USPSC Sahel Development Partnership (SDP) Advisor

USAID’s Sahel Development Partnership for Burkina Faso and Niger (SDP) is USAID’s integrated approach to countering violent extremism and building local communities’ resilience in vulnerable areas of Niger and Burkina Faso. Through SDP, USAID seeks to halt the spread of violent extremist groups, avert costly humanitarian crises, and stem the flow of destabilizing migration. SDP activities develop government and community capacity to manage their own security, promote self-reliance, galvanize donor support, and reduce the need for long-term assistance. SDP complements both the United States’ diplomatic engagements with these countries in the framework of the G5-Sahel and our ongoing national security interests in these countries. SDP is the optimization of 14 different activities that will require a management structure designed to assure timely and quality coordination and collaboration across the U.S Government (USG) agencies involved.
USAID’s Sahel presence under SDP includes the country office in Burkina Faso and USAID/Niger. In addition, the USAID/Senegal’s Sahel Regional Office (SRO), located in Dakar, Senegal serves to coordinate the efforts of the country office and Niger Mission as well as additional USAID and USG entities for the purposes of SDP. The USAID Senegal Mission Director serves as the SDP Regional Coordinator.

The SDP Advisor position serves with the SRO. SDP began implementation in March 2019. The incumbent of this position will be tasked with assuring that programs under SDP are aligned and delivering an impact that is greater than the sum of its parts. This position will be based in Dakar, Senegal, and will be focused on tracking USG programs in both Burkina Faso and Niger, and their effects on improving local communities’ ability to cope with shocks and stresses. The incumbent will be charged with tracking programs from the Office of Transition Initiative, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (former Food for Peace and Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance), USAID/West Africa, and SRO. Given the desire to make SDP a “Three D” (3D) approach (Diplomacy, Defense, and Development), the incumbent will also be charged with advising on layering and monitoring programs from the Departments of State (DoS) and of Defense (DoD). The ideal candidate will therefore have a combination of strong managerial skills, excellent communication skills, and exhibit attention to detail.

The incumbent will be expected to represent USAID at various forums to present USG technical and policy positions. This will include regular meetings with senior and mid-level host government officials, representatives of various national and regional institutions and organizations, other donors, U.S. Embassy officials and other USG agencies.

The job may be expected to perform work-related travel.