Save the Children is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) to lead the upcoming USAID-funded Health Service Delivery Activity in Guatemala. This Activity will focus on improving access to health services, particularly for rural and indigenous populations, while addressing public health challenges like chronic malnutrition and maternal and child mortality. The Activity is part of a broader effort to strengthen Guatemala’s healthcare system by expanding primary care, improving maternal and child health, and supporting reproductive health and family planning services.
The COP will provide overall strategic, technical, and management leadership for the successful implementation of this project. This individual will serve as the primary liaison between USAID, the Guatemalan government, local partners, and other stakeholders to ensure the program meets its objectives on time and within budget.
This is a Key Personnel position, subject to USAID approval. It is also subject to project award and funding.
The role will be based in Guatemala City. National candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties):
- Provide overall leadership in the planning, coordination, and implementation of all project activities, ensuring that the program’s goals and objectives are met.
- Supervise and mentor technical staff and consultants. Motivate teams to deliver results by establishing a strong team dynamic, open communication, and leading by example. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in internal operations, management, and program implementation.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with USAID, government entities, local communities, private sector partners, and civil society organizations to foster collaborative efforts.
- Manage the project’s operational, financial, and administrative priorities, and direct planning and budgeting processes. Create or adapt management systems in line with Save the Children standard operating procedures, ensuring adherence to USAID policies and regulations, and relevant national policies and laws.
- Design and oversee an annual project cycle in accordance with USAID’s annual planning cycles. Ensure documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned, and utilize a collaborative and adaptive learning approach to the project cycle.
- Ensure high-quality project performance, including the timely submission of reports, budgets, work plans, and other deliverables. Implement robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress and results.
- Work with technical teams to institutionalize activities, establish best practices, and provide technical assistance to strengthen health systems and human resources for health.
- Support the capacity development of local institutions and ensure that digital health solutions are effectively integrated to improve service delivery.
- Lead a Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) approach to ensure that the program remains responsive to changing local conditions and emerging opportunities.
- Ensure all activities comply with USAID regulations and Guatemalan laws, focusing on safeguarding the environment and upholding social inclusion principles.
Qualifications:
- University degree in public health, health administration, international development, or other relevant field required. Graduate degree preferred.
- 8-10 years of senior-level experience leading and managing multi-sectoral, donor-funded programs, serving as Chief of Party (COP), Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), or in other senior leadership roles.
- Technical experience in maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), health systems strengthening, and human resources for health (HRH) development.
- Strong leadership and management skills, with experience managing multi-disciplinary teams.
- Experience managing USAID cooperative agreements preferred.
- Strong financial management, compliance, budgeting and project operations/ administrative oversight abilities.
- Experience recruiting, developing, and managing staff and teams.
- Demonstrated skills building and maintaining relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
- Fluency in Spanish and English required.
- Experience implementing development programming in Guatemala and/or Latin America.
- Experience with participatory community-led approaches to project design and implementation.
- Experience with adaptive management and learning and reflection-based programming approaches.
- Strong oral and written communication skills; excellent demonstrated inter-cultural, interpersonal, and negotiation skills.
- Experience overseeing M&E systems for donor-funded projects.
- Commitment to child rights and to the aims and objectives of Save the Children.