Chief of Party at Palladium

Chief of Party, USAID/Malawi, Youth Prosperity Through Agriculture Pathways 

About Palladium: 

  

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop, and deliver a positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.    

This Proposal Opportunity:  

Palladium is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) for an anticipated USAID-funded agriculture higher education strengthening program expected to begin in 2024. The USAID/Malawi Youth Prosperity Through Agriculture Pathways Activity aims to increase Malawian youth’s contribution to the country’s economic growth. The activity will increase access to higher education with a specific focus on agriculture training, improve the quality, governance, and relevance of agriculture training institutions’ systems, and increase economic growth opportunities for graduates to contribute to the formal economy.   

 

Position Summary  

The Chief of Party will provide overall leadership, management oversight, and technical direction for the project, ensuring an integrated vision across components and stakeholders. The COP will take a leadership role in coordination among the Project team, implementing partners, public and private sector partners, higher education partners, and government stakeholders, as well as directly liaise with USAID as a representative of Palladium and the Project. The COP will have a firm understanding of the programmatic aspects of the project in an evolving context and contribute to a continuous adaptive management approach. The COP will work with Palladium HQ to ensure compliance with USAID rules and regulations. The COP will report to the Palladium HQ Project Director.

  

This is an anticipated project, and this position is contingent upon award from USAID. 

 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Provide overall leadership, strategic, technical, programmatic, financial, and management guidance and support for large-scale project activities. 
• Plan, direct, and coordinate technical and operational activities to ensure that project goals and objectives are met, and prescribed timeframes and funding parameters follow USAID regulations and Palladium’s policies. 
• Serve as the primary point of contact for USAID Malawi, other implementing partners, and other stakeholders; ensure alignment and harmonization with other programming where appropriate.  
• Provide technical expertise and leadership to the project implementation team, including the development of strategies, budgets, work plans, MEL plans, and reporting. 
• Ensure the strategic and functional integration of all technical areas as well as strong collaboration with donors, government, higher education institutions, agriculture private sector, and other implementing partners.   

• Ensure that project objectives, outcomes, and deliverables are met and that financial, operational, and USAID reporting requirements are followed.
•  Provide strategic vision on program sustainability and resilience.

 

Key Competencies Required: 

• Extensive experience in higher education, workforce development, agriculture, private sector engagement, and other fields related to international demand-driven skills development and post-secondary agriculture education. 
• USAID program experience as a Chief of Party on a USAID-funded project or other donor-funded development projects. 

• Experience in relationship building with public and private stakeholders, including higher education institutions, private post-secondary education entities, agribusinesses, and civil society organizations.   
• Demonstrated experience in the administration of similar-sized international donor-supported programs with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.   
• Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations, and reporting requirements. 
• Attention to detail and ability to perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities effectively and efficiently often within a required timeframe.  
• Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams. 

• Ability to anticipate, respond, and adapt quickly to changing requirements and competing demands; ability to take initiative and/or respond independently to situations.  
• Evidence of strong interpersonal and written communication skills to fulfill the contract’s diverse technical and managerial requirements. 
• Professional and diplomatic demeanor and conduct, especially during interactions with the client and its constituents.  
• Fluent writing, reporting, and presentational skills in English.  

 

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred: 

• Experience in Malawi in higher education, workforce development, or agriculture.  
• Experience collaborating and partnering with U.S. higher education institutions. 
• Fluent writing, reporting, and presentational skills in Chichewa or other local languages of Malawi. 

 

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion – Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.    

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected] and we will be in touch to discuss.   

 

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.