Career Opportunity: Senior Development and Democracy Advisor – USAID/KEA Mission
Company Profile: SoCha (a portmanteau of Social and Change) is an independent Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) firm that provides bespoke solutions to social challenges.
We are a US-registered, veteran-owned small business and staff support offices in Nairobi, Bangkok and Mauritius.
SoCha currently supports multiple foreign assistance interventions across Asia and Africa.
Background: SoCha is the current contract holder of the USAID/Kenya & East Africa (KEA) Mission Support to Journey to Self-Reliance (J2SR) Pivot Activity.
To support this journey, the J2SR Activity will support the USAID/KEA Mission to understand context, align programs, collect data, understand complexity, and apply learning to program adaptation.
SoCha is looking for qualified individuals to fill the role of Senior Development and Democracy Advisor.
The advisor will serve as a key member of the Democracy, Governance, Peace and Security (DGPS) Office at USAID Kenya and East Africa (KEA) and a key advisor to USAID/KEA senior officials on mission management during a period of elections.
The position requires practical experience in mission management, democracy and governance program design, activity management, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning.
Due to frequent interaction with external stakeholders in high stakes environments, the selected candidate must be able to communicate effectively and ensure positive working relationships with interlocutors in the U.S. Embassy, other donors, the private sector, non-governmental and civil society organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations in Kenya.
The position also entails effective and continuous communication with
local and national governmentrepresentatives, ensuring that USAID/KEA
is fully aware of and engaged in democracy and
election development issues in Kenya.
The position functions under the supervision of the Mission Director or his/her designated representative,
and the Director, Democratic Governance, Peace and Security (DGPS).
**This is a designated local hire position.**
Scope of Work:
Illustrative Functions of the Position
The Senior Development and Democracy Advisor will:
1. Program Monitoring, Assessment and Advising (20%)
- Play a lead role in monitoring and advising senior leadership on the Mission’s activities, with a focus on democracy and election activities (e.g., contracts, cooperative agreements, grants to public international organizations, and government-to-government mechanisms).
- Undertake proactive engagement with other democracy, human rights, and election experts (both within and outside USAID), and keep abreast of the latest developments, studies, and academic research in the fields of democracy and election matters in Kenya.
- Identify and synthesize best practices for international and regional elections.
- Identify and codify election related lessons learned to improve knowledge management and learning within USAID/KEA and the agency.
2. Program Monitoring, Assessment and Advising (40%)
- Responsible for tracking legal, policy, political trends, as they relate to democracy and elections and provide strategic advice on the same.
- Distill and shape information into succinct policy and/or programmatic recommendations.
- Contribute to the development of strategic and operational documents including elections reporting, performance reports, white papers, lessons learned, and other ad hoc reports as required.
- Review and advise on proposals and reports from
partners/contractors, and documents recommendations for improved DGPS
and mission operational effectiveness relating to elections
programs.
3. External Consultations & Partnerships (20%)
- Establish and maintain effective working relations and coordination with other donors, civil
society, private sector, media, and academic/research bodies on matters related to DG initiatives,
especially elections. - Add value to existing partnerships, and exercise initiative in establishing new ones,
with international, regional, and local partners in support democracy and election interventions. - Collaborate with USAID/Washington’s DRG Center, bilateral missions and other Agency
affiliates in democracy and election programming and learning.
4. Advice and Guidance (20%)
- Serve as a key Agency advisor on various programs and mission wide events, with a focus on DGPS.
- Counsel senior management staff and officials at multiple levels of USAID, senior staff of other Federal and private sector clients, and vendors on Agency and DGPS matters.
- Advise on the appropriate methods and techniques to use in order to achieve program goals and objectives.
- Serve on inter Agency, national, and/or international special work groups, task forces, or expert panels on special projects or studies.
- Communicate with the Bureau for Africa Front Office on the status of different work activities and efforts.
Minimum Qualifications and Experience:
- Master’s degree or above in development studies, conflict mitigation, peacebuilding and or other technical areas such as engineering and/or economics is required.
- A minimum ten years of progressively responsible work experience in fields related to democratic development (governance, elections, devolution, political parties, human rights, rule of law, civil society, etc.), public administration, or management is required. Experience must include working for a Government Institution, International Development Agency, Non Governmental-Organization or Embassy in democracy and election efforts.
- Demonstrated technical expertise on issues pertaining to two or more
subjects in the DG field (for example: elections and human rights,
civil society strengthening, devolution, public outreach and
behavior change, political party engagement, media, and rule of law, etc.). - Advanced knowledge of democracy and election trends, comparative examples in other countries,
relevant civil society organizations, influential religious and GOK stakeholders, is required. - An understanding of USAID business practices and procedures is required.
- Experience as a senior manager in USAID missions is required.
- Experience working in Kenya and on Kenyan political development is required.
- Familiarity with peacebuilding and preventing & countering violent extremism (P/CVE)
approaches and their relationship to elections and post-elections is highly desired. - A strong understanding of elections and post-election related conflict is highly desirable.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya. The incumbent is expected to travel approximately 20 percent of the time.
Period of Performance: July 4, 2022 -August 20, 2022.
How to Apply:
To lodge an application, please lodge your CV via the THIS LINK.
Applications close June 1, 2022.
The promising candidates may be selected before this deadline.