Chief of Party, Papua New Guinea Sustainable Landscapes Program

Palladium Group

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Position Summary:

Palladium is seeking a Chief of Party for the $16M USD USAID/Papua New Guinea Sustainable Landscapes (PNGSL) Program. The program aims to improve forest governance, increase the environmental sustainability of the forestry and AFOLU industries, and protect the land and resource rights of local communities in order to reduce GHG emissions, enhance carbon sequestration and increase the sustainability of natural resource management (NRM). PNGSL will engage with public and private sector stakeholders to define shared challenges and implement win-win solutions to improve the management of PNG’s forests and peatlands, thereby reducing deforestation, forest degradation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The activity will catalyze sustainable change by strengthening the capacity and commitment of local and national actors to better manage and conserve PNG’s forests.

The Chief of Party will provide overall leadership, management oversight, and technical direction for the project, ensuring an integrated vision across components and stakeholders, with a focus on achieving the results defined in the award and approved Implementation Plan. The COP will take a leadership role in coordination among the Project team, implementing partners, public and private sector 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 the context of evolving political, legal, and economic contexts, and contribute to a continuous adaptative 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.

Primary responsibilities:

Program Management & Leadership

Provide overall leadership, management, administrative, strategic and technical direction, and serve as the primary authority for all decision-making to ensure all program activities, staff, and partners achieve targeted results and that all required objectives, outcomes, targets, deliverables, and reporting are met;
Oversee and provide clear and concise direction to the project team on the development and implementation of strategies, staffing, budgets, internal operations, project targets and milestones, communications, and reporting;
Manage a core staff of technical and administrative program professionals, ensuring appropriate delegation of duties and assignments; and work with the US-based project support team to ensure responsive and efficient project operations;
Monitor and manage the technical and professional performance of all project staff; providing constructive feedback and, where necessary, develop and implement performance improvement plans;
Serve as the primary point of contact with USAID regarding the day-to-day today project implementation and administrative matters related to the cooperative agreement;
Ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with the rules, regulations, and financial, operational, and reporting requirements of USAID and Palladium;
Actively participate in timely recruitment of project staff, and develop and maintain a culture of professionalism and psychological safety in the workplace;
Engage fully as a member of the Palladium staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other Palladium events.

Partner and Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination

Develop and maintain productive working relationships with broad range of high-level host country government agencies and international agencies, serving as the primary liaison with all stakeholders and proactively troubleshooting challenges as they arise, with support from other project staff as appropriate;
Provide activity/intervention design and implementation oversight of work delivered by current and future implementing partners and other subawardees.

Technical Strategy, Oversight & Implementation

Provide strong leadership, executive decision-making, and clear direction to technical staff in ways that create certainty, agency and accountability among team members across objectives and activities;
Ensure that all project activities are connected to work plans and logically lead to expected results;
Provide close oversight of progress towards program results, maintaining continuous communication with technical leads to identify and troubleshoot challenges and make clear decisions on appropriate solutions;
Establish clear expectations for technical inputs and deliverables requested from team members, and provide timely feedback on requested inputs and deliverables;
Ensure appropriate monitoring mechanisms are established to ensure that project/intervention progress and specific implementation concerns are regularly addressed and promptly reported to and that project objectives are met;
Lead and oversee the development of all project reports and deliverables (including annual work plans and quarterly reports), ensuring their on-time delivery to USAID and Palladium Home Office;
Facilitate project learning and adaptive management, ensuring documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned, and utilize a collaborative and adaptive learning approach, supported by the MEL Manager and technical team;
Oversee the recruitment and engagement of technical experts;
Provide technical guidance on the development of RFQs, RFAs, and RFPs, as well as on the selection of subawardees (subgrantees, subcontractors, other service providers);
Other related technical and management tasks requested by USAID (and in coordination with Palladium HQ) in accordance with the Project’s Scope of Work.

Required Qualifications:

Master’s degree or equivalent professional experience in forestry, sustainability, climate change, resource management and conservation, or a related field;
Minimum of 15 years of experience managing projects that are similar in size and scope;
Extensive experience working with relevant stakeholders;
Strong technical expertise, good management and communication skills;
Knowledge of the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in Papua New Guinea and effective strategies for achieving climate mitigation outcomes in line with the country’s social, economic, and political context;
Experience managing field-based forestry conservation efforts integrating strengthened forest governance and management, improved private sector environmental sustainability, and improved community livelihoods;
Experience managing teams of professionals, and with the administrative, procurement, hiring, and recruitment, financial and logistical aspects of project implementation;
Experience in proactive coordination of and productive collaboration with implementing partners and stakeholders including government agencies, private sector companies, NGOs, universities and research institutions, civil society and international donor agencies;
Experience in working with indigenous communities preferred;
Direct and recent experience in Papua New Guinea preferred;
USAID project experience and understanding of USAID’s development priorities preferred;
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
Demonstrated problem solving, analytic, and critical skills;
Attention to detail and ability to effectively and efficiently perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities often within tight deadlines.