Governance Lead, Ghana RING II at Abt Associates

Abt Associates is currently seeking a qualified Governance Lead for the upcoming Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) II – Systems Strengthening Activity. This Activity focuses on enhancing the ability of all stakeholders to address poor nutrition and weak resilience in northern Ghana. The RING II – Systems Strengthening Activity will result in sustained improvements in the delivery of local services to achieve measurable improvements in the nutrition and resilience of an estimated 85,000 reproductive-aged women and children under five years old.

Under the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), the Governance Lead will provide leadership and management oversight of technical activities that seek to strengthen local government’s ability to deliver equitable and robust quality services. These services will aim to strengthen adoption of behaviors that promote nutrition and resilience of poor and food-insecure households in northern Ghana. The Governance Lead will also support districts to better manage policy implementation, to effectively use data for planning and decision-making, and to develop budgets and annual plans that reflect constituent priorities. This position will require frequent travel regions and districts where the program is being implemented. The activity will work in the following regions: Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West.

The position will be based in Tamale, Ghana.

Responsibilities:

• Design and advise on implementation of technical activities that strengthen local governments’ capacity to plan, budget, and deliver services at the district level.
• Provide technical expertise and thought leadership to encourage participatory and inclusive approaches to planning that incorporate multisectoral approaches to nutrition and resilience programming.
• Provide technical and administrative oversight for the implementation of a results-oriented program strategy regionally and in specific districts.
• Facilitate collaboration across program components and with advisors to ensure implementation of activities in each district.
• Assist in annual work planning and contribute to quality operational plans, budgets, and reports.
• Provide input to the project’s research and monitoring and evaluation activities and work with Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to incorporate lessons learned to enhance project results.
• Provide input to regular status and progress reports to USAID.
• Provide inputs to the finance and administration team necessary for project budget projections, expenditures, tracking and reporting.
• Collaborate actively with project staff and stakeholders and promote a culture of collaboration.
• Ensure that lessons learned and best practices are documented and shared.
• Travel frequently to sub-regional offices for compliance, training, and tracking consistency across implementation activities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public financial management, economics, international development, community development, nutrition or a related field with 10 years of professional experience or Bachelor’s degree and at least 12 years of professional experience.
• At least 5 years’ experience managing the implementation of field-level activities, including working with district government officials and local civil society/community-based organizations in northern Ghana.
• Demonstrated experience encouraging local government accountability to its constituents for equitable delivery of services that respond to population needs.
• Demonstrated team building and team management leading to high quality work in a timely, cost effective manner.
• Experience working with international development organizations in Ghana required.
• USAID experience highly preferred.
• Excellent writing skills required.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal communication and computer skills.
• Verbal and written fluency in English.
• Ghanaian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree + Twelve years of relevant experience, or Master’s Degree + Ten years of relevant experience, or PhD+ Eight years of relevant experience