Concern Worldwide Country Director Job Vacancy in Lilongwe, Malawi

Reference: RD/MAL/CD Country: Malawi Job Title:
Country Director

Date requested: 5th Feb 2013

Contract Grade: D Contract

Length: 3 years

Date Needed By: June 2013

New Post or Replacement: Replacement

Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Accompanied

Exact Job Location: Lilongwe, Malawi

Reports To: Regional Director

Responsible For: All staff of country programme

Liaises With:

Regional Director, Desk officer, HQ based
Technical Advisors
Dublin HQ Finance, Logs department and other
support departments
Government officials and departments in Malawi
as relevant,
Donors, international and local NGOs, other
civil society organisations and relevant private sector organisations.

Job Purpose: The Country Director has overall
responsibility for strategic planning, programmatic direction, and management
oversight of all programmes and operations of Concern Worldwide in Malawi. The
Country Director will ensure effective and professional management of all
aspects of the country programme, ensuring compliance with Concern’s
organisational procedures, policies and values.

Main Duties & Responsibilities: Strategic
Planning:

Complete the development of a new strategic
plan, the process has already initiated but not completed. Oversee
implementation and ensure periodic reviews of progress.

Develop a common vision around the plan and
initiate and develop programmes and approaches in line with the plan.
Leadership:
Provide effective leadership, enthusiastically
leading and supporting the Concern team, to achieve organisational
outcomes.
Ensure that work is planned and organised in a
way to meet organisational objectives in the most cost effective manner.
Ensure staff capacity, organisational
structures and partnership approaches are strong and able to effectively
deliver strategic organisational goals
Lead/Guide Senior Management Team meetings and
lead a participative decision making process on policy and strategic
direction.
Lead on Concern’s engagement with Alliance2015
partners in country, exploring possibilities for collaboration and
promoting Alliance2015’s approach to the Paris Declaration and Accra
Agenda for Action and to report on Alliance2015 engagement and progress
towards objectives.
Promote accountability and ensure compliance
with the requirements of Concern’s Programme Participants Protection
Policy, Anti-Fraud Policy and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership
standards including the complaint and response mechanism to ensure maximum
protection of programme participants and the efficient and transparent use
of Concern’s resources.
Promote and protect the reputation of Concern,
ensuring that the organisation’s work and results are communicated
effectively and that all risk mitigation measures are taken.

Programme Development and Management:

Promote the development of programmatic
strategies and operational systems that balance country, donor, and
organisational priorities and capabilities.
Deliver the country annual plan within the
constraints of the budget
Engage with organisational advocacy issues,
providing support for and providing leadership for key strategic
campaigns.
Support the Innovations Project in-country as
it phases out and liaise as appropriate
Ensure that effective linkages with Government
and strategic networks are established and maintained to ensure influence
at national and international level.
Through effective leadership of the SMT ensure
development and implementation of a comprehensive funding strategy to
effectively support delivery of emergency and development programmes.
Ensure submission of high quality funding
proposals in line with donor policy and procedures, as well as adhering to
Concern organisational project cycle management systems.
Ensure effective relationships with donors
maintained and developed.
Manage for results, with key decisions being
informed by clear evidence.

Programme Quality & Learning:

Ensure programmes are designed and implemented
in line with Concern Worldwide policies, quality standard and building on
past learning.
Support and guide the ACD-Programmes and
programme team to ensure that innovative, high quality, relevant and
effective programmes are developed and implemented, bringing about sustainable
change to the lives of the poorest people
Ensuring through leadership that
organisational approaches such as mainstreaming of HIV, equality, DRR and
partnership are effectively incorporated across programmes.
Ensuring that effective monitoring and
evaluation systems are implemented in line with Concern policies and tools
to measure impact and efficiency.
Enable an organisational culture that supports
learning and continual improvement of programme quality
Ensure that best practices are used to improve
quality of programmes and advocacy to deliver significant impact and
sustainable change for the lives of extremely poor people.
Lead the development and delivery of high
quality and innovative strategies for information and communication
management.

Human Resource Management:

Ensure that there is an effective human
resource strategy in place to ensure competent and empowered staff, in a
fair, diverse and effective workplace, where respect for people and
equality are valued and promoted with people-centred management best
practices.
Ensure that the Staff Performance and
Development Review (PDR) system is in place and working effectively.
Ensure that staff are adequately trained and
developed for their roles.
Ensure that Concern is adhering to Malawian legal
requirements as an employer.
Ensure that the ‘People In Aid code of Good
Practice’ is fully implemented.
Ensure that the HR manual for Malawi is
implemented, reviewed and updated annually.
Ensure that Concern is a good place to work,
that initiatives are undertaken to ensure a good working environment.

Risk Management & Financial Accountability:

Ensure that there is optimal use of financial
resources within the organisation; managed in a transparent and
accountable manner, consistent with Concern’s systems and procedures,
delivering quality results and demonstrating value for money.
Responsible for overall financial management
of country programme, including budget preparation, revision and
monitoring.
Ensure that the Concern organisational and
country specific financial guidelines and procedures are adhered to.
Ensure effective financial management systems,
processes and controls, compliant with good operating standards and the
relevant legal requirements in-country are adherred to .
Ensure implementation of systems and processes
for planning and reporting to Head Office and donors.
Support and guide the Internal Auditor for
effective financial management within Concern Malawi and its partner
organisations. This includes ensuring overall transparency,
accountability, and integrity throughout all of Concern’s activities.
Identify and manage all risks to Concern’s
programmes in Malawi
Ensure all recommendations of audits and
reviews are implemented.

Systems, Policies & Procedures:

Support and guide the ACD Systems to ensure
that cost effective, efficient and fully accountable administrative and
logistical support is provided to all staff.
Maintain and develop an efficient
administrative and logistical capacity, ensuring that systems and
procedures are fully understood by all staff, particularly managers.
Review and revise systems as appropriate.
Establish and maintain an effective safety and
security management system to meet agreed standards.
Ensuring that Concern’s IT systems provide
efficient and effective communication and data management for the
organisation, linking with Concern Worldwide systems.

Representation & Networking:

Develop and maintain excellent relationships
with key donors, International and national organisations and Government
ministries.
Ensure Concern liaises with other agencies,
and networks that can enrich and enhance the quality of our work
Demonstrate the highest levels of
professionalism, integrity and approach that reflects the core values of
the organisation.
Create a strong and visible profile for the
organisation, as a leading actor in the fight against poverty
Communicate Concern’s programme at national
level to Government, donors and INGOs, alliances and networks across a
range of fora.
Engage appropriately with the media to ensure
that Concern’s values, vision and programmes are highlighted.
Represent Concern Worldwide in strategic
national and international meetings; sharing experiences based on
programme work. Ensure agency participation at key national and district
level coordination fora as appropriate.
Ensure that relationships and formal
agreements with the government are maintained and updated.

PERSON SPECIFICATION ESSENTIAL Education,
Qualifications & Experience Required:

Third Level Degree preferably in social
science or development management or business management or related
discipline.
At least 5 years’ experience in a senior
position within a development organization preferably in international NGO
Understanding and commitment to a sustainable
development approach
Proven experience of development and
management of diverse and multi-sectoral programmes such a livelihood,
health, education and HIV.
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
Dynamic and willing to take initiatives to
complete assigned tasks.
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
Delegation, time management and prioritizing
skills and coping with broad range of demands
Highly developed listening and conflict
resolution skills.

Desirable Education and Experience:

Post-graduate training in NGO management or
Organisational Development or sustainable development approaches
Experience of working as Country Director with
international NGO.
Experienced of results based management
system.

Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality
Requirements: Essential:

Belief in people and respect for people,
interpersonal skills are of paramount importance. ability to influence
people and organisations,

high level of analytical skill and
flexibility.
Ability to work in emergency context as
required.
Excellent command of computer, and MS Office.
Empathy with organisational values, mission
and vision, commitment to humanitarian principles.
Ability to work with culturally diverse groups
of people
Willingness to travel frequently to the field
and spend periods of time away from Lilongwe.
Strong understanding and commitment to the
promotion of equality

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.

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. Closing date is
27th February 2013 Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be
short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.