Deputy Chief of Party at Investing in Children and their Societies (ICS-SP)

Purpose of function

ICS SP is currently seeking a Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) for an anticipated 5 Year USAID-funded multimillion dollar OVC and DREAMS project in Kenya. The project aims at increasing the use of quality county-led health and social services in select counties in Kenya. This is a service delivery project at the county level, providing HIV care and treatment; services to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and adolescents; and services in the areas of family planning/reproductive, maternal, new born, child and adolescent health (FP/RMNCAH), nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The project will support the Government of Kenya (GoK) in attaining its goal of addressing the HIV/AIDS response, safeguarding the rights and welfare of children and adolescents impacted by HIV/AIDS, and ensuring equitable access to and use of quality primary health care service including RMNCAH, Nutrition, WASH services by the most vulnerable.

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) will report to and support the Chief of Party (COP) with the overall management and operations of the project and liaising with USAID. S/he will assist with providing technical input and supervision of project implementation and ensuring the project meets stated goals and reporting requirements. The DCOP takes a leadership role in coordination among USAID and key stakeholders and other implementing partners. The DCOP position requires someone that is political savvy, as s/he interacts with numerous GoK institutions and senior-level national and county-level government officials.
The position will be based in Kenya, most likely in Kisumu, and is contingent on project funding and approval by USAID.

Roles and responsibilities

• Support the Chief of Party in the strategic management of the project and ensuring the project is implemented in accordance with stated program goals and objectives.
• Assume the responsibilities of COP in the absence of the COP.
• Assist in the technical leadership of the project’s overarching vision and develop the annual work-plans and budgets in collaboration with ICS staff, USAID, and key stakeholders, including the Government of Kenya at national and county levels
• Identify arising issues and provide technical assistance and problem-solving.
• Assist in leading and supervising of finance, technical and programmatic staff to ensure fiscal integrity, quality, and timing of deliverables.
• Support the COP to ensure that appropriate systems are in place and are running efficiently.
• Build and maintain relationships with USAID, the public sector, private sector, civil society, community-based organizations, local communities, government, and donors.
• Participate in the implementation of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, continuous program learning and integration of monitoring and evaluation data into management decision-making and policy advocacy.
• Production of effectively written reports and oral presentations on the program, including preparing periodic reports, providing updates on challenges facing the program and articulating the program’s success in meeting deliverables.
• Represent ICS and overall project interests at local, national and regional meetings, workshops and conferences and promote the program at the national level.
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum requirements

At a minimum, the DCOP will have:

• Eight years of experience in a senior role managing, complex technical service delivery programs of similar scope and dollar value.
• A Master’s degree in social sciences, public health, medicine, management, business administration, or a related field.
• Five years of experience in partnership building, especially with the government representatives, donors, the private sector, and local community organizations.
• Experience with facility and community level service delivery for OVC/DREAMS/HTS programs
• Experience implementing high impact proven interventions/ knowledgeable about current implementation science and state-of-the-art service delivery approaches.
• Experience in meeting Donor reporting requirements
• Have strongly demonstrated interpersonal, written, and oral presentation skills.
• Proven abilities to set priorities, to multi-task, and to work collaboratively across technical disciplines.
• Proven leadership and organizational skills to successfully manage and coordinate programs preferably in the Kenyan context, and on USAID-funded projects of similar size; prior experience as a USAID Deputy Chief of Party or similar leadership role preferred.