POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Governance Strengthening Specialist, USDA-funded McGovern Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

Position Description:

Winrock  is seeking a Governance Strengthening Specialist for an anticipated $20 million USDA-funded McGovern Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition program in Nepal. The Governance Strengthening Specialist be responsible for supporting implementation of a high-quality, results-oriented program focused on increasing literacy and quality education; reducing hunger and improving nutrition among primary school-aged students (especially girls), pregnant and lactating women, and children under five years old in Nepal. The Governance Strengthening Specialist will facilitate the collaboration of school management committees, and national, regional, and local government officials in order to strengthen governance of schools in Nepal’s mid—and far-western regions.  

The position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

Responsibilities:

Specific responsibilities include:

• Develop capacity of school management committees by strengthening the effectiveness and sustainability of their school feeding programs
• Increase local, regional, and national government capacity to accomplish key legislative school feeding program action and school operations
• Develop and provide training to school management committee members and government officials on integrative approaches to school feeding program implementation and resource advocacy
• Lead advocacy efforts to integrate school feeding program into national legislation, gaining buy-in from national, regional, and local government officials;
• Lead the program’s sustainability strategy working with local government, school communities and teachers to maintain school feeding in targeted schools;
• Provide technical assistance to national and local government officials and other stakeholders focused on putting in place or strengthening procedural, regulatory, budgetary, and legislative measures that will sustain school feeding in Nepal.
• Support the preparation and submission of timely and accurate activity reports to US Department of Agriculture and Winrock;
• Provide technical assistance, support, and oversight to partner NGOs and CSOs for advocacy initiatives;
• Contribute to monitoring and evaluation to measure impacts;
• Contribute to the program’s learning agenda;
• Supervise field education coordinators;
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills:

• Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills, creative problem solving, conflict, and ethical management skills.
• Experience in the South Asia is required, and Nepal strongly preferred.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Computer literate in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (Microsoft).

Qualifications and background:

• Bachelor’s level degree required in education, political science, or a relevant social science discipline.
• Ability to teach and train program stakeholders
• Applicants must have a minimum of 5 years’ experience working on policy and legislative work in the education or health sectors.

Work Experience:

• Experience providing technical assistance to government entities (preferably Nepali) at all levels
• Knowledge or understanding of social, economic, and political context governing youth, education, and nutrition issues in developing countries.
• Ability to teach, train, and provide capacity building support to program stakeholders
• Experience working with legislators and executive branch officials to craft policies.
• Experience providing support to formal and informal education programs, leadership trainings, and local organization capacity building.
• Interpersonal skills and ability to build consensus and navigate policy change processes with government officials and other relevant stakeholders.