Chief of Party, USAID, Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

This Opportunity:

USAID’s APCCA strategy seeks to deliver better outcomes for children around the world who face significant deprivation and danger and provides a shared basis for continued evidence-based, and collaborative action. The APCCA strategy is made up of three strategic objectives: Build Strong Beginnings, Put Family First, and Protect Children from Violence. This position specifically revolves around objective 2 ‘Put Family First’ and supporting those most vulnerable children who are, or are at risk of, living outside of family care by promoting, funding, and supporting nurturing, loving, protective, and permanent family care.

The Chief of Party of the APCCA opportunity in Ukraine will be ultimately responsible for the efficient and effective oversight of all elements of the Project. Their primary responsibilities are to provide overall leadership, management, and general technical direction of the program, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors, and a focus on achieving the desired results. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the program. The position requires significant coordination skills, broad general and technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, experience in developing countries, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines. 

*This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID. *  

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide overall strategic, technical, programmatic, financial, and management guidance and support for the project activities
Serve as the primary point of contact for USAID Ukraine Mission
Serve as the Palladium representative in Ukraine for the project and liaise closely with the Palladium Protect Director on successful implementation of the project
Provide technical expertise and leadership in child protection and care
Ensure that project objectives, outcomes, and deliverables are met and that financial, operational, and USAID reporting requirements are followed
Manage project staff, and ensure smooth coordination with official and unofficial project partners
Manage relationships with Government, and ensure project activities align with government initiatives

Key Competencies Required:

A master’s degree in a relevant field of study, e.g. social work, public health, etc.
At least 15 years proven leadership in the administration of similar sized international donor- supported programs with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.
Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations and reporting requirements.
Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.
Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written, to fulfil the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the contract.
Technical experience relating to prevention of child-family separation, reintegration of children and family-based alternative care
Proven experience in the development and improvement of policy and legal frameworks
Ability to successful plan for and manage family and community-based services
Evidence of engagement with the social service workforce, training and competency development would be a plus
Experience implementing care reform activities in Ukraine
Strong strategic thinking and leadership skills, with the ability to raise important questions, assess logic, and working with teams to make necessary improvements
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to write technical documents in Ukrainian and English

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.