Tourism Director for the USAID Moldova Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA) 

Tourism Director for the USAID Moldova Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA) 

Chemonics International Inc. seeks highly qualified candidates for the position of Tourism Director for the USAID Moldova Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA). Chemonics International Inc. (www.chemonics.com) is a U.S.-based international consulting firm providing expertise in developing and emerging-market countries since 1975. 

Background: 

USAID Moldova Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA) is a five-year project (2022-2027) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Chemonics International. The goal of RCRA is to stimulate a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the regional crisis brought on by the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine and accelerate an inclusive, climate-resilient economic development of rural Moldova by protecting the development gains made with USAID support over the past decade and further stimulate the competitiveness of key economic sectors, including the wine industry, high-value agriculture, and tourism. 

The objectives of the Activity are: 

1. Accelerated export diversification and Western market integration in targeted sectors. 

2. Enhanced economic resilience of small and medium enterprises in targeted sectors. 

3. Improved sector enabling environment to facilitate resilience and Western integration. 

Position Description: 

The Tourism Director will be responsible for: promoting the growth and sustainable development of Moldova’s inbound and domestic tourism sector; managing all RCRA’s tourism activities; ensuring RCRA’s tourism activities achieve or exceed anticipated objectives, results, and outcomes; and collaborating with RCRA’s high value agriculture, business enabling environment, wine, and other teams to identify and implement joint activities to benefit RCRA-supported sectors.   

Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions): 

Principal duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 

• Lead design of tourism sector strategies, activities, and performance targets for inclusion in RCRA’s annual work plans; 
• Ensure tourism sector activities meet or exceed anticipated objectives, results, outcomes, and targets set forth in RCRA’s annual work plans; 
• Manage all aspects of work plan implementation for tourism sector activities; 
• Oversee RCRA tourism team’s contributions of data and updates for inclusion in RCRA’s weekly, quarterly, and annual reports, as well as other deliverables.   

• Oversee design and successful implementation of all tourism sector subcontracts and grants, including the preparation of scopes of work, requests for proposals, requests for applications, and requests for quotations;   
• Oversee the identification and development of tourism sector hubs that includes participation of high value agriculture, wine, and/or other sectors to enhance tourists’ experiences;     
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with public and private tourism sector stakeholders, including the National Tourism Office, National Inbound and Domestic Tourism Association of Moldova, and Medical Tourism Association of Moldova;   
• Identify qualified consultants, develop scopes of work for local and international short-term consultants, supervise consultants, and ensure consultants deliver quality deliverables (presentations, training activities, reports, etc.); 
• Ensure RCRA’s tourism team collaborates closely and regularly with RCRA’s high value agriculture, wine, business enabling environment, communications, grants, and subcontracts teams to jointly design and implement activities across RCRA-supported sectors;  
• Collaborate with RCRA’s grants team in identifying grant opportunities and drafting solicitations, as well as training, liaising with, and effectively managing/monitoring all tourism sector grantees. Ensure that the tourism team regularly tracks grantees’ compliance, progress, and results during all phases of grant implementation. Mentor grantees and provide capacity building to ensure successful grant activities;  
• Ensure RCRA’s tourism team regularly updates RCRA’s communications team of upcoming tourism sector initiatives, as well as results, impact, and success stories generated from tourism sector initiatives; 
• Oversees preparation of tourism sector briefers, talking points, scene setters, and other documents for USAID, U.S. Embassy, and other high-level delegations; 
• Ensure RCRA’s tourism team coordinates closely with RCRA’s business enabling environment team to jointly develop workforce development interventions to introduce and improve tourism sector products and services; and identify, diagnose, and/or recommend reforms to support the growth and sustainable development of the tourism sector;      
• Ensure RCRA’s tourism team maintains close coordination with RCRA’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) team and ensure that the tourism team collects and submits necessary reporting data and information to the MEL team within the prescribed deadlines;    
• Ensure RCRA’s tourism team coordinates closely with RCRA’s environmental compliance specialist to identify, address, and monitor all environmental requirements related to RCRA’s tourism sector activities; 
• Directly supervise RCRA’s tourism team;  
• Perform other relevant duties as assigned by RCRA’s Chief of Party; 
• Respect and abide by all internal regulations of Chemonics’ representative office, as expressed in the Chemonics International Field Office Policy Manual. 

Qualifications: 

• University degree in tourism, business, economics, or related field, preferably on USAID or other    donor-funded projects.  
• Minimum of 5 (five) years of professional experience in project or business management related to tourism sector, leading and implementing the tourism sector strategies and activities.  
• The proven capacity to interact effectively with a wide range of counterparts including government, local businesses, non-governmental organizations, sector associations, etc. 
• Supervisory experience, skilled in training and mentoring junior staff. 

• Excellent communication skills, written and spoken, in Romanian and English. Knowledge of Russian would be a strong asset. 
• Excellent time-, team-, meeting- and conflict- management skills. 
• Strong self-organization, self-motivation, and planning skills. 
• Proven ability to work professionally and constructively as part of team, meet deadlines, communicate effectively, and deal with diverse partners in challenging environments. 
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity. 

Reporting: 

The Tourism Director will report to the RCRA Chief of Party. 

Application instructions 

Please send an email with your CV and cover letter attached and “RCRA Tourism Director” in the subject line to MDA-RCRA-Recruit@chemonics.md by January 30, 2024. No telephone inquiries, please. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only finalists will be contacted. 

Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors. 

Chemonics values the protection of your personal data. If you are in the European Union, please read our EU Recruiting Data Privacy Notice to learn how we process personal data. You may access the notice via the following link: https://chemonics.com/eu-recruiting-data-privacy-notice/.