Democracy, Rights, and Governance Specialist

About Us

International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI), a U.S. based international development consulting company established in 1987, has worked in over 100 countries and implemented over 300 projects. IBTCI serves government agencies, private sector companies, and several donor agencies. IBTCI specializes in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) and institutional support across many areas and sectors including, but not limited to, conflict and crisis, democracy and governance, agriculture, economic growth, food security, education, environment, and global health.

Job Title: Democracy, Rights, and Governance Specialist

Department/Location: USAID/Ecuador/Democracy and Governance Office / Quito, Ecuador

Classification: Consultancy – 130 days (up-front telework could potentially be approved depending on work visa status)

Clearance Required: Facilities Access. Applied for on engagement

Overview: USAID/Ecuador has program responsibility for the development, implementation and oversight of USAID-financed activities in Ecuador, as well as the formulation of the overarching strategy within which these activities operate. USAID/Ecuador programs are currently focused on two primary foreign assistance objectives: (1) Environment and (2) Governing Justly and Democratically. The USAID/Ecuador Democracy team manages a diverse and growing portfolio of six activities with a budget that ranges between $20 million- $25 million annually between FY 2023 – FY 2024. This position is located in the USAID/Ecuador mission, and reports to the Mission Director. The Office is charged with management of USAID programs in Ecuador, including Municipal Service Delivery, Investigative Journalism, Migration, Civil Society, Women’s Empowerment, and Indigenous Peoples’ programming.

Responsibilities

Essential Duties/Tasks and Responsibilities:

The DG Specialist will work closely with the other DG team members, including one C3 USDH DG officer, two senior project management specialists, a junior project management assistant, and an administrative assistant.

The DG Specialist serves as a specialist on Democracy, Rights, and Governance issues for the Mission and liaises regularly with Mission leadership, Program Office, Washington offices, and Embassy interagency to provide updates on current USAID programming and planned activities as they relate to the political landscape in the country.

The Specialist ensures that:

• Support new DG designs and procurements in a timely and high-quality manner, with a specific focus on inclusion of traditionally marginalized voices.
• Support DG staff to produce higher-quality technical reporting, more critical program results analysis, and more effective communications of team results to internal and external audiences.
• Liaise with appropriate government counterparts as tasked by the Mission Director.
• Keep the Mission Director appraised of any programming bottlenecks, challenges, and success stories.
• Support the DG team’s policy interests as they relate to the U.S. Government at the central, regional, and municipal levels . She/he supports DG team members in deepening their relationships with Ecuadorian Government officials and civil society to find common ground on service delivery issues, as well as with counterparts in other donor organizations.
• Help draft and provide quality control for DG contributions to Mission reporting, including but not limited to the annual Operational Plan (OP), Performance, Plan and Report (PPR), and Mission Resource Request (MRR). The Specialist will also contribute to the development of the Mission’s DRG portions of the new five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).
• Help plan DG-related events, ensuring all BCLs, remarks, and related documents are completed on time and to a high quality standard.
• Draft/revise/edit taskers and communication materials needed for both Ecuadorian and U.S. audiences.
• Contribute to weekly talking points for Country Team, maintains DG updates to the outreach calendar, and provides high quality monthly write-ups of impact and successes for the Mission’s monthly newsletter

Degree of responsibility for decision-making assigned to the position:

The incumbent is expected to operate and carry out duties with a high degree of independence, having check-ins with the Mission Director weekly to track progress and review deliverables to ensure deadlines are met.

Level of complexity for work assignments:

She/he provides support, along with the other DG team members, for technical oversight of a complex democracy portfolio. These responsibilities require the incumbent to demonstrate highly developed professional judgment, interpersonal skills, and diplomacy. A high-degree of understanding of transparency and public service delivery efforts and working with governments on these issues is required. Thorough knowledge of USAID programming policies, regulations, and procedures is essential.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• The Specialist is required to have a minimum of three to five years of relevant experience in the democracy and governance field.
• Level IV (fluent) English proficiency is required. Level IV (fluent) Spanish proficiency is required. Incumbent must be able to communicate clearly and effectively with all categories of Mission employees and appropriate Embassy personnel, as well as the general public.

Education: Possession of a master’s degree in international development/international project development, political science, law, public administration, journalism, business administration, economics, or other appropriate field is required.

Physical Requirements: This is largely a sedentary position that requires the ability to speak, hear, see, and lift small objects up to 20 lbs.

Supervisory Responsibility: This position does not have supervisory responsibilities.

Travel: International travel may be required and may include travel to fragile and/or conflict-prone zones.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

About the Organization:

IBTCI has been in business since 1987. We specialize in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL), Institutional Support (IS), Financial & Risk Management (FRM), Supply Chain Management & Procurement (SCMP); Social & Behavior Change (SBC) and Capacity Building. We provide these services across many sectors including, but not limited to, agriculture, resilience & food security, conflict & crisis, democracy & governance, economic growth & trade, education & human capacity development, energy & infrastructure, environment & climate change, global health & WASH and humanitarian and disaster assistance. At IBTCI, our colleagues are encouraged to collaborate and be part of the solution while getting the tools and guidance needed to grow and support our clients’ missions.

IBTCI is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all persons without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identification, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran, or any other classification protected by applicable anti-discrimination laws. We prohibit and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment. VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

If you are an applicant with a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability, or unable to use the online application system and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact the Talent Acquisition team at TalentAcquisition@ibtci.com (Do not send your resume to this account, for consideration please apply in our career page, https://careers.ibtci.com/jobs).