Consortium Lead 5 views

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience. Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of around 600 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. Our main donors in Ethiopia in 2020/2021 are BHA, ECHO, Europaid, UNHCR, UNICEF, GFFO, BPRM, SIDA, EHF, WFP, CIAA, and others.

1. Position Summary

Action Against Hunger is seeking an experienced, strategic, and results-oriented Consortium Lead to oversee a multi-year, multi-partner HDPN resilience program funded by Sida and NMFA.

The consortium—comprising Action Against Hunger (Lead), IRC, DRC, and local organizations—aims to strengthen food security, climate resilience, and the adaptive capacities of disaster-affected households and communities across multiple regions of Ethiopia through integrated humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding interventions.

This role requires a strong leader with proven skills in planning, problem-solving, networking, and team building, capable of driving performance across diverse partners and stakeholders.

Purpose:

The Consortium Lead provides overall leadership, strategic direction, and coordination to ensure the consortium operates as a coherent, high-performing platform delivering collective impact.

The role ensures that:

• The Nutrition-Centric HDPN Operational Guideline and Implementation Roadmap are effectively applied across all partners
• Integrated approaches across humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sectors are harmonized
• Learning from the HDPN model is captured, institutionalized, and shared with key stakeholders

Engagement:

The Consortium Lead will:

• Serve as the primary representative of the consortium, engaging donors, partners, and key stakeholders
• Coordinate closely with consortium members (IRC, DRC, and local organizations) to ensure alignment and collaboration
• Foster strong partnerships and teamwork among consortium staff, focal points, and stakeholders
• Use diplomacy and negotiation skills to harmonize approaches across diverse organizations and geographical locations
• Build networks that strengthen program visibility, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement

Delivery:

The Consortium Lead is responsible for:

• Ensuring effective implementation and coordination of the multi-partner resilience program
• Driving collective results and outcome achievements across all consortium members
• Monitoring and aligning program performance with strategic objectives and donor expectations
• Facilitating learning, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement across partners
• Strengthening program quality in resilience programming, particularly in food security, climate resilience, and adaptive capacity building.

The role demands the ability to motivate teams, ensure accountability, and deliver measurable impact across complex, multi-regional interventions.

II. Essential Job Duties

1. Strategic Leadership and Consortium Management

• Provide overall strategic leadership and direction to the consortium, ensuring alignment with donor priorities, national policies, and consortium objectives.
• Ensure that the HDPN approach is systematically applied by all consortium partners, embedded in planning, implementation, monitoring, and learning processes.
• Promote a unified consortium identity, collaborative culture, and shared accountability for results.
• Lead the development of annual work plans, consortium strategies, and operational priorities that reflect integrated, sequenced, and harmonized approaches.
• Ensure systematic outcome monitoring, with a particular focus on measuring project contributions to communities’ resilience, food security status and other stated objectives.
• Facilitate the use of harmonized tools and indicators across consortium partners to track progress, generate evidence of impact, and inform adaptive management.
• Facilitate effective governance structures, including Steering Committee meetings, Technical Working Groups, and partner coordination mechanisms.
• Ensure timely decision‑making, conflict resolution, and proactive risk mitigation across partners.
• Guarantee that learning from HDPN implementation is captured, consolidated, and disseminated to donors, government, and stakeholders.

Donors Engagement and External Representation:

• Serve as the principal focal point for Sida, NMFA, and other external stakeholders.
• Maintain strong, transparent, and constructive donor relationships through regular communication and strategic dialogue.
• Lead high‑quality donor reporting and ensure timely submission of narrative and strategic updates.
• Represent the consortium in national coordination forums, clusters, government platforms, and HDPN‑related events.
• Position the consortium as a leading actor in resilience, food security, and HDPN programming in Ethiopia.
• Ensure visibility, communication, and external messaging are consistent with donor and consortium requirements.

Program Quality and Technical Oversight.

• Ensure quality and evidence-based implementation across food security, climate resilience, livelihoods, disaster risk reduction, nutrition-sensitive programming, and community resilience interventions.
• Promote integrated and adaptive programming approaches across sectors and regions.
• Ensure implementation remains responsive to evolving humanitarian and climate contexts.
• Oversee progress against indicators, targets, and expected outcomes.
• Foster innovation and learning, and adaptive management across consortium interventions.
• Ensure accountability to affected populations and integration of protection, gender, safeguarding, and inclusion principles

Partnership and Stakeholders Engagement.

• Act in the interest of consortium partners in front of donors, authorities and other stakeholders. donors, authorities and other stakeholders.
• Strengthen collaboration and coordination among INGOs, local NGOs, government counterparts, and communities.
• Ensure strong engagement with regional and federal government institutions.
• Promote equitable partnership practices and capacity strengthening of local partners.
• Facilitate joint planning, joint reviews, and shared accountability mechanisms.
• Support community engagement approaches that reinforce ownership, resilience, and sustainability.

Grants, Compliance and Risk Management:

• Ensure full compliance with donor regulations, contractual obligations, and consortium agreements.
• Oversee consortium‑level budget monitoring, burn rate analysis, and financial forecasting in collaboration with finance teams and suggest corrective actions as needed.
• Ensure robust risk management systems across operational, fiduciary, security, safeguarding, and reputational dimensions.
• Lead mitigation actions for implementation bottlenecks and consortium‑level risks.
• Ensure audit readiness and proper documentation across consortium partners

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

• Ensure a strong consortium MEAL framework and harmonized reporting systems.
• Promote evidence generation, learning documentation, and knowledge management.
• Lead periodic performance reviews and reflection exercises with consortium members.
• Ensure lessons learned and best practices inform implementation and strategic engagement.
• Support donor visibility and dissemination of consortium achievements and impact

III. Supervisory Responsibilities

• Directly manage Consortium MEAL Manager Position
• Directly manage Senior Food Security, Livelihood and Resilience Program Manager
• Finance Manager-Budget and Reporting
• Oversight Annual Performance Goal setting and review Process in coordination with HR and Program director

IV. Fiscal Responsibility

• This position is responsible for overseeing the overall consortium budget, ensuring effective planning, allocation, and utilization of funds across all partner organizations
• Lead the development, consolidation, and review of program budgets during proposal design, consortium agreements, and donor reporting cycles
• Ensure financial alignment and compliance with donor (Sida, NMFA) requirements, consortium agreements, and internal policies
• Monitor and provide strategic oversight on budget performance across partners, ensuring timely burn rates and value for money
• Strengthen financial coordination and transparency mechanisms among consortium members, ensuring accountability and consistency in financial management
• Support partners in financial planning, forecasting, and budget revisions to adapt to programmatic needs and evolving contexts
• Collaborate closely with finance teams to ensure accurate financial reporting, risk mitigation, and audit readiness
• Promote efficient resource mobilization and utilization, ensuring that program funds directly contribute to achieving consortium outcomes and impact

V. Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with interruptions.
• To travel to the field, the employee must attest to a level of physical fitness capable of enduring physically difficult, highly stressful situations which may include the necessity to walk long distances, to eat a limited diet and/or to reside in potentially uncomfortable housing or tents.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

VI. Working Conditions, Travel and Environment

• The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required by contact with the missions, mission security, or other obligations.
• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business travel as well as to the missions if appropriate. While visiting the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as infectious diseases.

VII. Gender Equality Commitments & Zero Tolerance to Abuse

• Foster an environment that reinforces values of people of all genders equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where people of all genders must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all stakeholders, particularly for children, beneficiaries, and members of staff.
• Help to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment and sexual abuse and exploitation.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sex orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status.
• Value and respect all cultures.

VIII. Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’ or MA degree in international Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Food Security, Livelihood, Climate Change, Public health or Nutrition, Development Studies, Project Management, or related fields
• At least 5 years of management experience or consortium leadership experience in complex multi partner programs.
• Proven track record in managing donor-funded programs, particularly Sida, NMFA, EU, ECHO, USG, FCDO or UN funded projects.
• Proven experience coordinating multi-stakeholder partnerships involving INGOs, local NGOs, and government institutions.
• Demonstrated experience in food security, climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, livelihoods, or resilience programming.
• Experience working in complex and fragile operational environments

IX. Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in International Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Food Security, Livelihoods, Climate Change, Public Health, Nutrition, Development Studies, Project Management, or related fields.
• Minimum 5 years of management or consortium leadership experience in complex, multi‑partner programs.
• Proven track record managing donor‑funded programs (Sida, NMFA, EU, ECHO, USG, FCDO, UN).
• Demonstrated experience in food security, climate resilience, DRR, livelihoods, or resilience programming.
• Experience working in complex, fragile, or multi‑crisis environments.
• Strong understanding of the Humanitarian‑Development‑Peace Nexus and resilience frameworks.
• Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, and representation skills.
• Experience coordinating multi‑stakeholder partnerships involving INGOs, local NGOs, and government institutions.
• Fluency in written and spoken English required.