The USAID Development Program Specialist (CAROU) is the senior USAID Foreign Service National (FSN) supporting regional programming in the Central Africa Republic, the bilateral mission and Central Africa Regional Operating Unit (CAROU). S/he is based in the USAID/Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). CAROU encompasses six distinct USAID regional initiatives, including: t) the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), 2) Counter-Lord Resistance Army (C-LRA) activities in CAR and DRC, 3) development assistance to the Central African Republic (CAR), 4) USAID activities in the Republic of Congo (ROC), 5) and USAID activities in the Gabonese Republic (Gabon). Across the Central Africa Regional Operating Unit areas, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance also implements significant humanitarian programs.

The USAID Development Program Specialist (CAROU) is directly supervised by the USAID/CAROU Regional Program Officer (RPO) and serves as the Acting RPO in the absence of the incumbent. S/he serves under the overall direction of the Deputy Mission Director overseeing CAROU and of the Supervisory Program Officer. S/he performs and oversees the full range of the Program Project Development functions for all stages of the USAID Program Cycle for CAROU and its client U.S. missions. S/he provides technical leadership and vision, strategic planning support, policy analysis and guidance, and program oversight assistance for USAID programming in the respective U.S. embassies in the three countries where USAID implements programs but does not operate a mission (CAR, ROC and Gabon). S/he also facilitates regional and interagency coordination – including organizing meetings and maintaining regular communications – between these three U.S. embassies and the combined USAID/DRC and CAROU operating units, and ensures all program-budget planning, pre-obligation and annual reporting requirements (Operational Plan (OP) and Performance Plan and Report, PPR) are met in a timely manner and fully consistent with USAID requirements. In addition, S/he keeps a pulse of major development trends in Central Africa to inform new programming needs, while ensuring that all bi-lateral and regional programs are designed and implemented in keeping with the Agency’s rules, regulations, procedures and best practices. The USAID Development Program Specialist (CAROU) provides technical input and guidance to USAID/DRC, CAROU management, U.S. Embassy staff in ROC, CAR, and Gabon, and USAID implementing partners in the Central Africa region, in their decisionmaking on a wide range of policy and programming issues.

The incumbent will be required to develop a strong working relationship with other USAID bilateral Missions in the region to ensure relevant coordination and information sharing on key programs and priorities. The nature of the position in the Mission structure requires that the individual be highly knowledgeable in the substantive and administrative elements of USAID’s assistance mechanisms and procedures and be capable of working independently with minimal supervision and direction.

The Specialist is responsible for providing leadership to the Mission in the design of activities, working closely with technical and support offices to ensure the design and implementation of programs/projects/activities in line with Agency and Mission strategies, objectives, and priorities. S/he also maintains communication and technical collaboration in support of USAID programming with technical- and high-level host country government counterparts, and similar staff of other donors and other international organizations operating in Central Africa.

The job holder is required to perform work-related travel.