Country Director - Liberia

Contract Grade:  D

Contract Length: 3 years

Date Needed By:  As soon as possible

New Post or Replacement: Replacement

Accompanied / Unaccompanied:  Accompanied (partner only)

Exact Job Location: Monrovia

JOB DESCRIPTION

Responsible for:Overall responsibility for all Concern staff and programmes in Liberia and with direct line management of the two Assistant Country Directors (Programmes & Systems) and the Country Financial Controller.

Job Location: Monrovia, Liberia

Liaises with: Donors, Head office staff (Desk Officers, SAL advisors, Finance, HR, IT, Logistics) INGOs, Government Officials, UN representatives, local partners and other organisations as relevant in Liberia.

Reports to: Regional Director – South, Sahel & West Africa Region

Job Purpose: To be responsible for strategic development and effective management of the Concern Liberia country programme in line with Concern Worldwide organisational and country specific strategies, policies and procedures.        

To lead the senior management team and represent the organisation with government, donors, other international agencies, UN agencies, local and international partnerships, stakeholders, civil society and community representative groups.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

General Responsibilities:

• Ensure the efficient and transparent use of all Concern’s resources in order to maximize the benefit to the targeted communities.
• Promote and ensure compliance with the requirements of Concern’s Programme Participants Protection Policy and implementation of Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) standards including Community based complaint and response mechanisms to ensure maximum protection to programme beneficiaries.
• Promote and protect the reputation of Concern in external settings, ensuring that the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are looked to as a professional organization.
• Maintain an awareness of and continually analyze the political, humanitarian, social and economic environments in Liberia and the West Africa region 
• Liaise with government to ensure that the legal status of Concern Liberia is maintained and that Concern meets all its legal obligations to the Liberian Government

Leadership: 

• Develop and implement a coherent country strategic plan that contributes to achieving Concern’s global strategy and objectives. 
• Provide leadership in the overall effective planning and direction of Concern’s programme and operations at country level.
• Build strong and committed team of national and international staff adhering to Concern policies and procedures and applying key principles of transparency, accountability, good stewardship, equality and participation. 
• Create and maintain shared vision, amongst all Concern Liberia staff, of Concern’s programme aims and objectives and their role in achieving these. 
• Lead and support in strengthening coordination and collaboration within teams and across all teams, maintain and ensure constructive communications, contribute to a positive working environment.
• Lead the Alliance 2015  in Liberia with IBIS and WHH and where possible seek to develop other opportunities for collaborative programme and systems implementation.

Programme Development and Management: 

• To oversee  and lead the strategic development and implementation of programmes in line with Concern organisational and country strategic plan and following the Concern PCM policy including proposal writing and sourcing funding. 
• Ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are established and implemented in line with Concern policies and tools to measure impact and efficiency.
• Ensure effective coordination of technical inputs (e.g. SAL advisors, regional advisors) in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes. 
• Develop a country level funding strategy and maintain productive working relationships with donors and be responsible for undertaking country level negotiations related to securing funding, programming contracts, and reports. 
• Manage the country programme effectively including allocation of resources and ensuring that appropriate monitoring and controls are maintained at all levels by working with programme and systems managers and staff. 
• Develop institutional learning both within Concern and with programme partners
• Develop and implement results framework
• Provide adequate leadership and support to programme managers in setting up high quality standards and implementation of 3 sector programmes as well as cross cutting themes like equality, prevention of GBV, DRR, HIV and AIDS, social protection etc. 
• Ensure that all programmes are implemented and completed according to programme documents including agreed plans and budget. 
• Maintain effective communication and liaise with Concern head office in Dublin and ensure that high standard internal and donor reports are produced and submitted in timely manner and in line with relevant targets and objectives.
•  Work collaboratively with the WASH Consortium partners Oxfam, Solidarities, ACF and Tear Fund and seek to learn lessons from the consortium work.
• Ensure that reports are submitted to donors and other recipients on time and are of the highest standard.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of RBA, equality, advocacy, DRR and accountability throughout all programme activities.
• Maintain strong links with the Alliance 2015 and WASH Consortium members and  work closely to promote the strategic objectives of Concern partnerships.
• Ensure that local partners have the necessary capacity to meet set standards of accountability to both Concern and our beneficiaries.

Human Resources Management:

• Line manage senior management staff and be responsible for the overall management and development of national and international staff of Concern Liberia
• Manage and support country programme team ensuring that there is clearly defined up-to-date structure and job descriptions for all staff. 
• Coach, mentor and support the professional development of staff.
• Ensure that regular staff Performance and Development Review (PDR) system is maintained and that PDRs are undertaken seriously at all levels. 
• Develop, review, and effectively implement all Human Resources related policies and procedures in accordance with Concern policies and procedures and in line with the national labour law of Liberia. 
• Work with CMT and programme managers to develop and implement sound staff development plans. 
• Establish and maintain regular, participative and documented forums and meetings for all key staff to discuss policy, strategic, operational and management issues, coordinate planning and implementation of activities, and ensure information sharing. 

Financial Management: 

• Be responsible for overall financial management of Concern Liberia including participatory budget preparation, revision and monitoring. 
• Ensure that the Concern organisational and country specific financial guidelines and procedures are adhered to.  
• Develop and implement work and expenditure plans and ensure that the country programmes are implemented within agreed and approved budget through undertaking regular budget monitoring of expenditure against budget. 
• Ensure that internal and donor financial reports are submitted in timely manner and up to high quality standard. 
• Ensure that the management of all funds for Concern Liberia is appropriate and meets the guidelines set down by good financial practices and by senior financial management in Dublin
• Ensure that all budgets are developed with the input of relevant staff and that they are submitted and reviewed in time and in accordance with Concern regulations and best practice
• Liaise with donors and potential donors to develop good working supportive relationships 

Policies and procedures: 

• Ensure consistent implementation of Concern organisational and country specific policies and procedures. 
• Liaise with Concern head office and technical advisors over country specific policy development and make recommendations for organisational policy revisions as necessitated by field conditions. 
• Ensure that all Concern Liberia staff is familiar with policies and procedures and effectively implementing them. 
• Ensure that support systems are in place and functioning in accordance with best practices in order to ensure transparency and accountability to programme participants, donors, government, and other relevant stakeholder. 
• Be responsible for security and safety of Concern personnel and resources in Liberia including participatory development, review and implementation of Country Security Management Plan.
• Ensure that the administration, transport, IT and logistics systems function in accordance with best practice and organizational policies

Representation and Networking: 

• To represent Concern in Liberia and maintain coordination and networking relationships with the government, donors and other national and international development actors in the country for effective advocacy both on behalf of Concern and the programme participants and communities
• Ensure that relationship and formal agreements with the government are maintained and updated as appropriate. 
• Represent Concern at various national level coordination forums.

Perform any other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the Regional Director.

Person Specifications:

Essential:

• Primary degree in international humanitarian/development, social sciences or similar areas of study  

Desirable:     

• Additional qualifications in NGO management or community development related subjects would be desirable.

Essential:      

• Proven strong management and decision making skills and experience at senior level. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with a high degree of flexibility and patience
• Experience of security management and emergency response in post conflict and fragile states.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills and ability to set priorities under pressure.
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills with the ability to prioritise and handle a diverse and heavy workload.
• Ability to motivate and develop the skills of others with strong multi-cultural team building skills and awareness.
• Ability to work in a country that is complex and can be tiring. 
• Ability to pace oneself, monitor stress and achieve an appropriate work life balance, despite heavy and unexpected demands, potential high turnover of staff and finite resources.
• Empathy with organisational goals and culture.

Desirable:      

• Programme experience and knowledge.

• Previous experience of financial management / budgeting.

• Knowledge of HR Management.

• Knowledge or experience of Concern Worldwide and / or its procedures and systems.

• Previous experience of working in Liberia, or the West Africa Region.

• Experience working with NGO partners or consortiums.

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.

All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline.

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.