff, provide guidance and technical oversight to CRCA national partners and other collaborating agencies, to ensure that lessons learned and best practice are documented and shared;

· Oversee the project’s financial and technical reporting requirements, capturing the impacts of activities and ensuring a strong value for money proposition behind the project; and

· Conduct frequent field visits to Invisible Children sub-offices and project sites, spending at least 30% of time in the field.

Provide Administrative and Operational Leadership and Oversight

· Plan, direct, and coordinate operational activities to support the achievement of CRCA goals and objectives within the prescribed timeframes and funding parameters, and in compliance with USAID regulations and Invisible Children policies;

· Manage the project budget and track financial and material resources;

· Ensure that reporting of project finances is accurate and timely; this includes regularly reviewing actual financial performance against the budget, and explaining variances;

· Ensure staff compliance with all Invisible Children administrative and operational policies and procedures, as well as relevant USAID regulations; and

· Approve expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests for the project.

Represent Invisible Children and Support Relevant Advocacy Initiatives

· Lead the socialization of the project with stakeholders from the Governments of the DRC and CAR, ensuring necessary approvals and collaboration as required;

· Serve as the primary Point of Contact for the CRCA project to USAID and to relevant local and international stakeholders, and represent CRCA at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field;

· Build and maintain healthy and collaborative relationships with CRCA project partners and other potential partners that are relevant to the success of the project; and

· Oversee all field-based external communication related to CRCA, ensuring compliance with USAID’s branding and marketing requirements and with Invisible Children’s external communication policies.

Manage CRCA Personnel and HR needs

· Set a team culture valuing learning and adaptive management, and foster a work atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development of excellent personnel at all levels;

· Oversee and support the recruitment, orientation, professional development and ongoing training of project staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities; and

· Conduct regular staff performance reviews with direct supervisees, and ensuring that supervisory staff do the same in a timely manner to promote accountability and foster motivation and teamwork.

Minimum Qualifications:

● At least ten (10) years of experience of relevant technical and management experience

● Oral and written fluency in English and French is required

● Minimum of a Master’s Degree in a relevant field

● Technical experience in two or more of the following areas: community-based protection, early warning systems, conflict mitigation, community development, trauma healing, and community-based conservation initiatives

● Minimum of three (3) years managing significant USG-funded awards required, and a demonstrated ability to

○ Develop, manage, and analyze budgets for multi-million dollar, USG-funded awards

○ Oversee operations, procurement, contract management, and logistics for USG-funded awards or contracts

○ Ensure quality program design, implementation, monitoring, and learning

○ Ensure compliance with 2 CFR 200 rules and regulations for federal awards

● Experience in gender-sensitive programming and/or social protection interventions for women and children

● Proven ability to inspire, manage, and empower a diverse team to achieve project objectives

● Proven ability to adapt, problem-solve, and provide strong leadership in a complex work environments and shifting political and security landscapes

● Public relations skills and a proven ability to facilitate healthy and collaborative partnerships and maintain institutional linkages

● Field experience in DR Congo, Central African Republic, or a similar conflict/post-conflict environment

● Desire to live and work in a challenging and dynamic environment

● Ability to travel nationally and internationally as required

Preferred Qualifications:

● Familiarity or experience with community-based conservation programming

● Knowledge of relevant local language(s) in northeast DRC and eastern CAR, including Lingala, Sango, Zande, and Arabic

Disclaimer:

The above job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties requested by their supervisor in compliance with Federal and State Laws.

All job requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health and safety of themselves or other employees.

Requirements are representative of minimum levels of knowledge, skills and/or abilities. To perform this job successfully, the employee must possess the abilities or aptitudes to perform each duty proficiently. Continued employment remains on an “at-will” basis.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Please send electronic submissions of your CV and cover letter to jobs@invisiblechildren.com. Please include “Chief of Party, CRCA” in the subject line. No telephone inquiries. Finalists will be contacted.