The USPSC will serve as the Team Lead for the Democracy, Human Rights, Governance, and Countering Violent Extremism team in the USAID Niger Country Office. As Team Lead, the Adviser will be responsible for providing overall direction, management, and oversight of the USAID democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) and countering violent extremism (CVE) portfolio in Niger. The Adviser will lead a team of three Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs) to achieve U.S. government (USG) foreign policy and security objectives for Niger utilizing direct engagement with Nigerien stakeholders and effective management of USAID investments. The Adviser will lead the design of new bilateral DRG and CVE programming and provide active input into regional programs. The USAID program in Niger is undergoing expansion and, as such, several design processes are ongoing and planned. For those activities already under implementation, the Adviser will ensure that these investments are effectively implemented in the field and in accordance with USAID regulations and the approved annual work plan. S/he will also provide technical advice to other USAID sectoral teams to include health, education, resilience and agriculture, energy, and humanitarian assistance on best approaches to improving sectoral performance, strengthening sectoral governance, and improving the reform environment. The Adviser will represent USAID on inter-agency working groups at U.S. Embassy Niger to include those related to CVE, security, governance, elections, and human rights. The Adviser will also be expected to strengthen senior and working-level relationships with government, civil society, private sector, donor, academia, and other officials in direct support of USG objectives and USAID programming. To this end, the Adviser will also represent USAID on external technical working groups to include those related to decentralization, rule of law, countering terrorism, elections, and civil society. The Adviser will be expected to work closely with the USAID Sahel Regional Office (USAID/SRO) and USAID West Africa Mission (USAID/WA). USAID/SRO and USAID/WA both implement regional activities in Niger focused on strengthening resilience governance and countering violent extremism. As the DRG/CVE Team Lead, the Adviser will be responsible for ensuring a focused and coordinated effort across offices investing in Niger. The Adviser will also advise the U.S. Embassy Front Office, inter-agency Country Team, and USAID colleagues on political, democracy, and governance developments and issues that require USG engagement. S/he will also design and conduct direct engagement with government, political parties, civil society, private sector, donors, and other actors to build political consensus around elections, open space for civil society, and support of other high priority USG objectives, in coordination with inter-agency partners.
