Country Director, Burundi & Rwanda

Contract Length: Three Years (Negotiable)

Date Needed By: 1st December 2015

New Post or Replacement: New Post (introduction of Shared Services as countries in transition)

Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Accompanied (partner only – no children)

Exact Job Location: Bujumbura - Burundi

Reports To: Regional Director (RD)

Responsible For: All Staff & Resources in Burundi & Rwanda Country programmes, with specific line management of the Country Manager Rwanda; Systems Director Burundi; Programmes Director Burundi and Country Finance Controller Rwanda/Burundi

Liaises With: Regional Director (RD), Desk Officer at head office and other technical advisors in HQ, Government, Line Ministries & other donors and stakeholders in Burundi and Rwanda

Job Purpose:

The Country Director for Burundi & Rwanda has overall responsibility for strategic planning, programmatic direction, and management oversight of all programmes and operations of Concern Worldwide in Burundi & Rwanda. The Country Director will ensure effective and professional management of all aspects of the country programmes, including humanitarian interventions, ensuring compliance with Concern’s organisational procedures, policies and values.

The main duties and responsibilities include Strategic Planning, Leadership, Security, Programme Development and Management, Programme Quality & Learning, Human Resource Management, Risk Management & Financial Accountability, Systems, Policies and Procedures, Representation and Networking.

Concern is in the process of putting in place a joint management structure for Burundi & Rwanda, and the Country Director will liaise frequently with the Concern Country Management team in Rwanda and provide support as necessary and travel to Rwanda frequently.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

To manage the Burundi & Rwanda programmes in line with organizational policies and procedures.

To lead on the strategic planning for Rwanda and Burundi, in particular, alignment of the country strategic plans for Rwanda and Burundi (one overarching strategic plan) and embedding a joint management structure between the two countries.

Directly managing key senior staff: Systems Director; Programmes Director; Country Financial Controller; Human Resource Manager and that support allocations between Rwanda and Burundi are managed well.

Overall Responsibility for strategic management of the programme, in particular preparing for & effectively responding to emergency humanitarian situations in both Burundi and Rwanda.

Oversight of development of joint programmes for Rwandan and Burundi, where relevant.

Ongoing developing and management of the funding strategy for the country programme.

Maintain an awareness of the current economic, political and social situation within Burundi & Rwanda, and the broader Great Lakes Region.

Overall responsibility for security management: ensuring that the security situation is reviewed constantly, Security Management Plans (SMPs) are updated as necessary and that staff are aware of security procedures and comply with them.

Representation of Concern in Burundi & Rwanda, maintaining coordination and networking relationships with the government of Burundi & Rwanda, donors and other development actors in the country; this includes ensuring Concern’s relationship and formal agreements with the governments are maintained and updated as appropriate.

Seeking useful areas of collaboration with other international community actors such as INGOs, networks, NINGO (Network of International NGO’s in Rwanda and RESO in Burundi, and in particular Concern’s Strategic partner the Alliance 2015.

Responsible for staff management and development, including training and focus on programme quality such as project design, proposal & report writing, monitoring and evaluation and other key areas.

Provide general management support to direct reports and be familiar and ensure all staff and visitors comply with Concern Worldwide Staff Code of Conduct, the Programme Participant Protection Policy (4Ps), Anti-Fraud Policy and the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages.

Ensuring that support systems (IT, Finance, HR/Administration, Logistics and Transport) are in place and functioning in accordance with best practice and organizational policy and procedures in order to ensure transparency and accountability to government, donors and other relevant stakeholders.

Oversee the Finance Function across the country programmes with overall responsibility for budgeting, reporting and monitoring of all income and expenditure.

Overseeing the HR Function across the country programmes and ensure that policies and procedures reflect global policies.

Ensuring all internal and external reports are sent to Regional Desk at head office in a timely fashion and adhering to high standards of quality and maintain good, regular and open communication with the Regional Director and Desk Officer for the Central Africa Region.

Contribute to organizational learning through liaison with other organizations and Concern fields and sharing lessons learned.

Perform any other related duties as assigned by the Regional Director or his / her delegate

PERSON SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Third Level Degree/Masters in NGO management, organizational development, Administration, IT, or Logistics Qualifications
• Minimum of 5 years overseas experience working with an international humanitarian /development NGO (or similar institution), with strong programme management; system management, security management and team management experience.
• Proven strong management ability, including ability to motivate and develop skills of others. Must be able to make sound management decisions in difficult situations and also be able to work in a participatory manner with colleagues.
• Proven experience of development and management of diverse and multi-sectoral programmes such a livelihood, health, education and HIV.
• Ability to work in emergency context as required
• Experience of managing a diverse team of senior staff including international staff
• Experienced in management of financial resources and overseeing human resources, administration and logistics function.
• Experience in building relations with donors and securing external donor funding.
• Good knowledge and experience of incorporating rights based, equality and advocacy approaches across development programmes
• Strong leadership skills and ability to manage change effectively
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with an ability/confidence to engage and represent Concern at public fora, media and donors.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, including fluency in written and spoken English and high degree of proficiency in French
• Delegation, time management and prioritizing skills and coping with broad range of demands
• Highly developed listening and conflict resolution skills.
• Belief in people and respect for people, interpersonal skills
• Affinity with organisational values, mission and vision, commitment to humanitarian principles
• Willingness to travel frequently to rural field locations and spend periods of time away from the capital in which the CD position is based
• Willingness to spend at least 10% of time proving in-country support in Rwanda
• Strong understanding and commitment to the promotion of equality

DESIRABLE

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Post-graduate training in NGO management, organizational development, Administration or Logistics Qualifications
• Minimum of 3 years’ relevant logistic/systems and management experience in development context
• Previous Concern experience.

HOW TO APPLY:

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.