Senior Advisor for
Regional Integration and Investment in Central America
We are searching for an experienced Senior Advisor for
Regional Integration and Investment in Central America to work remotely.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
Palladium's growing Inclusive
Growth portfolio fosters sustainable economic opportunities, promotes
investment, and generates jobs across multiple countries around the world,
including, in Latin America, Mexico, Colombia and Northern Central America. Palladium's
projects use primarily facilitative and catalytic approaches, which limits
direct interventions with beneficiaries and instead works through actors across
the market system to achieve lasting development objectives. Through strategic
alliances and other partnership relationships, Palladium projects unlock
inclusive growth through trade, investment, infrastructure, export development,
enabling environment reforms, and other economic "levers" to create the
conditions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive and
better meet market demand. In June 2024, Palladium expects to start-up the
USAID Regional Trade and Investment Activity, a regional integration project
delivering trade facilitation, regional integration and investment facilitation
support across at least three Northern Central America countries: El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala.
Reporting to the Inclusive
Growth Portfolio Leader, the Senior Advisor for Regional Integration and
Investment ("the Consultant") will offer Home Office Short Term Technical
Assistance to a portfolio of projects in the Americas (South, Central and North
America), including but not limited to the impending Regional Trade and
Investment Activity. The Consultant will provide informed advice and technical
support in trade facilitation, regional integration, and supporting investment
facilitation initiatives. The Consultant will also provide quality
assurance/quality control and consolidate inputs to produce high quality USAID technical
deliverables, including but not limited to the annual work plans, tailored job
descriptions and scopes of work, monitoring and evaluation planning and
targets, and the environmental mitigation and monitoring plan.
General objective
The Consultant will
provide expert advisory and direct technical assistance to design and implement
regional integration strategies in Northern Central America. Working closely
with the Chief of Party and Deputy Chief of Party, the Consultant will guide
the RTIA team in the development of start-up deliverables and co-creation of
activities with private or public strategic partners, contextualize tested
market systems development methodologies and trade facilitation best practices.
Finally, the consultant will offer technical assistance on an as-needed basis
to support foundational processes, including but not limited to development of
project databases and information products that have value add to market actors
(potential investors, financial institutions, anchor buyers, etc.), support
co-creation processes, communications materials and project strategies. The
consultant will offer in-country technical assistance as needed throughout the
life of this agreement.
Tasks
The Consultant will
complete the following tasks under this scope of work.
A. Provide technical assistance for start-up and other technical deliverables under the RTIA project
The Consultant will draw
on regional integration and trade facilitation best practices to offer
technical assistance and quality control of technical deliverables (work plans,
quarterly reports, as well as technical job description requirements and
technical personnel bios). The technical expert can advise on strategic
partnerships approaches, and participate in calls, meetings, and co-design
partnerships.
B. Deliver internal and external trainings, TOTs, and provide oversight to project staff
The Consultant will
deliver remote and in-person training sessions on selected trade facilitation
and market systems development methodologies. The Consultant will design
trainings and workshop sessions in close coordination with the Portfolio Leader
(or his/her designee) and the COP. The audience of this workshop will be all project
staff, strategic partners, and subcontractors, and it will cover foundational content
(what is the methodology, why we do it, how we do it). These synchronous remote
and in-person trainings should equip staff to deliver quality program
implementation and replicate the approach as appropriate as the project reaches
scale.
C. Offer technical assistance to develop systems and project delivery routines
The Consultant will
offer on-demand technical assistance to the project team to establish
foundational project delivery systems, tools and routines in a manner that adds
value to market actors. This may include but is not limited to developing
project databases and information products, advising on strategic papers, supporting
co-creation with private and public market actors, among others.
D. Other startup and technical delivery tasks as required
In a dynamic startup
environment, the Portfolio Leader, COP, or Consultant may identify additional
inputs or technical assistance needs as efforts progress. The Consultant will
work closely with the Project Director and COP to define these inputs, plan a
response, and agree in writing to these tasks and any adjustments to the scope
and level of effort required to accommodate them.
Deliverables
The Consultant will work
with the Project Director and/or Chief of Party to complete deliverables
described in the tasks above. Specific deliverables, timelines and level of
effort will be agreed upon between the consultant and the Project Director
and/or Chief of Party on a monthly basis as project needs arise.
Required Qualifications:
- At least 10 years of experience offering Home Office technical support to USAID-funded regional integration, trade facilitation, investment mobilization activities, and/or bolstering market systems in Latin America, including designing and delivering trainings and building alliances;
- Prior experience with several of the following areas of expertise: regional integration, trade facilitation, customs management, investment mobilization;
- Demonstrated leadership, strategic thinking and planning, management, and presentation skills; demonstrated ability to offer technical reviews and assure quality of USAID technical deliverables;
- Excellent communications and interpersonal skills; fluency in Spanish and English;
- Prior experience as COP, DCOP, Project Director or senior technical role highly desirable.
Level of effort and period of performance
The expected period of
performance of this scope of work will be 180 days from execution of an
agreement. The budgeted level of effort for the work is up to 30 days, with the
option of up to an additional 30 days as required to accommodate new tasks
identified under Task II.D. above.
Our company provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.
Palladium
June 12, 2024