Senior Learning and Adaptive Management Specialist

About Kaizen

The Kaizen Company is an incubator for innovative, scalable solutions that address emerging market challenges and opportunities. Our proven solutions catalyze locally driven, organizational and institutional performance improvements, and shift the development model into one that is bottom-up and ongoing. We leverage existing knowledge along with new technologies and innovative business models to support local reform that is sustained through market forces. Since our inception in 2004, we have supported over 60 education-focused local organizations such as primary schools, government agencies, vocational training entities, universities, and education non-profit organizations worldwide.

Background

The Implementer-Led Design, Evidence, Analysis and Learning (IDEAL) Activity is a five-year Leader with Associates Award (LWA), funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Aid (BHA) and implemented by the consortium of Save the Children (lead agency), the Kaizen Company (Kaizen), Mercy Corps and TANGO International (TANGO). IDEAL’s goal is to strengthen food and nutrition security among BHA-target populations through the promotion of systems-level approaches to improving the design, implementation and overall effectiveness of emergency and resilience food security activities.

IDEAL has three purposes:

Purpose 1: Improved Institutional and staff capacity for integrated activity design and implementation of essential elements of quality programming

Purpose 2: Consistent Application of adaptive management practices in Food Security Programs

Purpose 3: Improved Coordination and Collaboration (between Implementing Partners (IP), BHA, and Other Stakeholders) around common goals

These three purposes work toward IDEAL’s goal of improving the effectiveness of BHA-funded development and emergency food security activities. IDEAL is in its third year of implementation and the focus for Kaizen is specifically on identifying capacity strengthening initiatives and opportunities of IPs in essential elements of quality programming, but especially related to adaptive management practices. Kaizen is leading stakeholder engagement initiatives, peer-to-peer learning events and communities of practice, and other capacity strengthening initiatives to support enhanced collaboration and adaptive management practices among food security activities.

Scope and Objectives

The Kaizen Company is searching for a Senior Learning and Adaptive Management Specialist. The Senior Learning and Adaptive Management Specialist will support the Strategic Learning and Capacity Development (SLCD) team in strategic oversight, technical guidance and advice, review of any technical documents/content, and provide surge support as necessary to complete Y3 Work Plan activities. The scope also includes leading and supporting IP-facing adaptive management activities on IDEAL, including external stakeholder engagement, stakeholder capacity strengthening design and implementation for identified work plan priority activities, and providing support for the Adaptive Management Technical Advisory Panel (TAP).

The Senior Learning and Adaptive Management Specialist will work closely with Kaizen’s other staff members on IDEAL as well as other consortium members. Specifically, responsibilities for the Senior Learning and Adaptive Management Specialist will include:

• • Supporting the Adaptive Management TAP initiatives;
  • Contributing to and carrying out stakeholder engagement and capacity strengthening in Adaptive Management;
  • Contributing to the design and implementation of IDEAL’s work plan activities related to Adaptive Management capacity support to IPs including peer to peer learning events, workshops and platforms, tools and resource formation and dissemination, research and data-collection, case study initiatives and others;
  • Building the reputation and thought-leadership image of IDEAL and its Consortium in Adaptive Management in food security sector; and,
  • Developing and contributing to stakeholder-informed tools and resources to support Adaptive Management practices by IPs in food security activities
  • Contribute to cross-consortium learning as needed

Period of Performance: This position is envisioned to be a full-time position starting on/around April 1, 2021.  

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) or equivalent relevant years experience
• At least 5 years of relevant experience is required
• Demonstrated experience in adaptive management, collaborating, learning and adapting (CLA) application, knowledge management, organizational learning and capacity strengthening
• Proven track record of designing and implementing collaborative and innovative activities on donor-funded programs
• Experience working on USAID-funded projects, especially in resilience and/or emergency BHA-funded activities
• Growth mindset and solution-oriented
• Facilitation skills/experience preferred

At The Kaizen Company, we find strength in our diversity. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive working environment in which everyone has an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential. We know that we can only do development differently if we are open to and inclusive of new and unique perspectives. We encourage candidates of all abilities, ages, gender identities and expressions, national origins, races and ethnicities, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations to apply. Further, we urge parents and non-parents, married and unmarried, those from different or non-traditional educational backgrounds, and persons of all other diverse identities or experiences to apply. The Kaizen Company is an equal opportunity employer.