Project Director - Winrock International

The Project Director will be responsible for implementing a high-quality, results-oriented project to increase the number of cocoa cooperatives demonstrating a reduction of child labor in the cocoa supply chain. The projects will aim to improved accountability of cocoa cooperatives to monitor child labor in the cocoa supply chain, strengthened capacity of enforcement agencies to enforce child labor laws within cooperatives, strengthened capacity of cocoa cooperatives to monitor child labor, increased support to vulnerable cocoa households within cocoa cooperatives, strengthened capacity of cocoa cooperatives to provide sustainable assistance and support to prevent child labor and increased access to social protection and child labor remediation programs. The position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

Essential Responsibilities

The Project Director will be a technical leader with demonstrated experience in child protection. The Project Director is responsible for overall project management, administration, and implementation of a high-quality government-focused capacity development project. S/he will maintain systems for project operations; ensure that all agreement deadlines are met and targets are achieved; and coordinate and maintain working relationships with project stakeholders. This includes government ministries, subgrantees and/or subcontractors, short-term technical support providers, and local training/academic institutions. S/he will lead collaborative initiatives to ensure all approaches are sustainable and evidence-based. Essential responsibilities include:

• Manage and represent the project and Winrock to external stakeholders such as donors, local and national government entities, media, NGOs, and the local business community;
• Work collaboratively with the Ghanaian government and civil society to improve coordination among child protection advocates and service providers;
• Oversee a research partner responsible for compiling a representative prevalence estimate of cooperatives;
• Lead timely, high-quality implementation of project activities that are research-driven;
• Oversee monitoring and evaluation of project implementation and recommend areas for course correction, if needed;
• Provide/oversee specialized training of government officials and private sector representatives on identification child labor practices and interventions;
• Provide continuous technical assistance, support, and information to national and local government officials, partner NGOs, international and domestic consultants, and project staff;
• Oversee management of project budget and ensure that all financial activity is carried out in accordance with annual budget allocations, Winrock policy, and donor guidelines;
• Maintain close communication with Winrock home office and U.S. Department of Labor and provide ongoing, informal updates of project progress;
• Supervise local project staff and annually evaluate their performance;
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Successful candidates will have strong management skills as well as salient experience implementing child rights programming, child/human trafficking protection/prevention/prosecution, or government/civil society capacity building projects in Ghana. Specific experience and specialization in at least one of the following is required:. Child labor in supply chains, including on implementation of traceability systems. Significant U.S. Government (USG) project management experience and leadership is highly desired.

Education

Master’s level degree required in education, international development, leadership, political science, public policy/administration, or a relevant social science discipline.

Technical

Applicants must have a minimum of 5 years’ experience working on international child protection or similar development cooperation programs, at least five years in human (or child) trafficking programs involving labor trafficking, including a minimum of 4 years’ of demonstrated managerial and/or team leadership experience.

Ghanaian citizen preferred.

Management Experience

• • Experience managing international projects to the highest ethical standards.
  • Demonstrated leadership and administrative skills in the management of complex, multi-activity programming, on time and on budget.
  • Financial management, budget design, and budget management experience.
  • Demonstrated success in motivating and supervising diverse teams of employees.
  • Experience in strategic and project planning and implementation of operational plans.
  • Experience designing and implementing or overseeing monitoring and evaluation systems.
  • Good track record working with and/or partnering with a variety of individuals and organizations, including senior US and host country government officials, international agencies, private sector companies, and donor organizations.

Skills/Knowledge

• • Strong technical background in child sex/human trafficking essential, ideally in international or regional projects funded by the USG;
  • Technical specialization in at least one of the following: Protection (child protection, trauma-informed care, counseling, case management, social work, referral systems) or Prevention (targeted prevention for at-risk or vulnerable populations; strategic behavior change programming, data use for program improvement) or Prosecution (improving government capacity to investigate and prosecute cases of human trafficking);
  • Knowledge and understanding of social, economic, political, and cultural context governing anti-trafficking and child trafficking/child protection issues in developing countries;
  • Experience/familiarity working with the Government of Costa Rica or other countries in Central America desirable; experience working with government at the national and sub-national levels essential, including catalyzing partnership with civil society organizations;
  • Knowledge of USG regulations, policies, and procedures strongly desired;
  • Minimum three years of experience working in the area of child labor in supply chains, including on implementation of traceability systems;
  • Experience working on challenges in the cocoa industry preferred;
  • Strong, detail-oriented financial and operational management skills;
  • Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills, creative problem solving, conflict, and ethical management skills;
  • Fluency in English and Spanish is required;
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills;
  • Computer literate in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (Microsoft).

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law.