Technical Director-Consortium Elections & Political Strengthening

The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) is a co-equal, legal joint venture established in 1995 between the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Currently, CEPPS is the holder of the Global Elections and Political Transitions (GEPT) leader with associates award (LWA) from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and has held similar awards since its creation. To date, over $1.0 billion of funding has been awarded to CEPPS for programs in more than 60 countries. Through the GEPT mechanism, CEPPS works to empower local partners to build resilient government institutions, political parties, and electoral processes in fragile states and developing democracies.

The Technical Director will report to the CEPPS Executive Project Council (EPC) comprised of the presidents of the joint venture partners and will serve as the direct CEPPS point of contact to USAID/Washington and Missions on technical matters under the GEPT LWA. The full-time Technical Director will lead the CEPPS Management Team and work to build consensus among the CEPPS partners on technical matters, to ensure that CEPPS is meeting its technical obligations under the GEPT leader award, as well as any associate awards issued under the LWA. The Technical Director will be exclusively dedicated to the scope outlined in this job description.

Application and Hiring Information:

As IRI is the administrative lead for CEPPS, all applications will be submitted to IRI at the link provide below.  The review of applications and the interview process will be conducted jointly by the CEPPS partners.  The successful applicant will be hired by one of the CEPPS partners yet to be determined.

Please apply with your resume, and cover letter.

Job Responsibilities:

Serves as a representative to USAID and Agency missions.

• In coordination with the Administrative Director and the CEPPS Senior Managers, ensures compliance with, as well as reviews and refines, CEPPS’ internal policies, procedures and systems.
• Oversees the M&E, Inclusivity and Capacity-Building Specialists to ensure that CEPPS is meeting its GEPT obligations under these functional areas.
• Oversees all technical elements of the Leader Award, including developing CEPPS’ strategic approach and GEPT Leader workplan for rapid response, technical leadership and sub-grant programs.
• Manages CEPPS’ knowledge management and communications plan, ensuring that institutional learning and best practices are shared internally to apply to ongoing programs and externally to the broader DRG community.
• Facilitates the program design process for associate awards, to ensure responsive, integrated, and cost effective programming.
• Serves as the primary liaison with associate partners, ensuring that they are incorporated into elements of GEPT leader award, as well as any associate awards issued under the LWA, as appropriate.
• During implementation, works with the lead CEPPS partner, the Administrative Director and CEPPS Senior Managers, to ensure streamlined, integrated, and coordinated implementation of the program.
• Reviews and edits periodic and final progress reports.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 15 years’ experience and professional work in international democracy, human rights, and/or governance fields.
• Substantial experience in the field of elections and political transitions.
• Conversant in matters related to the following:
• Promoting meaningful participation of all citizens in the political systems, including women, youth, and other traditionally marginalized groups.
• Harnessing the comparative advantages of media and technology to promote citizen understanding and engagement and transparent political competition.
• Supporting meaningful transition processes that establish positive precedents for effective democratic governance.
• Promoting the integrity of elections as a sustainable vehicle for peacefully and democratically choosing leaders.
• Facilitating the ability of elected political actors to fulfill their responsibilities to citizens through better governance practices.
• Promoting competitive and representative multi-party political systems.
• Ensuring respect for the application of impartial legal frameworks and compliance by political actors.
• A demonstrated record of achieving results through:
• The mainstreaming of gender considerations.
• Developing and leading sustainable development efforts involving local and regional organizations and actors.
• Designing innovative programmatic approaches to solve development problems in the area elections and political transitions.
• Implementing and managing large and complex contracts and/or grants from governmental or non-governmental donors overseas, particularly in challenging environments (post-conflict situations closed societies, crisis situations, etc.)
• A successful background in partner negotiations and development.
• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree preferred.
• Foreign language fluency a plus.
• Successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following attributes:
• Self-motivated;
• Detailed oriented and organized;
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines;
• Ability to build consensus;
• Strong communicator, both verbally and in writing; and
• Collaborative, team oriented individual.