Chief of Party, Countering Disinformation Program in the Sahel

Introduction to Zinc Network

Zinc Network is an ISO certified international development company headquartered in London and with offices in Washington, D.C., Tbilisi, Riga, Warsaw, and Nairobi. We’re on a mission to achieve meaningful, measurable change through the application of behavioural science and strategic communications, technology, and human-centred design (HCD).

We have 100+ team members from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds, including democratic governance specialists, behavioural scientists, researchers, content producers, digital experts, and service designers. We work with a broad range of governmental, NGO, and private sector clients, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the U.S. Department of State (DOS); the U.S. Department of Defence (DOD); the UK Home Office (HO); the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); UN agencies and missions; Microsoft; and the Internet Watch Foundation.

We conceptualise and create award-winning programs, interventions, and campaigns that change the way that people think, feel, and act across a wide range of pervasive social issues, including disinformation and hate speech, violent extremism, poor governance, threats to children and young people’s online safety, gender-based violence, and more.

The role:

Zinc seeks a Chief of Party (COP) for a forthcoming USAID-funded program that will strengthen information integrity and resilience across the Sahel by investing in key local actors such as fact checking organisations, investigative journalists and data scientists at the country and regional level. The program will operate in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde, with possible buy-in from Mali and Niger.

The COP will provide the program with strategic, financial, and ethical oversight, ensuring activities delivered achieve the desired impact within time and budget while upholding Zinc Network’s and USAID’s core values. They will also be tasked with forming and maintaining relationships with USAID/Senegal/Sahel Regional Office (SRO), as well as cooperating Missions, and with local stakeholders implementing other relevant programming.

The ideal candidate:

The COP will be responsible for providing overall management and direction to this program and for supervising all key personnel. They must be an experienced manager who has successfully managed a program of similar size and complexity. They must have demonstrated experience working with civil society and independent media preferably on topics related to information integrity, civil society and media strengthening in at least one of the target countries.  We are looking for a natural leader who is constantly curious, driven, and able to adapt and overcome to deliver results in challenging operating environments. We value individuals who can live and breathe the subject matter, the strategy, and Zinc’s methodology while learning to navigate complex multi-stakeholder environments and mobilise networks on the ground to deliver meaningful, measurable change.

What you’ll be doing:

• Provide overall leadership, management, and technical direction for the program, serving as the primary liaison with USAID on managerial, strategic, and technical matters, including responsibility for making key decisions and solving programmatic problems in a timely manner
• Professionally represent Zinc Network to USAID, respective West African governments, counterparts, local partners, and other program stakeholders
• Ensure that the work plan, MREL plan, and reporting efforts are aligned with award requirements, project objectives, and USAID guidance
• Oversee all contractual and budgetary aspects of program management
• Monitor and, when needed, adapt activities to achieve results; ensure that activities are implemented effectively and in complementarity to USAID and other donor activities
• Ensure the program meets high standards for performance and integrity that comply with Zinc Network’s processes, policies, and procedures

Requirements

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in international development, organisational development, business, communications, or other field relevant to the program’s scope of work
• Minimum seven (7) years of relevant, senior-level professional experience managing and implementing programs designed to strengthen information resilience, civil society and media, with a minimum of five (5) years of experience working in the Sahel
• At least four (4) years of experience managing and supervising staff
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with civil society, media, government officials, influencers, the private sector, donors, and other stakeholders
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
• Professional level of oral and written fluency in the French and English languages

Conditions of Employment

Candidates who receive a job offer will be required to:

• Disclose any previous disciplinary action against them resulting from a substantiated safeguarding (including any breaches involving trafficking- related activities) or workplace investigation.
• Undergo background checks including employment verification, sexual offender registry (as available), identity confirmation, and anti-terrorism vetting.

Area of Selection

We’re committed to hiring a diverse workforce from different professional and cultural backgrounds, and to that end we encourage a variety of people to apply to join our company to represent the diverse range of subjects associated with our projects.

How to apply

Please include a CV showcasing how your background meets the position requirements.

If you require an accommodation to be made at any point throughout the recruitment process, please let us know.

Benefits

What we can offer you

The opportunity to work with colleagues from a diverse range of professional and cultural backgrounds including the very best ex-diplomats, television producers, digital media strategists, linguists, researchers, and behavioral scientists from both the public and private sector.