Description:
Chemonics seeks a Chief of Party (COP) for the anticipated five-year USAID She Leads, Pakistan Rises (SLPR) activity. The primary purpose of the activity is to increase women’s participation in Pakistan’s economy by supporting women-led businesses (WLB) including start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). The activity is expected to be focused on increasing access to finance, access to digital technology, improving operational performance and supply chain linkages; and developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem that will enable WLBs to start, expand, and innovate. The Chief of Party will be responsible for the overall management and implementation of the project. This will be a long-term key personnel position that will be based in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Responsibilities
- Provide overall leadership, management, and technical direction of all activity focused areas as needed
- Administer the project’s financial oversight and procedures, ensuring compliance with local labor laws, USAID regulations, and Chemonics policies and procedures
- Cultivate strong working relationships with and serve as a liaison between USAID, government counterparts, program stakeholders, implementing partners, private sector organizations and Chemonics’ program management unit on all program related matters
- Monitor and, where necessary, modify programmatic assistance to achieve results; ensure that relevant and complementary activities are implemented effectively; identify issues and risk associated with implementation in a timely manner and guide appropriate adjustments
- Oversee contract management, including personnel, budget, reporting, MEL, and communications and ensure the Activity meets stated results as per its goal and objectives
- Provide inputs to and review all deliverables, for quality, accuracy, and completeness in accordance with relevant contractual reporting requirements
- Supervise the senior management team, technical and administrative staff, and subcontracting organizations
- Oversees incorporation of cross-cutting principles into activity programming, including gender, equity and social inclusion
- Facilitate close collaboration and teamwork, including mentorship and development of local technical and administrative staff.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree or higher in business administration, economics, or a related field
- A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible international experience managing donor-funded programs of similar scope and size, with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting
- A minimum of five years of experience in Pakistan’s private sector engagement, investment promotion, digital transformation and new technology adoption, access to finance, workforce development, association capacity building, marketing, trade and e-commerce, and/or advocacy; minimum of three years directly working on women empowerment interventions
- Demonstrated experience in maintaining relationships with a broad range of stakeholders such as national and provincial government counterparts (i.e. State Bank of Pakistan, SMEDA, NIC, SECP, TDAP, NCSW and MIC), academia, research institutions, private sector entities, provincial Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI), WLB associations, development partners, implementing partners, media, civil society, formal training systems (TVET) centers, professional associations, startup accelerators/incubators, and other relevant actors in the innovation ecosystem
- Demonstrated capabilities in high-level strategic vision, innovative programming, and ability to lead a multidisciplinary team
- Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity.
- Written and spoken fluency in English and Urdu required, additional provincial language knowledge (Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi and/or Pashto) are a plus.