Haiti: Country Director

COUNTRY DIRECTOR

Location: Haiti

Our client, an International NGO, is looking for a Country Director in Haiti.

The INGO has been in Haiti since the devastating earthquake in January 2010 and has since then developed a programme portfolio targeting affected communities and supporting resilience building at household and community level. Its programmes have so far been in both the urban and rural contexts, in Port au Prince and Gressier, respectively. The INGO is transitioning to a much longer-term programming approach linking relief and recovery to development through an integrated community-led development programme approach built around 3 strategic pillars: Disaster Risk Reduction & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods; and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Responsibilities

The Country Director (CD) takes overall responsible for the planning, management and appropriate development of INGO’s work in-country. The CD is responsible for ensuring that the programming is context appropriate and meeting the expressed needs of target beneficiaries. The CD will ensure that GOAL meets its contracted objectives and is accountable to stakeholders. The CD must ensure that there are regular and effective communications within the country team and with the INGO Regional office. The CD has ultimate responsibility for all issues of security. The position is based in Port Au Prince with regular visits to all field sites.

Programmes

The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that all programme activities are planned, resourced, implemented, monitored and evaluated in a timely manner, to ensure that they are appropriate, necessary, cost effective, targeted, sustainable and in keeping with INGO’s mission and philosophy.

Duties

• The County Director will work closely with the Assistant Country Director – Programmes on all aspects related to programmes;
• The Country Director must ensure that INGO programmes meet the highest national and international standards, and comply with codes of conduct and agreements to which INGO is a signatory;
• The Country Director must provide ongoing review and development of overall country strategy, and of individual programme objectives. They must undertake, with the Senior Management Team, continuous review, monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness, impact and direction of each programme;
• The Country Director will review all programme proposals prepared by the Assistant Country Director – Programmes and the programme team before their submission to donors. And ensure that all proposals and reports are submitted to INGO and approved by the Regional Director prior to submission to donors;

Donors

The Country Director is the principal point of contact with the in-country donors.

Duties

• The responsibility for securing adequate funds to support INGO programmes is shared between the Country Director and INGO; it is the responsibility of the Country Director to secure programme funding from donors in-country where possible;
• The Country Director must be familiar with all relevant donors present in-country and is responsible for developing INGO's working relationship and maintaining its reputation with them;
• The Country Director is responsible for liaising with donors regarding all matters related to programmes; including facilitating visits to INGO programme sites;
• The Country Director should be familiar with the legal requirements of the donors providing support to INGO ’s programmes as well as donor country strategies;
• The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that the country team conducts regular Grant Management Meetings to ensure that projects progress in a timely manner, meeting set targets within the proposed budget.

Financial Accountability

The Country Director has ultimate accountability for all financial matters in the field and must review and approve the monthly management accounts.

Duties

• The County Director will work closely with the Finance Manager and/or Financial Controller on all aspects related to finance;
• The Country Director must ensure adherence to the financial guidelines as per the INGO Financial Manual;
• The Country Director must ensure that comprehensive and timely reports are produced in accordance with schedules agreed by INGO HQ;
• The Country Director must ensure that donor financial reports are submitted in accordance with specific donor requirements;
• The Country Director has responsibility to inform Head Office of budgetary overspends or underspends as they affect programmes and plan appropriate interventions. As such, the Country Director should ensure that Budget Monitoring Tools are produced by Finance on a monthly basis and reviewed by Programmes and Operations.

Personnel

The Country Director is responsible for the health and welfare of staff including expatriate and local personnel and are empowered to use all available resources to promote their development in line with INGO policy.

Duties

• The County Director will work closely with the Human Resources Manager on all aspects related to Personnel;
• The responsibility for securing adequate qualified international staff to support INGO programmes is shared between the Country Director and INGO ;
• The Country Director must ensure that the policies and guidelines as laid down in the INGO Personnel Manual are adhered to by all staff;
• The Country Director, with programme staff, is to ensure that all staff responsibilities are defined and understood. This includes the provision of clearly defined job descriptions and up to date contracts. INGO must be provided with all copies of job descriptions / contracts and contract extensions related to expatriate staff;

• The Country Director has overall responsibility for the preparation and implementation of in-country personnel policies in line with overall INGO and government policy. The Country Director must ensure that all local staff contracts must:

• Respect local labour laws.

• Be consistent with INGO policy

• The Country Director must ensure that all incidents/warnings etc. relating to personnel are clearly documented, and signed by the relevant parties;

• The Country Director must ensure that there are procedures in place to support and encourage appropriate personal and professional development of staff within the context of the organisation’s objectives;

• The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that staff receive the necessary support and supervision they require. This includes the provision of training for staff in tasks such as project proposal preparation; report writing etc.;

• The Country Director has the mandate to recommend repatriation of any international staff member in line with the INGO personnel policy;

• The Country Director must ensure that ongoing informal review/evaluation of staff performance, and formal written evaluation of each of the international staff is prepared on a six monthly basis, and sent to INGO in confidence.

Resource Management/Logistics

It is the responsibility of the Country Director to ensure that all available and appropriate resources are accessible in their country of assignment.

Duties

• The County Director will work closely with the Logistics Coordinator on all aspects related to logistics;
• The Country Director must ensure that the policies and guidelines as laid down in the INGO Logistics Manual are adhered to by all;
• The Country Director must ensure that the reporting requirements outlined in the INGO Logistics Manual are fulfilled in a timely fashion;
• The Country Director must ensure that there are appropriate systems in place for the effective utilisation and management of finance, personnel, supplies, transport, capital assets etc.

Safety & Security

It is the responsibility of the Country Director to be fully informed regarding the political and security environment within their country of assignment. And for ensuring that all reasonable measure are taken to minimise / mitigate the safety and security risks faced by the programmes and programme staff.

Duties

• The Country Director is accountable for the overall safety and security of staff and for ensuring there is a culture of security within the organisation;
• The Country Director must inform INGO / Regional Director (through agreed communications protocols) immediately in the event of a security incident relating to INGO staff, assets or programmes. Regular communications and updates on security must be shared with the RSA and INGO as per agreed reports and protocols and as requested;
• The Country Director is accountable for ensuring that the policies and guidelines, as laid down in the INGO Safety and Security Manual and the site specific security guidelines, are adhered to by all staff at all times. The Country Director is responsible for ensuring staff have access to the appropriate resources and training to enable them to understand and adhere to staff security guidelines;
• The Country Director is accountable for ensuring that policies and guidelines related to safety and security are reviewed periodically and revised to reflect relevant changes in the operating environment;
• The Country Director must work closely with the Regional Security Advisor when assessing the country security context and dealing with any potential threats to INGO programmes or staff.

Representation/Visibility

The Country Director has the responsibility and mandate to represent INGO within their country of assignment this includes Media and visibility.

Duties

• The Country Director must ensure that there is appropriate liaison and negotiation with the relevant Government partners, regional and local authorities; donors; local agencies etc. at all levels of project implementation;
• The Country Director has sole responsibility for dealing with the media / press in-country. All (political) statements to be issued, and/or policy positions, must be approved by INGO ;
• The Country Director has the responsibility to provide feedback to HQ on the possible implications, on programme and staff security, of any comments or statements being prepared by INGO ;
• The Country Director is also responsible for ensuring that the visibility of INGO is promoted appropriately at field level.

Knowledge/Information Management

All Country Directors must be fully informed regarding the political, security and humanitarian conditions within their country of assignment.

Duties

• It is the responsibility of the Country Director to be fully informed regarding the humanitarian and relief and development context in their country of operation.
• Appropriate information should be collected, collated, analysed and forwarded to the INGO office on a regular basis.
• The Country Director must ensure that there are regular effective communications within the country programme and with INGO and the Regional Director. This includes the submission of weekly and monthly reports to INGO .
• The Country Director must ensure that INGO complies with all the relevant legal requirements of the country.

Requirements:

• 5 + years of previous overseas management experience in humanitarian assistance programmes, at least 2 years of which must be at senior management level.
• Strong programmatic experience in complex development programmes in at least one of these areas Resilience, Urban Development, economic development.
• Fluent in French and/or Haitian Creole
• Strong understanding and commitment to Systems approach
• Strong team management and leadership skills
• Experience in a Haitian context is advantageous
• A relevant post graduate qualification.
• Experience of managing security in a fluid and high pressure environment, as it relates to staff and programme activities.
• Experience of managing large, multinational teams of people.
• Experience of liaising with donors and government officials, and of donor proposal writing and reporting, with a proven ability to secure donor funding.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing requirements.
• Budgetary control and financial management skills

Please send your CV s.gori@developmentaid.org