Regional Director - West Africa

Job posted by: Search For Common Ground - Fri, 29 Aug 2014

Job Details:

Organisation: Search For Common Ground

Deadline Fri, 12 Sep 2014

Job type: Permanent

Location:

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The Organization

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is a leading international non-governmental organization dedicated to the peaceful transformation of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC and in Brussels, Belgium, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. Using diverse tools and methodologies, SFCG enables parties in conflict to understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 500 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 56 offices in 35 countries, including in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Africa. The organization is an exciting and rewarding place to work, with dedicated and mission-driven staff. The organization is committed to learning, innovation and making an impact through its work around the world, and has won numerous international awards.

 

Regional Portfolio

SFCG works in 21 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and divides them into two regions for management purposes: East and West. In West Africa, SFCG has ten country programs: Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Some of these programs began as early as 1997 (Liberia), while programs in Central African Republic and Chad have grown within the last two years. Each national program generates its own contextualized strategy, responding to national conflict dynamics in line with the organizational mission. There are several regional projects, and country programs collaborate and learn from each other as they interact. The largest program in revenue terms is Nigeria, while our most limited operation is in Burkina Faso where we work as part of a Sahel-wide consortium. Several country programs have more than one office in the country, work in diverse regions and districts, and the average size of the staff in each country is approximately 12 people.

 

Summary of Position

The Regional Director – West Africa offers leadership, capacity building and oversight to the Country Directors in West Africa. This includes ensuring that program quality is excellent, fundraising targets are reached, and operational and financial management complies with international standards. S/he supports country programs in developing annual country and regional strategies that drive program and business development in line with SFCG’s organizational mission. S/he oversees key recruitment and performance reviews, approves proposals and budgets to donors and signs off on strategic external communication. S/he shares best practices around program quality, innovation and capturing of results, drawing from SFCG programs and others in the peace building field. S/he supports the development of a team spirit in each country and throughout the region, respecting the diversity of the team and ensuring that our organizational values are upheld.

 

Team & Reporting Lines

The Regional Director supervises nine Country Directors as well as the Regional Program Officer. S/he co-supervises the Africa Senior Program Manager (with the Regional Director-East Africa) and provides leadership to the regional support team. This team is comprised of the Senior Program Manager (50% time), three Program Associates, and a Regional Finance and Compliance Manager. The team is also supported by a DM&E Specialist based in the region. The Regional Director works closely with the East Africa Regional Director, who is based in Kigali, Rwanda and supervises nine other country programs. The Regional Director reports to the Vice President, Programs, based in Washington DC. The Regional Director is a member of the organization’s Global Leadership team, offering input into organizational strategies and policies.

 

Location & Travel

SFCG is flexible concerning the location of the Regional Director. Preference will be given to candidates who will live in the West Africa region, and can be based in one of SFCG’s Country Program offices. However, applications from candidates who prefer to live elsewhere in an area within the same time zones and in relative geographic proximity will be considered. This position requires extensive travel around the region, estimated at up to 50 per cent.

 

Responsibilities

  • Supervising West Africa region Country Directors, with attention to attaining excellence in program quality, fundraising and financial and operational management;
  • Providing leadership to the West Africa regional team (Program and development team, finance and DME) towards these goals
  • Contributing actively to the global organization strategy, priorities and policies through the Global Leadership team;
  • Engaging with all SFCG global departments in Washington DC and Brussels towards achieving organizational goals;
  • Serving as SFCG’s representative for the West African region;
  • Working with country teams to set annual strategic plan priorities for each country, and for the region;
  • Supporting Country Directors and the Africa team in raising the funds to implement programs in line with these strategies;
  • Leading expansion into new countries, or leading new regional initiatives, in line with the Africa-wide annual strategic plan;
  • Developing and maintaining relationships with relevant international organizations,  partner organizations, donors, clients, key government officials, etc.;
  • Inspiring ongoing improvement in program quality, innovation, monitoring & evaluation and in the programmatic work across the region;
  • Overseeing key recruitment and performance reviews;
  • Overseeing strategic external communication for the region;
  • Other tasks as required and relevant to the position...

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

 

Qualifications

  • Master’s degree in conflict resolution, international relations, international development or a related field;
  • Minimum of 6 years of program management experience at a senior level, preferably in peace building or a related field;
  • Significant experience in managing multiple projects, multi-tasking, clear delegation and follow-through;
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a diverse team, with attention to professional development of staff;
  • Successful track record of fundraising and excellent skills in the cycle of design and proposal development;
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal);
  • Excellent financial literacy and management skills, including a familiarity with the basic funding guidelines of major donors;
  • Ability to respond collaboratively in situations of uncertainty, ambiguity /or conflict;
  • Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa with at least 3 years of working in Africa and in a cross-cultural environment;
  • Experience working collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders, local government officials, and international donors;
  • Willingness to travel up to 50 per cent of time;
  • Fluency in English (written and verbal) and French (verbal, written preferred)

 

 

To Apply: Application Deadline: September 12, 2014.  Please send a cover letter and resume through our application system at https://sfcg.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=110. Please be sure to include minimum salary requirements (in currency figures) or current salary, projected start date, and to mention where you found this posting. No phone calls please. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. Please see our web site www.sfcg.org for full details of our work.



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