09.06.10 War Child Holland zoekt ‘country director’ voor DR Congo / Burundi

Job Location:

Bukavu, DR Congo (at least first 6 months, when registration Burundi is arranged: Bujumbura, Burundi will be definite job location)

Period:

starting as soon as possible

DR Congo is a non-family position; the expatriate is not allowed to bring a partner and/or children to the DRC.

War Child programme in the DRC

War Child's DRC Programme aims to promote child rights and improve psychosocial development opportunities for vulnerable children in Eastern Congo. The programme focuses on increasing marginalized children's attendance in formal and non-formal schools (literacy courses and vocational training) and community reintegration. A particular attention is paid to the problem of gender based violence and economic exploitation. Target groups are ex child soldiers and other vulnerable children and youth. War Child DRC relies on local organizations for the implementation of its programme and runs a programme of strengthening of local capacities. We work in synergy with local and international organizations and governmental institutions.

War Child programme in Burundi

War Child has been active in Burundi since 2008 supporting the work of HealthNet TPO. At the moment War Child is arranging the registration as an INGO in Burundi. War Child is planning to begin implementing a programme aimed at improving the psychosocial wellbeing of children and youth who have been affected by conflict in Burundi. War Child plans to work in the provinces of Bubanza, Cibitoke and Bujumbura rural. The country office will be based in the capital Bujumbura. The programme will focus on protection and promotion of the rights of children and to ensure healthy psychosocial development of children and youth. WCH will make use of creative, sports, drama and dance activities and use a community based approach.

War Child Programme Area (WPA) Burundi will support options for collaboration and exchange with War Child offices in Uganda and DR Congo. War Child is committed to add value to the development of a sustainable programme which suits the local needs and works closely with Burundian local organizations and relevant government institutions.

The job

The CD bears the overall responsibility for the country programme in the DRC, which is done through local partners. The CD directly manages a team of expats and local staff in the DRC, which constitutes among others of a programme development manager, a programme development advisor, an operations support manager, a project coordinator, an advocacy and communications officer, a finance/admin coordinator and a general support employee.

The CD has a focus on set up of the WPA in Burundi, including set up of operational systems and finance, recruitment of staff and liaison with government. The CD is responsible for the implementation of the programmes by War Child staff. The CD directly manages a team of so called key positions holders and indirectly a team of local staff.

The CD reports to the Director of Programmes based at headquarters in Amsterdam.

The Country Director (CD) is based in the office in Bukavu, at least for the first 6 months. War Child will open a country office in Burundi, where the CD DR Congo / Burundi will be based finally. Due to the registration process in Burundi, it is not possible to make a statement about when this is going to happen. In addition to this, War Child emphasizes the need of primary attention for the DRC during the first period of this job. Flexibility to stay as long as necessary in the DRC and to travel (a lot) between both WPA's is essential.

Responsibilities

1. Realisation of War Child's country programme

•· Final and overall responsibility for country programmes;

•· Leads and facilitates the development and updates of the Country Strategy;

•· Develops tools and formats for planning, monitoring and evaluation and supports partner organisations in application of these tools;

•· Monitors and evaluates the implementation of programmes;

•· Ensures that appropriate local (implementing) partners are identified and capacity building of local partners takes place;

•· Produces annual plans, quarterly and annual reports following consultation with the Country Management Team;

•· Has final responsibility for the development and writing of programme and project proposals;

•· Reports to HQ on programme progress and context development;

•· Effectively supervises the country teams and country office(s) to reach those objectives.

2. Management of staff

•· Manages and develops the team of key positions holders, indicates training needs and ensures that capacity building takes place;

•· Conducts appraisals; team development and discusses career perspectives with key field management staff;

•· Manages the local recruitment and assists with the international recruitment of key field staff

•· Ensures a well functioning team and a good team spirit amongst the whole team;

•· Final responsibility for ensuring that national staff HRM instruments and systems are developed, in place and adhered to.

3. Capacity building staff & local partners

•· Coach and build the capacity of local staff;

•· Assesses the need of the partner in terms of capacity building;

•· Ensures adequate means are organized, like trainings, to meet those needs;

•· Evaluates the effect of the trainings and other support (follow-up) and keeps ensuring that needs in capacity building are met.

4. Fundraising and representation

•· Final and direct responsibility for in-country fundraising by institutional donors;

•· Develops and maintains donor relations;

•· Ensures appropriate communications, information exchange and sharing with the local partners and with HQ; shares project learning's, supports communication activities, field visits, etc;

•· Represents War Child in meetings or coordinating platforms;

•· Develops and maintains productive relationships with local and national governments, other agencies, donors and media;

•· Development of national fundraising strategy.

5. Security Management

•· Final and direct responsibility for security management throughout the programmes;

•· Makes sure to be well informed about security developments at all times;

•· Develops/ regularly updates the country security plan and ensures implementation by all staff.

6. Financial and logistics management (to a large extend delegated to the Operation Support Manager)

•· Final responsibility for finance, office and logistics management; authorizes investments and manages supplies;

•· Maintains efficient financial control (of cash flows, local payment, etc), accountability standards, procedures and records;

•· Prepares budget and budget control; takes action by imminent deficiencies or surpluses;

•· Final responsibility for office management and logistics, including reporting to HQ;

•· Development of financial and procurement manuals.

Profile

•· A strong leader with at least 5 years relevant management experience in an international/ humanitarian context of which 2 years as a Country Director;

•· Preferably experience in setting up a programme and office;

•· Relevant academic background e.g. psychology, pedagogy, community development, social sciences, international relations, business administration;

•· Experience in working with local partners;

•· Knowledge of psychosocial, protection and education programmes for children affected by conflict;

•· Knowledge of child development and children's rights issues;

•· Knowledge of financial management and human resource management;

•· Able to assess social/political situations and able to act in a diplomatic way in delicate situations;

•· Result- focused, good problem solving and social skills;

•· Stress-resilient to be able to cope with deadlines and complex problems;

•· A team worker and at the same time, able to work independently;

•· Excellent written & oral expressions skills;

•· Affinity with War Child's mandate;

•· Required: fluency in French and English (verbal and written). Swahili is an asset.

War Child offers a challenging job, within an inspiring and motivated team of people and the backup of a strong and professional organisation in The Netherlands. War Child offers good remuneration and excellent benefits. Please visit our website www.warchildholland.org for more information on the organisation and the programme.

How to apply

Interested and qualified candidates are invited to send a CV and a letter of motivation before July 5th, 2010 (please mention CD DRC / Burundi in the subject line) to recruitment@warchild.nl (your letter and CV should not exceed 5 pages).