Senior Regional Development Outreach and Communications Specialist

The United States Agency for International Development Mission to southern Africa (USAID/SA), requires an expert Senior Regional Development Outreach and Communications (SR/DOC) Specialist to provide senior-level technical expertise to the development and implementation of communications strategies designed to support southern Africa's Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (RDCS) for 2020 - 2025. The SR/DOC will help to increase understanding among the South African people, and other southern African citizens, as well as the broader international audience, about the purpose and the impact of USAID investments in the region's development. Beyond this however, communications tools and methodologies, including digital tools and crowd sourcing systems that enable the Mission to hear directly from project beneficiaries who are our partners in development, will be developed to serve as an integral part of achieving development goals by influencing policy decisions and informing adaptive programming. U.S. strategic objectives in South Africa include promoting U.S. economic prosperity, strengthening regional peace and security, and supporting the sustainable transformation and growth of South Africa's key systems. U.S. assistance focuses on health, economic growth, countering violent extremism, democratic governance, education, youth employment, humanitarian assistance, and combating crime. USAID is transitioning from transactional relationships to transformational partnerships, working with national governments, regional governmental entities, civil society, and the private sector to respond to South Africans and the region's demand for increased inclusive development. The United States has a strategic interest in an integrated, democratic, secure, prosperous, and resilient Southern Africa. U.S. assistance in southern Africa promotes regional partnerships to foster self-reliance; supports intra-regional economic integration and trade as the means to growth; promotes regional responses to the HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics and increases regional resilience to internal and external shocks (such as natural disasters and disease outbreaks). USAID partners with committed national governments, regional economic communities, civil society, and the private sector to identify and apply host country-owned, country led, and country managed solutions to national challenges. Exceptional efforts to communicate the Mission's objectives and impact are vital to USAID/SA's ability to fully implement its bilateral and regional programs in southern Africa. Similarly, USAID/SA seeks to improve the quality and availability of information about U.S. foreign assistance and its benefits in the region to a broader audience. Strong communications and outreach policies and strategies, and forwardleaning implementation is essential to USAID's and the USG's ability to build foreign relations in support of U.S. national interests. For these purposes, USAID established the Senior Regional Development Outreach and Communications (SR/DOC) Specialist role, an off-shore U.S. Personal Services Contract position. This position will be in the Regional Program and Project Development Office (RPPDO) in the USAID/southern Africa Mission and directly reports to the Supervisory Regional Program and Project Development Office Director.