Chief of Party for McGovern Dole

Overview

Lead program management for a USDA McGovern-Dole initiative in Timor-Leste.

You have:

• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience managing and implementing large and complex international donor-funded programs
• Experience as a COP, Deputy COP, or Senior Project Manager
• Experience in school feeding, nutrition, and literacy programming
• Demonstrated experience overseeing commodity management, including warehousing, transport, inventory control, pipeline management
• Fluency in oral and written English is required
• Fluency in Tetum and/or Portuguese preferred; Bahasa Indonesia is helpful
• Advanced degree in education, agriculture, nutrition, public health, business administration, development studies, international relations, or related field or equivalent qualifications

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

Job Summary

This activity is an anticipated five-year USDA McGovern-Dole program in Timor-Leste, with an estimated value of approximately USD $32M–$35M, subject to final design, funding availability, and donor approval. The COP will provide overall strategic, technical, operational, financial, and compliance leadership for the program and will serve as the primary representative to USDA, the Government of Timor-Leste, municipal authorities, implementing partners, and other key stakeholders.

The COP will lead a continuity-and-upgrade strategy that protects prior school feeding investments, avoids disruption to schools and communities, leverages existing systems where appropriate, and strengthens the next phase of McGovern-Dole implementation through readiness-based school onboarding, predictable commodity management, MEQA-supported literacy coaching, targeted WASH and infrastructure improvements, controlled LRP, and progressive transition to government ownership.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead implementation of an integrated school feeding, literacy, nutrition, WASH, infrastructure, LRP, and government systems strengthening model. Ensure that school feeding is linked to measurable attendance and literacy outcomes through MEQA-supported teacher coaching, school leadership strengthening, reading clubs, and data-driven adaptive management. 25%

End Results

Timely, efficient program implementation

Lead strategic engagement with USDA, the Government of Timor-Leste, municipal authorities, transition stakeholders where applicable, WFP, MoE, MoH, Ministry of Agriculture, PTAs, local suppliers, and other partners to ensure continuity, avoid duplication, and support coordinated geographic targeting.35%

End Results

Effective working relationships with engaged stakeholders

Provide executive oversight for USDA commodity management, including pipeline planning, call-forward decisions, ITSH, warehousing, transport, last-mile distribution, CTS/LMMS reconciliation, loss prevention, audit readiness, and compliance with USDA/FAS requirements.20%

End Results

Budget within spending limits and at projected spending levels. Program activities compliant with donor requirements. Accurate, comprehensive reports submitted to donor.

Oversee readiness-based school onboarding, ensuring that schools meet minimum requirements for secure storage, functional water access, latrines/handwashing, trained cooks, health and safety inspection, and buffer stock before feeding begins.20%

End Results

Schools are well-prepared to deliver quality and consistent school meals

Supervise a team of technical staff and ensure clear roles, responsibilities, and lines of communication are maintained among the team members. Provide guidance and mentoring to managers and staff to achieve project goals and develop national leadership capacity. Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies.15%

End Results

Empowered, engaged staff

Represent the project at high-level meetings, conferences, and other fora. Champion how the project supports USDA’s Learning Agenda and contributes to thought leadership of the education sector.5%

End Results

World Vision is known to the donor and other stakeholders as a major actor in McGovern-Dole program.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification

• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience managing and implementing large and complex international donor-funded programs
• Experience as a COP, Deputy COP, or Senior Project Manager
• Experience in school feeding, nutrition, and literacy programming
• Experience in leading and managing large grants in a complex/ fragile environment
• Experience managing USDA/FAS, McGovern-Dole, Food for Progress, USAID, or other U.S. Government-funded food security, school feeding, education, nutrition, or agriculture programs.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing commodity management, including warehousing, transport, inventory control, pipeline management, reconciliation, loss prevention, and audit readiness.
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-sectoral programs that integrate school feeding, literacy or education, nutrition, WASH, local procurement, community engagement, and government systems strengthening.
• Experience leading programs in remote, fragile, post-conflict, or low-capacity operating environments, preferably in Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste, or small island contexts.
• Proven ability to communicate a common vision among diverse partners and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams
• High level of interpersonal, technical, and analytical skills, including a demonstrated ability to interact effectively and collaborate with a broad range of public and private sector counterparts and other key stakeholders

• Familiarity with and commitment to addressing gender equality in programming, Do No Harm Principles and adaptive management and learning

• Ensure strong safeguarding, community accountability, complaint and feedback mechanisms, fraud prevention, conflict-of-interest controls, and timely response to suspected commodity diversion, fiduciary mismanagement, protection concerns, or data integrity issues.

Require****d Professional Experience

• Advanced degree in education, agriculture, nutrition, public health, business administration, development studies, international relations, or related field or equivalent qualifications in grant management and work history in developing countries

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in international development project management, including management of large U.S. Government-funded programs. USDA/FAS McGovern-Dole, Food for Progress, USAID, or comparable donor-funded food security, education, nutrition, or school feeding experience strongly preferred.COP, Deputy COP, or Senior Project Manager experience.

Req****uired Language(s)

• Fluency in oral and written English is required
• Fluency in Tetum and/or Portuguese preferred; Bahasa Indonesia is helpful.

Required travel and/or work environment accommodations

• Ability to travel within Dili, Timor-Leste, with frequent travel to target municipalities, including remote/hard-to-reach areas such as Oecusse and Ainaro.

Position’s physical requirements

• Ability to sit for prolonged periods and use standard office equipment like computers and phones.
• Strong speaking and hearing ability for high-level meetings and liaison with government officials and stakeholders.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications

• Prior COP or senior leadership experience on USDA McGovern-Dole or USDA/FAS-funded programming.
• Experience managing school feeding programs with U.S. commodities, ITSH, warehousing, transport, inventory control, and pipeline management.
• Experience leading education/literacy programming, especially early grade reading and teacher coaching.
• Experience with MEQA, teacher coaching, early grade reading, classroom observation systems, or education data platforms.
• Experience with nutrition-sensitive school feeding, WASH in schools, food safety, and school kitchen/storage readiness.
• Experience with LRP, home-grown school feeding, farmer groups, cooperatives, vendors, and food quality systems.
• Experience in Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia, small island, remote, post-conflict, or fragile contexts.

Application deadline: 27th May, 2026

World Vision is upholding the principle of diverse workplace and committed to safeguarding all children and adults we serve and maintains a zero‑tolerance policy toward any form of harm, abuse, or exploitation. World Vision is also member of Global Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS).

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local and International Applicants (IA's) Accepted

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Potential interview questions

Added 24 days ago - Updated 17 days ago - Source: wvi.org