Country Program Director (Lilongwe, Malawi) 113 views0 applications

Help a Child Malawi is recruiting an ambitious and high energy

Country Program Director (Lilongwe, Malawi)

Organization

Help a Child is a Christian, international relief and development organization, founded in 1968 in the Netherlands. Help a Child provides a future for children in need, their family and their entire community. By empowering vulnerable communities, we help them to change their own living conditions and opportunities in a sustainable way. Help a Child works in areas with a high incidence of poverty or in places where children and families are extra vulnerable due to disasters or (imminent) conflicts. Help a Child develops innovative programs, for example about youth & work, child development and the transition of relief help towards sustainable development. We work together with various Dutch, international and local partners. Help a Child works across India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, DRC, Uganda and South Sudan.

Since 2009 and through our local partner organizations Help a Child has implemented child focused community development program in Northern Malawi. In order to grow Help a Child’s expertise role towards our partner organizations as well as towards the government and other stakeholders, Help a Child has opened a country office in Malawi in 2016. Based on our 2016-2020 global strategy, Youth & Work and Early Childhood Development (ECD) are priority sectors.

Position

The Country Program Director (CPD) manages the country office and the country team under the Help a Child operating model, whilst also implementing the Help a Child strategy, delivering high quality programmes, successful fundraising, sound financial management and strategic stakeholder management. The CPD is responsible for the long term and overall success of the country programmes in Malawi. Furthermore, the CPD is end responsible for team management & development and quality control & evaluation. You are the lead representative of Help a Child in Malawi.

Main tasks and responsibilities

• Strategic growth, development and delivery of national programming, in line with the Help a Child mandate, strategy and Theory of Change.
• Ensure that existing and new programs are in line with strategy, operational plans and budgets.
• Identify, create and capitalize on funding opportunities for further growth of the Help a Child programs.
• Successfully invest in and expand networks of relevant stakeholders, including foreign embassies, donor representatives and Malawi national/ local government entities and like-minded INGO’s in order to develop partnerships.
• Responsible for ensuring strong and outstanding collaborative relations with the Help a Child International Office.
• Represent Help a Child at key (international) events as appropriate.
• End-responsible for sound financial management and control of the administrative and financial organization.
• Develop and maintain efficient and effective operating systems, and ensure compliance with all Help a Child Management Operating Standards and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Responsible for the overall HR cycle of national staff.
• Responsible for the development of an organizational culture that reflects Help a Child’s values, promotes accountability and high performance and frees up staff to deliver outstanding results for beneficiaries and donors.
• Responsible for creating an environment of continuous learning and innovation, where staff are encouraged and supported to grow and develop and are willing to be held accountable for their commitments.

Qualifications

This is an extraordinary opportunity for an ambitious, entrepreneurial and high energy professional with significant experience in Program Management in International Cooperation to be part of a growing country organization. Specific requirements include:

• Minimum of an Advanced Degree in a relevant field.
• 5+ years of (senior) Program Management experience with community development, preferably in a similar position.
• Demonstrated experience in building personal and professional networks at a senior level.
• Proven track record in identifying, creating and capitalizing on funding or business opportunities.
• Good understanding of program, financial and operational management processes.
• Good understanding of key trends in international and humanitarian development.
• Experience building, leading and developing a growing team of staff with different backgrounds and expertise, empowering them to elevate their levels of responsibility, span-of-control and performance.
• Extensive experience working in an international, fragile and cross cultural context.
• Preferably experience in working with a Theory of Change as frame work.
• Experience in managing safety & security needs.
• Results driven and motivated by a sense of performance excellence and urgency.
• Strong communication skills, both verbally and written (including presentation skills).
• Fluent in English.
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, interpersonal and cross cultural sensitivity.
• Being a Christian, adhering to the Christian identity of Help a Child and experienced communicating the Christian identity of Help a Child to team members.
• Full support for the vision and mission of Help a Child.

Offer

Help a Child offers the opportunity to become part of an ambitious, child centred and Christian international NGO with a dedicated team of professionals motivated to maximize impact. Help a Child offers a fair pay and benefits package that is justifiable to our donors. Furthermore, you are offered a fixed term contract for the first 2 years. Depending on your performance and fit with the program and staff involved, the 2 year contract will be extended.