Country Director

BACKGROUND:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC has been providing humanitarian assistance to displaced people in Thailand since 1976, working on the Thailand-Myanmar border since 1990.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The IRC Thailand Country Director serves as the organization’s lead representative in country and interfaces with actors from the Royal Thai Government, ethnic leadership communities, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), international governments and missions, and other stakeholders supporting displaced people on the Thailand-Myanmar border. S/he is responsible for humanitarian assistance services carried out in three field locations, as well as the country program’s operations function. The Country Director has a direct relationship with program directors that oversee the Resettlement Support Center (RSC), as well as the USAID-funded Project for Local Empowerment (PLE). S/he is responsible for the country program’s overall annual budget of over $25 million, supporting over 200 paid staff and 400 stipend workers, directly supervising six in-country management staff. The IRC in Thailand plays an active role in the Committee for Coordination of Services for Displaced Persons in Thailand (CCSDPT, www.ccsdpt.org) and The Border Consortium (TBC, www.thebordersonsortium.org). The Country Director reports to the IRC Regional Director for Asia, the Caucuses and the Middle East.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Planning and Change Management

• Working closely with the regional director, regional and IRC Myanmar teams, develop and lead strategic direction, explore new opportunities and plan for the country program and ensure alignment with all IRC projects implemented in Thailand.
• Ensure that structures and systems are in compliance with IRC standards, and support high quality programming and efficiency throughout the country program.
• Work with in-country senior management team to ensure program and operations structures are adapted to meet ongoing and anticipated retracted needs in short-and long-term.
• Work with regional and senior management team to ensure emergency preparedness and assure immediate response when emergencies strike.

 Program Quality and Implementation

• Ensure program strategies are designed in accordance with the new IRC strategy and realistically reflect country program financial resources.
• Ensure the quality of projects according to donor specifications, utilizing internal and consistent assessments, context analysis and available learning and evidence.
• Ensure the quality of implementation with oversight of the monitoring and project adaptation efforts of the country team.
• Promote a team approach and positive learning environment utilizing headquarters, country program and operations staff and partners to consistently enhance the quality of design and implementation.

Key Partner and Donor Relations

• Represent IRC externally with Royal Thai Government, UN agencies, donor, NGO coordination (CCSDPT) and community-based entities.
• Develop and maintain a high level of understanding of donor priorities, country plans and wider IRC initiatives.
• Support the development and handover of selected services to local and community-based organizations according to program design and expectations.
• Explore the opportunity for private funding partnership and engaging in new ways of funding IRC critical works.

Budget Management

• Ensure submission of appropriate, timely high quality proposals and lead donor negotiations as required.
• Provide timely and effective oversight of the financial position of the country program including identification and implementation of required changes to match funding levels.
• Maintain effective and coordinated budget monitoring processes for grant funds and discretionary funds. These include regular and consistent monitoring of donor resources and fiscal regulations in accordance with IRC’s global standards, auditing and fiscal processes.
• Promote coordination and teamwork between program and operations staff to improve quality of budget design, program implementation and service delivery.

Security & Operations Management

• In coordination with the Regional Safety and Security Advisor (RSSA) ensure that the security management plan for the country program is updated and ensure the consistent monitoring and analysis of the security environment and adherence by all staff to the IRC security protocols and procedures.
• Working with country senior management team ensure the development, implementation and monitoring of financial and operational policy and procedures to ensure constant compliance with IRC and donor policies across the program.

Human Resource Management and Workforce Planning

• Sustain a positive work environment for all staff supported by a professional level human resource and talent management function.
• Support and hold management staff accountable for providing staff development opportunities and planning.
• Promote gender equality in relation to all aspects of the country program.
• Play an active role in workforce planning to ensure compatibility to program need and resource allocation.

 Requirements: 

• Graduate or advanced degree in relevant fields, such as non-profit management, humanitarian or social services, international affairs;
• At least ten years of work in an international setting, experience working with displaced populations preferred;
• Experience of working in conflict areas / cross border and as well as the empowerment of local civil society would be important;
• Extensive humanitarian assistance program management and donor relations experience, prior experience working with European, Australian, United States and other international donors required;
• Strong human resource management skills including capacity building, workforce planning, and mentoring;
• Experience supervising and managing a multi-disciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting; solid understanding of gender equality;
• Demonstrated success in managing large-scale assistance projects; change management, specific experience in adapting operational environment to need and available resources;
• Previous budget and fiscal oversight responsibilities; management of donor compliance and regulations;
• Solid understanding of political complexities in the region, knowledge of long term ethnic conflicts in Myanmar and history of Thailand as a host country for displaced persons from Myanmar;
• Solid English language ability, written and verbal; Thai or Burmese language desirable.