Capacity Strengthening Lead

PACT Overview

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department

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Position Overview

The Capacity Strengthening (CS) Lead will be supporting the USAID-funded Civil Society Strengthening Activity (CSSA) in the Dominican Republic, which aims to promote an enabling environment that is more responsive to the security needs of all citizens. The CS Lead will lead intermediate result 1 which is focused on improving civil society advocacy capacity related to citizens’ security interests. The CS Lead will focus on strengthening civil society capacities and oversight of sub-grants to support effective advocacy. The CS Lead will provide leadership and oversight of project strategy to strengthen the technical and operational capacity of a variety of civil society organizations (CSOs). The CD expert will lead in the direct provision and coordination of high-quality, demand-driven support services that contribute towards civil society’s enhanced capacity at multiple levels including well-established and high-functioning organizations and nascent and emergent sub-national CSOs. Additionally, s/he will oversee support to a cohort of local champions (students, professionals, activities, influencers, and other related actors who advocate for citizens’ rights, inclusion, and transparency in the governance process), to strengthen and empower them through innovative initiatives, platforms, and exchanges. The CS Lead will lead a team with the shared responsibility to facilitate assessments, provide direct support, and coordinate the provision of technical assistance to civil society, with an emphasis placed on leveraging local expertise. The CS Lead will ensure integration between CD activities and sub-grants to local organizations so that sub-grants facilitate learning by doing opportunities and incorporate advocacy initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee and lead the development and implementation of the project’s comprehensive and adaptive CD strategy to strengthen the organizational and technical capacity of local partners.

• Manage the development, implementation, and monitoring of CD activities in close alignment and coordination with activities across the project.
• Supervise or directly implement baseline and follow-up organizational assessments.
• Oversee the development, implementation and monitoring of Capacity Action Plans (CAPs) for each local partner to ensure achievement of expected outcomes.
• Design, facilitate and/or provide direct capacity development services to local partners for a wide range of institutional areas including financial and administrative management, human resources, institutional governance, marketing and communication, monitoring and evaluation, etc.

• Ensure successful transition of technical leadership to local associate organizations.
• Supervise a CD staff who will share in the responsibility of conducting assessments, creating CAPs, facilitating and/or delivering direct support services, and providing ongoing mentorship to local partners.
• Ensure high-quality technical programming through participatory methodologies, co-creation, and contextualization, as per Pact’s capacity development overarching principles, approaches, and tools.
• Collaborate closely with other technical leads and manage the integration and coordination of technical contributions of other relevant consortium partners.
• Expected close coordination/ collaboration with COP and other technical leads.
• Foster strong collaboration and coordination with the grants management team to integrate CD and subaward monitoring processes and to ensure that capacity development is incorporated into subawards, as appropriate.
• Manage and maintain updated programmatic data in Pact’s Capacity Solutions Platform and the project’s over-arching MEL system.
• Contribute to the Activity’s learning agenda, including through engagement with CSM-STAND's global MEL team and by actively participating in periodic Pause and Reflect sessions
• Supervise and mentor CD staff

• Employee complies with all company policies and procedures, including completing all compliance training topics by the deadline to satisfy each and receiving the corresponding acknowledgment statement that the training has been completed.

• All other duties as assigned

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 8+ years relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience, including 4 years of management experience.
• Excellent grasp and demonstrated experience in participatory CD methodologies, with preferred experience engaging organizations led by or serving marginalized groups (i.e. LGBTQI+ adults and youth, Dominicans of Haitian descent, Haitian and Venezuelan migrants, orphans, youth trafficked and smuggled, youth offenders, people with disabilities, and those living with HIV/AIDS).
• Demonstrated experience in strengthening the organizational and technical capabilities of civil society organizations of various levels of maturity.
• Demonstrated flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to perform and collaborate in complex and politically sensitive project environments.

• Excellent facilitation, training, and mentoring skills in a variety of organizational development and technical topics, with a particular emphasis on communication, networking, advocacy, and democratic governance.
• Experience implementing technical assistance and training through a variety of modalities including online synchronous and asynchronous delivery.
• Technical expertise in public policy, civic engagement, advocacy, and/or citizen security issues.
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships with civil society partners and other strategic stakeholders in government and private sector.
• Proven ability to manage a team, set realistic priorities, and plan for the successful implementation of activities.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including presentations and preparations of written reports.
• Proven program leadership, adaptive management, project planning, organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Ability to frequently travel to project sites within country.
• Fluency in Spanish (oral, writing and reading).
• Working proficiency of English (oral, writing and reading).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience implementing USG-funded programs in the Dominican Republic.
• Solid understanding of the contemporary challenges and opportunities facing the civil society sector.