Solicitation for U.S. Personal Services Contractor (U.S.PSC) Resilience Advisor - Somalia, GS-14 at USAID

Background/Introduction

USAID/Somalia seeks to contract a U.S. Personal Services Contractor (PSC) to serve as the USAID/Somalia Mission’s Resilience Advisor who will facilitate broad support to mobilize household resilience efforts that utilize USAID development and humanitarian funding.

Somalia faces recurring droughts and other weather-related calamities, together with conflict induced insecurity. This has put a significant portion of the population under duress, necessitating large international humanitarian interventions. Building household resilience will help the Somali people deal with these crises. The Resilience Advisor will provide intellectual leadership across the Mission’s resilience-related activities and provide technical guidance and administrative support to help manage and increase impact of activities that build resilience of Somali households.

S/he is expected to help align the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of resilience-related projects/activities as part of the ‘whole of Mission’ resilience investments. This will include serving as an Agreement/Contract Officer Representative (AOR/COR) for activities related to resilience. The Resilience Advisor will play a key role in resilience activity coordination among the broader donor community. S/he is expected to take a leadership role in resilience forums and working groups that link international partners and Somali government counterparts. S/he will also serve as a link to the USAID Center for Resilience in Washington.

The assignment may require occasional travel to Somalia depending on the need and security conditions in adherence to Mission standard operating procedures. **

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the EG Office Chief or designee, the duties and responsibilities of the Resilience Advisor include:

Resilience Coordination and Related Duties

The Resilience Advisor serves as a technical thought leader on resilience issues for USAID/Somalia. This includes facilitating the sequencing, layering, and integration of multiple development and humanitarian efforts within targeted geographies to improve household, community and national resilience. S/he provides guidance on resilience programming, cross-sectoral integration of resilience concepts, and current USAID policy. S/he will serve as a manager (AOR/COR) for resilience coordination and learning activities. As a senior member of the team, the Resilience Advisor is responsible for supporting the development of annual work plans, implementation, and evaluation and monitoring of programming that supports resilience as appropriate. S/he serves as the lead for collaboration, learning, and adaptation efforts. S/he also develops training materials and provides training to Mission staff and implementing partners on integrating resilience concepts in project design and implementation.

Technical Specialist Representational and Other Duties

Working in close collaboration with USAID’s other development and humanitarian offices, the Resilience Advisor serves as a convener and mobilizer for resilience activities. In doing so, the s/he ensures that projects/activities utilize good technical practices and innovative solutions to ensure efficient, effective, and meaningful results are attained in accordance with Agency standards and following best practices and procedures. The Resilience Advisor monitors and evaluates both directly managed or supported resilience projects/activities with an eye towards learning and constant improvement, and works in close collaboration with the other specialists in the Mission to seek complementarity among projects/activities. This includes working with third-party monitoring agents to capture resilience program impact. S/he prepares or contributes to high quality internal and external reporting and communications as required related to activities that support resilience, such as success stories and USAID and inter-agency planning and programming documents.

The Resilience Advisor plays a leading role in fostering and managing relationships with other donors, implementing partners, Somali government counterparts, and other stakeholders, in resilience activities, and for providing technical guidance as appropriate. S/he will promulgate good technical resilience programming practices developed by the USAID Center for Resilience, other USAID Missions, and other international and local partners. The Resilience Advisor represents USAID at official partner and coordination meetings and events and provides written reporting as appropriate. S/he coordinates VIP and other TDYs related to personally managed and Office-wide activities, as required. The Resilience Advisor participates in strategy development and financial analysis with other team and office staff. S/he will also serve as a link to the USAID Center for Resilience in Washington, serving as a conduit for good practices and lessons learned related to resilience.**12. PHYSICAL DEMANDS:** The primary location of work will be on the U.S. Embassy/USAID compound in Nairobi, Kenya. No special demands are required to perform the work.

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

The incumbent must meet the following requirements in education and professional experience:

1. Education: A graduate degree (Masters or higher) in a relevant area such as international development, social sciences, or agriculture.
2. Prior Work Experience: Minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible management experience with a USG entity, international assistance organization, or non-governmental organization in resilience, community development, humanitarian assistance or economic development, during which there must be a:**
3. Minimum of four (4) years of overseas field experience working on programs related to resilience within a complex operating environment;
4. Minimum of two (2) years of supervisory experience (including mentoring, training, and guiding staff).**Language Proficiency:** Fluent (Level IV) verbal and written English communication skills are required.