The Associate Vice President, Hunger and Livelihoods, will provide leadership for Save the Children’s flagship work to alleviate hunger and improve livelihoods for the poor across development, transition, and emergency settings. Set strategic direction, grow global market position, and promote technical quality standards and delivery of results. Develop key external partnerships with Save the Children Members and Save the Children International (SCI), public and private sector donors, universities, policymakers, and other implementing partners to advance and expand our impact for children. Save the Children USA is a key partner (co-leader) in the Child Poverty Global Initiative, a network in the SC global movement to leverage the capacities, opportunities and assets of 30 national SC members to effectively tackle the poverty that prevents children from thriving.
Mobilize support for our goals for children across Save the Children USA through leadership of a cross-functional business team. Supervise, grow talent, and integrate the work of ~60 staff focused on food security programming (development and humanitarian settings); innovative financial services mainly targeted to youth; humanitarian response; and project and portfolio management.
Develop funding to grow portfolio and staff in order to achieve goals set out in the strategic plan, with special emphasis on innovative partnerships and business models that leverage technology.
Provide leadership and accountability for overall program goals of Save the Children as member of IP senior management team and agency expanded senior management team.
Essential Duties, Responsibilities and Impact
Global Program Strategy and Market Position (25%)
- Set vision and goals for DHL portfolio, engaging program colleagues, country offices and other SC Members, while maintaining clear SCUS direction and focus.
- Develop and guide the implementation of multi-year strategic and annual operational plans to achieve agency objectives and to expand our reach to children, collaborating with other members to ensure complementarity and collaboration.
- Ensure that clear process and outcome success measures are defined and tracked for SCUS – and seek to ensure that good practice is adopted by the global SC movement.
- Identify and pursue opportunities for collaboration/joint action with SC globally on important policy and programming matters.
- Represent Save the Children to key external audiences and networks.
- Shape global health and nutrition advocacy priorities, and work with Public Policy and Advocacy (PPA) and other Members to plan and implement that agenda.
- Chair SC USA cross-functional business team to promote broad agency ownership of our results for children.
- Serve as a member of the IP senior management team and SC USA expanded senior management team
Technical Leadership & Quality Programming (20%)
- Provide leadership to demonstrate the critical importance of our Theory of Change, and ensure that priorities and metrics for measuring progress on all four strategies are in place.
- Shape and implement strategies to ensure that SC develops, maintains, and grows technical capacity in food security/cash transfer and livelihood programming in development, transition and emergency settings.
Ensure that SC USA provides guidance and support to country planning, using tools that reflect the state-of-the-art (SOTA) and encourage the integration of program components (e.g., nutrition, education), consistent with strategic plans.
Ensure that SOTA quality standards are widely shared and promoted (e.g., through the Child Poverty Global Initiative).
Keep team, senior management and board informed about performance against SC quality standards and in comparison to other industry leaders.
Program Learning and Innovation (R&D) – (10%)
- Identify, prioritize, and oversee development of opportunities to test and evaluate new or improved approaches to advancing SC’s hunger and livelihoods policy and program priorities, with special attention to current/potential signature programs.
- Guide efforts to improve knowledge management (KM), and especially to ensure that DHL’s KM work leverages the TOPS program and supports the Child Poverty Global Initiative.
- Identify and develop key external partnerships and donors to advance evaluative research.
Resource Mobilization – (25%)
- Develop a resource mobilization plan for public and private funding streams, including US Government (especially USAID), foundations, private donors including corporate partners, and multilateral donors managed by SC USA – working closely with New Business Development, Country Offices, the Department of Humanitarian Response, and Resource Development.
- Develop global/regional partnerships to create new evidence and enhance the scale and impact of child-focused food security and livelihoods programs; work with SC Members and Country Offices to position SC as a partner of choice.
- Work with Resource Development and Country Offices to secure individual, corporate, and foundation funding, with a special emphasis on innovative partnerships and business models (e.g., opportunities through USAID’s Global Development Lab, Miles Hunger Fund).
- In support of the Child Poverty Global Initiative, work with SC Members to pursue new funding opportunities.
- Advocate for and manage the department’s budget (undesignated, designated, and grants).
Program Oversight and Management – (10%)
- Identify and ensure that the needed management resources for the DHL portfolio are in place to guide and support global programs (including general award management as well as oversight of global programs such as TOPS).
Human Resource Management – (10%)
- Supervise and ensure that succession plans are in place for senior leadership positions in the department, and help shape relevant HR strategies (recruitment, retention, leadership development, succession planning) to support achievement of strategic/operational goals.
Required Background and Experience, Skills and Behaviors
- 15+ years’ experience in progressively senior leadership/management positions in livelihoods and food security field, spanning program and policy work on a global level
- Graduate degree in relevant field
- Developing country experience, preferably managing large-scale programs or portfolios
Established networks/Familiarity with technical and donor community, especially USAID (Food for Peace)
Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
Broad Knowledge of food security and Livelihoods programming across development/ Humanitarian settings
Proven ability to formulate and mobilize support for a vision
Experience leading large teams through change – and demonstrated ability to innovate
Strong interpersonal skills, ability to work across boundaries and lead via influence
Ability to identify, attract, and develop high-caliber staff
Ability to work and think globally and develop diverse relationships with colleagues and counterparts
Proven ability to expand and diversify a portfolio
Demonstrates SC Core Values of Accountability, Commitment, Excellence, Innovation and Teamwork
Save the Children invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. In the United States and around the world, we are dedicated to ensuring every child has the best chance for success. Our pioneering programs give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Our advocacy efforts provide a voice for children who cannot speak for themselves. As the leading expert on children, we inspire and achieve lasting impact for millions of the world’s most vulnerable girls and boys. By transforming children’s lives now, we change the course of their future and ours.
Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact. As a humanitarian agency, Save the Children is obliged to create and maintain an environment that aims to prevent the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and promote the implementation of its child safeguarding policy. All representatives of Save the Children – employees, volunteers, interns, consultants, Board members and others who work with children on Save the Children’s behalf – are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.
Save the Children provides an attractive benefits package including competitive salaries, a matching retirement plan, health and welfare benefits, life insurance, an employee assistance program, generous time off and much more. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.
EmoticonEmoticon