Program Manager - ARE Activity

BACKGROUND

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) activity, funded by USAID and implemented by Chemonics International, has a three-year base period, two Option Years, and One Increased Quantity Option. Both option years have been activated, bringing the project period to five years, and the IQO has been exercised in order to enable the incremental funding for scale-up interventions in support of both of ARE’s expected results (objectives). ARE supports Lebanese rural and peri-urban communities to obtain technical and financial resources in order to facilitate increased productivity, sales, and exports, improved business income, while also ensuring livelihood sustainability. To support this purpose, ARE will increase jobs; improve incomes; improve female participation and employment opportunities; increase domestic and export sales; increase private sector investment; improve access to finance; link value chain actors to domestic and international markets; and improve production through improved practices, technology, increased volume, and/or decreased cost. ARE supports two key expected results (objectives), each with their own intermediate result (IR):

1. Increased domestic and export sales at both firm and farm levels (Result 1)
   1. Increased enterprise competitiveness (IR 1.1)
2. Livelihoods improved, especially in rural areas and for women (Result 2)
   1. Improved productivity of MSMEs, including farmers (IR 2.1)

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Program Manager will serve as a key member of the Technical Assistance and Strategic Communications (TASC) team, under the direct management and supervision of the Program Director. The Program Manager will be responsible for the management, coordination and oversight of ongoing and new interventions under the Strategic, Innovation, Technology and Sector Development fund, including ARE’s latest Tourism Cluster Development initiative and as assigned by the Program Director and/or DCOP/CTO. The Program Manager will also support with the design and validation of newly identified opportunities and interventions. The Program Manager will be based in the Beirut office with relevant travel to the field across Lebanon (North of Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, Bekaa, South of Lebanon). The Program Manager will coordinate closely with their assigned Grants Manager and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Team to continually assess ongoing interventions and potential opportunities for interventions and plan tasks in line with project outputs and overall objectives. The Program Manager will manage and mentor Program Specialist and Program Assistant.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversees ongoing and upcoming grants, interventions and engagements with ARE partners (private and non-private sector entities) under the SITSD fund, including identifying and linking business opportunities with emerging and established agricultural and potentially non-agricultural activities.
• Lead administrative and operational management of ongoing and new SITSD interventions including scope, budget and schedule tracking in line with ARE’s project management standards and protocols and as directed by the Program Director.
• Liaise and coordinate with ARE’s Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team in order to develop indicator plans and monitor intended results.
• In partnership with the TASC Technical Advisors, lead the development of work plans for SITSD interventions that incorporate assistance to increase incomes, grow companies to create more jobs, and increase overall sales.
• In coordination with the TASC Advisors and in line with Chemonics and USAID’s rules and regulations lead on the procurement of goods and services for SITSD interventions.
• Draft and submit technical and progress reports for ongoing and completed interventions for internal and external communication purposes.
• Provide supervision and technical oversight to ARE’s Program Assistant(s).
• Participate actively in problem solving and troubleshooting to ensure that intervention implementation remains within the spirit of the original design.
• Support with the evaluation and diagnosis of client firms to determine the appropriate support mechanisms and partnership opportunities.
• In collaboration with the assigned Grants focal point, designs grant or technical assistance interventions with identified and selected private sector entities.
• Contributes to the design and implementation of private sector interventions, grants, and technical assistance to enable increased sales and export potential, job creation, and increased incomes for private sector entities and selected beneficiaries.
• Identify market opportunities to link with potential client firms to achieve objectives associated with increased sales and exports for supported firms.
• Coordinate with other team members, including communications team, data collection assistant(s), grants manager(s), and the Regional Private Sector Engagement (RPSE) team to identify areas for technical assistance, achieve project objectives, and other tasks as required.
• Other duties as assigned by Program Director and/or the Deputy Chief of Party/Chief Technical Officer.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in agricultural engineering, agribusiness, business, or another relevant field, Graduate/Masters degree a plus.
• Minimum of five years of program management experience working on a portfolio of multiple projects.
• Demonstrated experience using digital project management tools and software solutions required, PMP certification highly preferred.
• Minimum of three years experience in economic and agricultural development. Demonstrated experience in tourism and/or working on touristic product and service development highly desired.
• Minimum 3 years experience on USAID projects highly preferred.
• Relevant project management experience in development and/or private sector highly preferred.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work well within a team environment.
• Fluency in Arabic and advanced proficiency English (Reading, Writing, and Speaking).

LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The Program Manager will be based in Beirut with extensive travel to their assigned region expected on a regular basis.

REPORTING

The Program Manager will report to the Program Director.