The USAID-funded WABiLED Activity in West Africa, implemented by Tetra Tech International Development  is currently accepting expressions of interest for a Senior Institutional Strengthening Specialist. This position will be located in the main office in Accra, Ghana.

The Senior Institutional Strengthening Specialist will provide technical leadership and oversight of the project’s strategy to strengthen regional, national, and local partners’ operational and technical functions through the provision of high-quality, demand-driven support services. S/he will collaborate with other team members (e.g., Objective Leads and Cross-cutting units) to facilitate assessments, provide direct technical support, and coordinate the provision of support to regional, national and local partners and contribute to team building and core internal capacity strengthening of WABiLED staff. This is a long-term, 3-year position that will be based in Accra, Ghana, with travel throughout the West African region.

Responsibilities:

* Lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive Capacity Development Strategy to strengthen the organizational and technical capacity of regional, national, and local partners.

* Conduct Institutional Technical and Organizational Capacity Assessments (ITOCA) and Organizational Performance Index (OPI) to update, develop and facilitate the implementation of Institutional Strengthening Plans (ISP) with partners as determined on a case-by-case basis in consultation with partners and the technical team.

* Through the embedded Technical Advisors, work with WABiLED’s core regional partners ECOWAS and MRU to update, develop and facilitate the implementation of the technical and management priorities identified in the ITOCA and ISPs.

* Conduct regional travel to meet with and provide support to partners, undertake field visits (e.g., trainings, M&E visits, etc.) as needed.

* Design and provide, and/or identify external short-term expertise to support direct capacity development and institutional strengthening services to partners for a wide range of institutional areas including financial and administrative management, human resources, sustainability, institutional governance, marketing and communication, monitoring and evaluation, etc.

* Coordinate the development, implementation, and monitoring of project activities concerning capacity development of regional, national and local partners.

* Ensure high-quality technical programming through participatory methodologies, co-creation, and contextualization, as per Tetra tech’s capacity development overarching principles, approaches, and tools.

* Foster strong collaboration and coordination with the grants management team to integrate capacity building and subaward monitoring processes and to ensure that capacity development is incorporated into subawards, as appropriate.

* Contribute to quarterly and annual reports, annual work planning and quarterly work plan reviews, and other day to day functions that ensure the smooth implementation of WABiLED.

Qualifications:

* Master’s degree in a relevant field including organizational development, adult education, resource management, etc.

* Seven to ten years of experience in strengthening of civil society, government institutions, and other relevant entities; community-based natural resource management; and/or other relevant programming, preferably for USAID natural resource management or biodiversity conservation programs.

* Excellent grasp and demonstrated experience in participatory capacity development, organizational development, adult learning, and other related methodologies.

* Experience in the development and implementation of concepts, tools and approaches for conducting needs assessments and design of individual and / or organizational strengthening programs

* Demonstrated experience in strengthening the organizational and technical capabilities of government, NGOs and civil society organizations.

* Excellent facilitation, training, and mentoring skills in a variety of organizational development and technical topics.

* Strong written and oral communication skills, including presentations and preparations of written reports.

* Proven interpersonal and communication skills, verbal and written.

* Solid understanding of the contemporary challenges and opportunities facing the civil society and NGO sector in the NRM space in West Africa.

* Experience engaging with civil society organizations, government institutions, the private sector, and biodiversity conservation organizations relevant to the WABILED program e.g., Mano River Union, ECOWAS Environment Directorate, etc. a plus

* Training and/or work experience around natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, protected areas management, sustainable forestry, and/or related fields preferred

* Fluent in written and spoken English and French (English required French strongly preferred)