The Regional Economic Growth Office (REGO) leads activities focusing on strengthening the private sector, increasing trade and investment, enhancing the business enabling environment, and increasing access to finance in the Southern Africa region. The Project Development Specialist – Trade Facilitation is responsible for program development and management, representation and technical leadership, and other duties for programming managed by REGO. The Job Holder is a professional within the USAID Mission in trade facilitation, leading the Mission’s effort to work with the U.S, multilateral, and Southern Africa private sector across all technical sectors, ensuring that USAID programming supports U.S. Government trade development objectives in Southern Africa, focuses on the strategic priorities of host government partners, and coordinates with technical programs of other development partners. The Job Holder reports to the Director of REGO and works closely with staff in other teams, regional USAID Missions, and USAID offices in Southern Africa.

The Job Holder will contribute to the planning/design, management and evaluation of economic growth activities including technical and financial reporting requirements. S/he will represent USAID’s interests with various stakeholders in Southern Africa including the private sector, public sector, and civil society. S/he will be responsible for working closely with a variety of institutions, including but not limited Ministries of Trade and Agriculture in the region, the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa, and the Southern African Development Community.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

The Project Development Specialist – Trade Facilitation will design, manage the implementation, and evaluate contracts, grants, and/or innovative financing instruments in the Regional Economic Growth Office’s (REGO) portfolio.

●    Lead private-sector partnership identification, assessment, structuring and negotiations to advance the Mission’s goals to increase trade and investment.

● Organize and lead TDYs and other assessments to identify high potential companies in Southern Africa.

●  Lead outreach to U.S. companies with interest in increased sourcing in Southern Africa.

●    Design calls for concepts and other procurements focused on engaging private-sector partners and leads technical reviews of concept notes and proposals.

● Discharge the full range of Contract Officer’s Representative (COR)/Assistance Officer’s Representative (AOR)/Activity Manager responsibilities for one or more USAID contracts, assistance agreements, and/or grants. The Job Holder ensures high performance of all program management functions including planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and managing for results.

● Draft internal and external USG documents required for reporting the status and plans of activities. These include annual operational plans, annual resource plans, annual performance reports, Congressional Budget Justifications, Congressional Notifications, procurement documents, technical reports, briefing materials for high level U.S. and other Government officials in the region, and other reporting as necessary.

● Contribute to required monitoring and evaluation efforts, such as the development of monitoring, evaluation and learning plans, completion of data quality assessments, and completion of portfolio reviews.

●    Carrying out ad hoc assignments as dictated by unforeseen operational requirements at the discretion of USAID Mission Director, Deputy Mission Director, and REGO Director.

The Specialist will provide technical leadership to ensure that USAID/Southern Africa economic growth programming represents best practices in the field for promoting inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction.

● Serve as a technical professional, advising on the development and implementation of Mission economic growth-related strategies and activities in trade.

● Lead USAID program execution to strengthen and deepen engagement with regional government agencies, private sector companies, and civil society organizations (e.g., trade and business associations) on issues of trade facilitation and expansion.

● Lead effective outreach and coordination within the U.S. Government interagency in South Africa and with USAID and other USG colleagues in the U.S. and Southern Africa region.

● Build and maintain close relations with private industry, international and regional research institutions, centers of excellence, and a wide network of professional colleagues, to assess, analyze, and identify trends and policies related to economic growth in Southern Africa.

● Represent USAID/Southern Africa at meetings, workshops, and conferences organized by various organizations, including other donors and international organizations.

● Lead the Mission's efforts to work with the U.S., multinational, and southern Africa private sector across all technical sectors to implement the Mission’s goals for economic growth through trade facilitation.

The Specialist will respond flexibly to other work-related requirements, such as:

● Responding to Washington inquiries, including those for Congress.

● Supporting VIP visits.

The Specialist will be expected to travel a significant portion of the time in South Africa and the Southern Africa region to perform the duties listed above.

 

●  Supervision Received: The Job Holder is directly supervised by the Regional Economic Growth Office Director or designee.

●  Supervision Exercised: The supervision of other USAID staff is not contemplated.

●  Available Guidelines: USAID's Automated Directives System, Mission Orders, and policies. Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Acquisition Regulations.

●  Exercise of Judgment: A high degree of independent judgment and initiative is expected. The Job Holder receives general and technical direction and minimal day-to-day supervision. The Job Holder is expected to carry out all duties in an independent manner, calling on the supervisor for highly complex decisions and matters of policy.

●     Authority to Make Commitments: The Specialist is fully responsible for and is expected to provide project management expertise and complete recommendation(s) to Mission management. The Job Holder may be designated as a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and Agreement Officer’s Representative (AOR) and will have full authority and responsibility as delegated by the Contracting Officer/Agreement Officer, ADS, and other Mission and USAID guidelines for these functions. Routine management is expected based on accepted practice and established procedures and processes.

●     Nature, Level, and Purpose of Contacts: The Job Holder will have regular contact with regional leaders from host governments, private sector companies, civil society organizations, other international development organizations, U.S. government agencies, and implementing partners. These contacts are needed to stay abreast of development issues, develop or modify activities, and ensure collaboration. Within USAID, the Job Holder will have regular contact with staff from other offices within the Mission, regional USAID staff, Mission Directors and Deputy Mission Directors, and Washington-based staff. The purpose of these contacts is to ensure regional collaboration and that any activities are achieving

U.S. government objectives.

●     Time Expected to Reach Full Performance Level: One year.

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All interested and eligible candidates should visit http://usaid.ci.hr to apply. Applicants with PNet accounts can log-in from the above website to apply and first-time users will be required to register on the site before they can apply.

●     Offeror submissions must clearly reference the Solicitation number on all offeror submitted documents.

●     Kindly note that when you apply via cellphone you are not able to complete the required questionnaire. And if you do not complete the required questionnaire for the position, you will automatically be eliminated from further review.

●     For an application to be considered complete, please include a high-quality cover letter, explaining why you are qualified for the position and a CV of no more than 4 pages. Failure to comply with these instructions may result in your application being considered “non-responsive” and eliminated from further consideration.

●     Offers must be received by the closing date and time specified in Section I.

●     The U.S. Mission in South Africa provides opportunity and fair and equitable treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status or sexual orientation. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also strives to ensure equal employment opportunity in all personnel operations.

●     Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Applicants who do not follow the application instructions may be dropped from further consideration.

●     Heather Franklin, Telephone:        (012) 452-2028

●     Lavinia Denation, Telephone:        (012) 452-2054

●     Thabang Mothupi, Telephone:      (012) 452-2198

●     Engeline Sebego, Telephone:        (012) 452-2188

●     Odessa Sifora, Telephone:              (012) 452-2112

●     Carol Masemola, Telephone:         (012) 452-2058

●     Alicia Veldman, Telephone:          (012) 452-2088

●     Kim Sias, Telephone:                        (012) 452-2206

●     Mary-Jane Molema, Telephone:   (012) 452-2358

Applicability:

This position is open to South African citizens and South African permanent resident permit holders. USAID Southern Africa management will consider nepotism/conflict of interest, budget, need for continuity, and residency status in determining successful applications. Current USG employees on probationary status (i.e., within their first year of employment) are not eligible to apply.

References:

Three (3) references, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and e-mail contacts. The references must be able to provide substantive information about the applicant’s past performance and abilities. USAID reserves the right to contact an applicant’s previous employers for relevant information concerning applicant’s performance and may consider such information in its evaluation of the application.

●  Education: A Master’s degree in business administration, economics, trade, law, finance or a related field is required.

●  Prior Work Experience: A minimum of five years’ professional experience including experience with private-sector engagement and partnership development is required. Demonstrated experience in identifying, structuring, and managing partnerships. Demonstrated experience meeting and presenting to senior level private-sector executives.

●  Language Proficiency: Level IV English speaking, reading, and writing skills required.

●  Job Knowledge: The Job Holder is responsible for maintaining thorough knowledge of current developments in economic growth, financial sector development, enabling environment issues, and for establishing and maintaining professional working relationships with representatives from the public sector, private sector, and civil society within the Southern Africa region. In addition, the Job Holder must be knowledgeable of USG trade policies, such as AGOA, and USAID policies, regulations, and procedures. The Job Holder must have experience working with the private-sector and donors in development and management of

private-sector partnerships. The Job Holder must be knowledgeable about business, finance and development tools used to support the scaling of companies with strong development impacts. The Job Holder must also have experience in program development and implementation.