Country Director

Primary Responsibilities:

This position will oversee a small team located in the project office in Beirut, Lebanon and reports directly to the Program Director (PD). The main responsibilities involve identifying and forming relationships with program partners and potential volunteer host organizations and businesses, working with staff to draft and articulate assignments to be filled by experienced US agriculture sector volunteers, and supporting volunteers to have successful assignments with their hosts. The main duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide strategic leadership to the design and implementation of the project activities and oversees program planning, monitoring, reporting evaluation and overall learning.
• Oversee project finances, planning, administration, compliance, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Ensure successful project implementation and achievement of results on time and within budget.
• Manage relationship with implementing partners and host organizations.
• Oversee and coordinate the successful completion of planning and budgeting requirements of the project.
• Ensure mechanisms are in place to monitor the implementation of projects, including progress toward achieving objectives and targets with high-quality and on-time performance.
• Ensure timely, high-quality, and complete submission of work plans, semi-annual and annual reports, financial reports, and any other reports required by the donor.
• Ensure that all activities are undertaken in full compliance with Land O’Lakes’ standard operating procedures, and USAID policies and regulations, and national policies and laws.
• Ensure documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned.
• Represent project both internally and externally to other donors, stakeholders, implementing partners.
• Ensure gender equality approaches are integrated into programming.
• Promote sustainability of project activities with effective networking, linkages to other programs, capacity building of project staff, and institutional strengthening of implementing partners and community-based organizations.
• Create a collaborative organizational culture and encourage learning and knowledge sharing as an essential part of doing business and ensure employees own their own learning.
• Ensure tools for learning, such as blogs, articles, social media, brochures, coaching, training, etc. are in place. Encourage employees’ enrollment in relevant social networks and communities of practice.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in international development, business administration, economics, social sciences, agriculture, or a closely related field is required.
• 8 + years’ experience designing, implementing, and managing projects involving multiple partners, in/for developing countries, of which at least four years has been spent in the position of CoP, Deputy CoP, or a similar role of a large development program of equivalent size and scope.
• Strong leadership qualities and depth and breadth of technical and management expertise in agriculture programming with proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and lead a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience in systems strengthening, capacity building, service delivery, and quality improvement is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with host country stakeholders, NGO partners, and international donor agencies.
• Strong interpersonal, writing, and oral presentation skills in English.
• Ability to work independently and manage a high-volume workflow.
• Relevant computer software skills (including, at a minimum, the standard applications in MS Office).

Local candidates with the minimum qualifications are strongly encouraged to apply.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls will be accepted.

Land O’Lakes never requests money or payment from candidates for any position type. Please report any such requests to Land O’Lakes.