Chief of Party, All Youth Learning

This position is contingent on receipt of donor funding and donor approval of the selected candidate.

About CRS

CRS is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion, or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work are accomplished through inclusive programs spanning emergency response, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, peacebuilding, and institutional capacity strengthening.

CRS has been implementing lifesaving programming for disaster- and conflict-affected communities in Myanmar for more than a decade. In partnership with local organizations, CRS maintains a broad-based portfolio of food security and nutrition programming, as well as emergency response programming, to help meet the needs of the country’s most vulnerable.

Project Summary:

CRS is seeking a Chief of Party to lead the upcoming USAID/Burma All Youth Learning (AYL) activity, a five-year project anticipated to start in September 2024. The purpose of the activity is to expand opportunities for Myanmar’s out-of-school and conflict-affected youth to receive quality foundational and livelihoods-oriented education and training.

Job Summary:

As Chief of Party, you will provide leadership and overall management of the All Youth Learning project, ensuring high-quality and timely project implementation that serves the poor and vulnerable. Your leadership, management, and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in the youth education and livelihoods field. As a senior leader you will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks and lead adaptive management processes in a highly complex and evolving context.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of the AYL project, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Serve as the primary point of contact to the USAID/Burma Mission, as well as public, private, and non-government stakeholders. Liaise with other actors as necessary.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results, reporting, and budget, including strategies for phase-out and sustainability. Ensure coordination between programs and operations leads. Ensure the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL policy and procedures.
• Effectively manage senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Lead through flexible and adaptive management practices to react to security and operational constraints as they arise. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans, and ensure the regular updating of such plans.
• Promote, uphold, and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Ensure compliance with USAID rules and regulations as well as the AYL agreement, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to USAID. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
• Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
• Coordinate and strengthen relationships with partner organizations, by organizing review/planning workshops and other learning and collaboration events. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from partner organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain positive and conducive conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze, and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development, international relations, or a relevant technical area (e.g. education, community/youth/workforce development, public administration, nonprofit management, etc.). PhD preferred.
• Minimum 7 years of relevant management and technical experience. Experience managing complex education activities in challenging environments preferred. Experience implementing development programming in Myanmar highly valued.
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing donor funds.
• Strong demonstrated knowledge and experience managing large and complex projects and budgets. Experience managing projects and budgets in conflict-affected communities preferred.
• 5 or more years of staff management and partnership-building experience and abilities that are conducive to a positive learning environment (i.e. demonstrated accompaniment, mentorship, and/or coaching experience). Experience managing and developing talent of senior program staff.

Required Languages – Oral and written proficiency in English is required; fluency in Myanmar language preferred.

Travel – This position will be based in Yangon, Myanmar. Must be willing and able to travel up to 30% in-country.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Strong and effective communicator (orally and in writing) who is able to communicate feedback, decisions, and results in a respectful, timely, and sensitive manner to diverse audiences. Strong presentation skills. Able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
• Strong relationship management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented, and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recognized technical experience and qualifications in education, youth, and/or livelihoods, and/or sector as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, etc.
• Demonstrated experience of successful program management, including management of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects with complicated logistics.
• Ability to represent and present at high levels.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships and institutional capacity. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Experience managing a USAID project or grant strongly preferred.
• Experience in the education and/or youth and workforce development sectors (and in Myanmar) strongly preferred.
• Experience implementing innovations in education or livelihoods to achieve results and outcomes at scale and reach a diverse learning audience in a challenging and evolving context preferred.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity - Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission.  Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust - Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

Supervisory Responsibilities: To be determined.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: CRS Myanmar Head of Programming, Head of Operations, Finance Manager, operations team, project teams; Asia Regional Technical Advisors in Livelihoods and MEAL; Senior Technical Advisors in Youth and Education

External: KMSS (local Caritas) and other international and local partner organizations, USAID/Burma, consultants, and counterparts at other INGOs and UN agencies, etc.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.