With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Employee Contract Type:

International Assignment (WVI – Paid via GCLA) Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

Job Description:

PURPOSE OF POSITION

The Chief of Party (CoP) for the SPIR II Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA), funded by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), provides overall leadership for a multi-sectoral, consortium-led program focused on improving food and nutrition security, resilience, and systems strengthening for over 600,000 PSNP clients across Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray. Currently in Year 4, SPIR II is transitioning into its final phase, emphasizing sustainability and handover to local actors.

The CoP ensures strategic alignment with USAID/BHA priorities, Government of Ethiopia PSNP5, and SPIR II’s sustainability objectives. This includes embedding practices in local systems, tracking sustainability milestones, and preparing government, community, and private sector actors for full ownership post-award. The CoP leads a consortium of CARE, ORDA Ethiopia, and IFPRI, fostering coordinated implementation, technical excellence, and joint accountability across the program. The CoP guides adaptive management, informed by SPIR II’s robust MEL system and CLA strategy, and supports the MEL Lead in tracking outcomes, learning, and transitions.

The role also involves oversight of financial, operational, and compliance functions—ensuring adherence to USAID and World Vision policies, including USAID/BHA commodity management standards. The CoP is responsible for navigating complex security dynamics and access issues, adjusting operations as needed to ensure continuity and staff safety. As the program’s principal representative, the CoP builds strong partnerships with USAID, government, and stakeholders, ensuring program impact, local ownership, and a lasting legacy of resilience.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership and Vision

Articulate the program's strategic vision, ensuring alignment with USAID/BHA objectives, host country priorities and World Vision core values.

Lead the formulation of innovative approaches to enhance food and nutrition security, resilience, and livelihoods among vulnerable populations.

Foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, integrating evidence-based practices into program strategies.

Program Planning and Implementation

Oversee the development and execution of implementation plans, ensuring integration of technical, operational, and sustainability components to achieve program outcomes.

Lead the operationalization of the SPIR II Sustainability Strategy, ensuring that handover and transition activities are prioritized in annual work plans and PREP processes.

Ensure program responsiveness to community needs, supporting the progressive transfer of responsibilities to local systems and institutions.

Monitor program performance, identifying and addressing challenges promptly, with a focus on sustainability milestones and exit readiness.

Team Management and Development

Build and lead a diverse, high-performing team, providing mentorship, guidance, and professional development opportunities aligned with long-term systems thinking and local ownership.

Foster an inclusive and collaborative work environment that encourages the exchange of ideas and promotes staff well-being.

Guide staff and partner capacity strengthening in areas relevant to sustaining program gains post-closeout.

Stakeholder Engagement and Representation

Serve as the primary point of contact for USAID, Ethiopian government officials, consortium partners, local stakeholders, and other relevant entities.

Represent the program in national and international forums, sharing sustainability progress, lessons learned, and best practices.

Strengthen relationships with key stakeholders to support the institutionalization of approaches within government, private sector, and community-based structures

Consortium and Partnership Management

Lead and coordinate consortium partnerships, ensuring clarity of roles, effective communication, and collaborative achievement of program and sustainability goals.

Oversee sub-awardee and partner performance in line with handover planning, system strengthening, and capacity building objectives.

Facilitate regular learning and coordination among World Vision, CARE, ORDA Ethiopia, to advance shared ownership of sustainability targets.

Financial and Compliance Oversight

Ensure the program adheres to USAID regulations and World Vision’s internal financial management policies, maintaining high standards of financial integrity, transparency, and accountability.

Oversee the development and management of program budgets, ensuring effective resource allocation for sustainability efforts and alignment with both USAID and World Vision financial procedures, including internal controls and cost principles.

Monitor financial reports and audits and oversee compliance with BHA commodity management milestones and best practices, including inventory management, documentation standards, and timely reporting. Ensure long-term viability of program innovations adopted by local partners through proper financial stewardship.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL)

Provide leadership and support to the SPIR II MEL Lead to ensure full execution of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, including use of the theory of change, logical framework, IPTT, and PIRS to track outputs, outcomes, and sustainability progress.

Champion the application of SPIR II’s mixed-method M&E approach—routine monitoring, participant-based surveys (PaBS), qualitative monitoring (QuIPs), and process evaluations—to assess effectiveness and facilitate data-driven learning and adaptation.

Ensure timely implementation of mobile data collection systems, the MIS platform, and geospatial tools to enhance real-time analysis and decision-making.

Promote the strategic use of evidence during quarterly reviews, PREP development, learning events, and stakeholder engagements.

Work closely with IFPRI to support dissemination of results and ensure uptake of findings by key stakeholders including government and community actors.

Guide integration of sustainability-focused metrics and learning questions into the MEAL system to track institutionalization and local ownership in the final years of the program.

Risk Management and Security

Identify and address program risks, including those related to sustainability, institutional uptake, and staff safety.

Support implementation of mitigation strategies aligned with World Vision’s Global Security Management Standards and local field protocols.

Ensure staff and partners are familiar with and adhere to key security procedures, including incident reporting and contingency planning.

Monitor Ethiopia’s evolving security context including access challenges, conflict dynamics, and potential instability and adapt programming and operations accordingly.

Coordinate with World Vision’s security teams, humanitarian access actors, and local authorities to ensure safe and continuous implementation.

Oversee business continuity and crisis response planning, ensuring staff well-being and program resilience in insecure environments.

REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Extensive work experience in Ethiopia, with a demonstrated and nuanced understanding of the country’s social, political, and institutional context, particularly in the regions of Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray.

Deep understanding of USAID/BHA policies, food security, resilience, and PSNP frameworks.

Experience working in fragile/conflict affected settings, with demonstrated ability to operate and adapt effectively in insecure environments.

Proven ability to lead large teams and consortia, manage subawards, and build productive partnerships.

REQUIRED EDUCATION, TRAINING, LICENSE, REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION

Master’s degree in international development, agriculture, nutrition, public health, economics, or a related field, with a strong foundation in evidence-based program design and evaluation.

PREFERRED KNOWLEDGE AND QUALIFICATIONS

Demonstrated academic or professional training in market systems strengthening, international health, health systems, or applied research (e.g., MPH or equivalent), with emphasis on application in complex, multi-sectoral programs in low-resource and conflict-affected settings.

Advanced skills in using data for decision-making and integrating rigorous evidence into program design and policy advocacy.

Familiarity with USAID project lifecycle management, including compliance, reporting, and donor communications.

Experience leading programs that integrate MHPSS, SBC, and systems strengthening

Strong capacity in adaptive management, MEL, and CLA frameworks.

Prior experience engaging with the Government of Ethiopia at national and sub-national levels.

TRAVEL AND/OR WORK ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENT

Based in Addis Ababa, with frequent travel to field sites in Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray regions.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local and International Applicants (IA's) Accepted