Programmatic Expert

Position: Programmatic Expert

Reports to: Project Director for TAP EG

Location: Remote in Honduras.

Status: CCN

Period of Performance: ~4-5 Months

IDG was awarded the USAID Technical Assistance Project for Economic Growth (TAP EG) under the OASIS Small Business (Pool 1) contract mechanism. TAP EG provides technical leadership, advisory support, data collection and analysis, and evaluations and assessments while delivering knowledge management support and capacity-building services to assist in the design and implementation of USAID programs, projects, and activities globally. In addition, TAP EG conducts a range of applied research—including macroeconomic analyses, financial analyses, policy studies, private sector assessments, and stakeholder landscape assessments—and provides on-demand technical assistance services across a wide range of USAID sectors. TAP EG services are available to USAID Bureaus, offices, and operating units who buy into the mechanism.

Increased insecurity, high gang violence, and high poverty levels, in addition to other contextual factors, have resulted in a crisis that has increased vulnerabilities among historically marginalized populations, including Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Honduras. To address this crisis, USAID Honduras - through the Projects Executed by the Community (PEC) model - identified and harnessed the power of locally-led CLA (Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting) to promote a bottom-up community engagement approach that identifies context-specific priorities for building community assets and solutions to advancing equity for historically marginalized racial and ethnic communities.  The PEC model allows communities to continuously learn through audits and stakeholder feedback, adapt to changing situations, and work collectively with accountability. The main outcome of PEC is an empowered and self-reliant community that develops, implements, monitors and evaluates inclusive action plans in collaboration with public and private stakeholders.

The USAID Racial and Ethnic Equity (REE) Team seeks to work with TAP EG to customize, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, the design and implementation of the replication of the PEC model in at least 1 USAID Mission. We hope to combine peer-to-peer and co-creation strategies to design a tailored PEC model for another USAID Mission.

The pilot and replication of the PEC model require close learning and coordination with FHIS. The programmatic expert will be required to work closely with FHIS and the team to gain knowledge of their PEC implementation processes and training implementation. This position aims to ensure that the knowledge from field implementation of PEC is transferred into the two manuals that IDG will be developing, the employee and the participant handbooks, and to provide training to FHIS when the handbooks are completed. The programmatic expert will provide support in the development of the manuals and handbooks and provide the USAID program lens to ensure the deliverables are tailored for USAID replication efforts of the PEC model.

IDG seeks a Programmatic Expert to serve on the USAID Racial and Ethnic Equity (REE) Team’s Projects Executed by the Community (PEC) Replication Activity.

    • Key duties and responsibilities

        ◦ Provide USAID program expertise in developing and packaging the how-to-manual, employee, and participant handbooks.

        ◦ To work closely with FHIS staff to ensure their understanding of the intricacies of the PEC model and training.

        ◦ Leverage insights from the USAID Program Cycle into the development and execution of PEC replication exercises.

        ◦ Provide instructional design services to the team, as may be required to prepare the deliverables.

        ◦ Provide detailed insight into the incorporation of the technical findings of the report into USAID programming, along with advising on the presentation of such recommendations in a manner familiar to USAID staff.

    • Deliverables:

        ◦ PEC Training package/presentation

        ◦ Employee handbook

        ◦ Participant handbook

        ◦ How-to-manual performing an economic assessment on PEC projects

        ◦ Replication PEC Manual

    • Advanced degree in international development, public administration, development analytics, economics, knowledge management, or related fields.

    • At least five years of progressive experience in public financial management, democracy and governance, economic growth, and infrastructure development within the Latin America region; and managing interdisciplinary teams, preferably with demonstrated experience leading similar localization activities in the Latin America region.

    • Demonstrated experience in USAID program cycle and development.

    • Extensive professional experience working with USAID and knowledge of their operations, regulations, reporting requirements, and formats.

    • A practiced understanding of USAID/Honduras’ Projects Executed by the Community (PEC) is preferred.

    • Experience working with FHIS preferred.

    • Knowledge and experience implementing bottom-up, country-led approaches to development.

    • Demonstrated experience working on training USAID or relevant government entities.

    • Experience with comprehensive economic analysis, field data collection, surveys, and infrastructure work, preferably concerning socioeconomics, race, and ethnicity.

    • Outstanding experience working alongside local actors, preferably in Latin America.

    • Excellent teamwork, interpersonal, verbal, and written communication, presentation, and facilitation skills.

    • Strong multicultural, interpersonal, and supervision skills.

    • Demonstrated leadership, strategic planning, and adaptive management skills and experience leading a team of several personnel.

    • Experience in Honduras preferred.

    • Experience working with or collecting data from ethnic communities preferred, especially with the Garifuna and Lenca communities.

    • Prior professional travel experience is preferred.

    • Fluency in English and Spanish is required; proficiency in a third language is preferred.