Position: Interim Country Director – Uganda Refugee Response
Location: Uganda, between Moyo District (70%) and Kampala (30%)
Reports to: Africa Regional Director
About RI: Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.
Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships, and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.
Position Summary: The Interim Country Director will initially be based in Moyo District to establish RI’s response and negotiate the hand over and operation of three MSF primary health care centers. The CD will also be required to liaise with partners at the national level, specifically OPM, UNHCR, MSF and MTI.
Responsibilities at both field and Kampala levels will be to coordinate with humanitarian actors and donors to mobilize resources, plan and manage the scale up of the emergency response to the refugee crisis in Uganda, and to provide day to day operational support, mentoring and strategic direction to the Uganda country program staff in collaboration with the Regional Director The Interim Country Director is responsible for identifying needs and resources and elaborating program plans and proposals for the emergency response in line with Relief International national and global priorities, donor priorities, and in line with identified gaps in the overall response in Uganda. The post holder will play a strategic role in program and proposal development and in the mobilization and effective scale up and management of RI emergency and development programs in Uganda, taking the lead in representing the organization to donors, obtaining funding, and identifying and pursuing new program opportunities for the response. The post-holder will also develop and manage programs and support function staff and ensure that all relevant RI policies and procedures with respect to HR, safety and security, code of conduct, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures are in place, implemented and adhered to. A large part of the role will involve linking the initial response to longer-term recovery and development programming with a view to investing in promoting sustainable livelihoods.
The Interim CD will report to the Regional Director, but will be based in Moyo, Uganda, with some travel to Kampala.
Position Responsibilities and Duties: Emergency Response Planning and Resource Mobilization
- In coordination with the country team and Regional Director, lead all aspects of emergency response, including: mobilizing initial response plans and activities; internal and external inter-agency coordination, networking with donors and authorities, overseeing emergency assessments, leading the design and drafting of proposals, and resourcing and allocation of in-country staff and assets as appropriate.
- Recruit and provide timely and expert advice to emergency response team on implementation of various components of the emergency response programs.
- Lead the process of developing immediate and longer-term response plans, ensuring that RI’s response meets immediate humanitarian needs and strategically positions the organization for longer-term program funding opportunities in Uganda.
- Pro-actively ensure immediate and effective direct communications and networking with donors that produces actionable and timely business intelligence.
- In collaboration with in country and regional program and program development staff, lead and ensure that preparation of funding proposals are of the highest quality and closely responsive to response needs and donor requirements
- As needed personally draft entire, or substantial parts of, funding proposals and budgets
- Track funding and program trends to understand specific donor priorities and resources.
- Initiate, establish and cultivate relationships with peers and with new donors. Negotiation with peer agencies and donors of participation in relevant consortia will form a significant part of the program development responsibilities of this role.
- Actively identify and pro-actively pursue new opportunities for program growth and start-up, in coordination with relevant country, regional and global support office Program Development, Grants and Program staff.
- Map peer agencies / other actors in the response, and assess other humanitarian actor’s activities to identify geographic or sector gaps in the Uganda response.
- In close collaboration with regional and global support office management, participate in negotiation of contracts and agreements with donors, ensuring both programmatic and financial relevance.
- Identify, and where appropriate, initiate and maintain program partnerships with external agencies.
- Plan and supervise needs assessments and data collection in support of program design.
Emergency Response Program Management
- Assume overall management and oversight of emergency response in collaboration with the country response team and Humanitarian / Regional Director.
- Have oversight over the development of 6-24 month response strategy and plans and corresponding master budgets for the response
- Take overall leadership on the implementation and monitoring of program plans and budgets, keeping relevant stakeholders informed and ensuring any necessary corrective actions are taken in order to ensure activities are delivered on time and to prevent under or over spending on agreed budgets.
- Once secured, manage multiple grants (across multiple sectors), ensuring strict compliance of program activities with RI national and global policies and procedures and with relevant donor regulations and agreements, SPHERE guidelines and the NGO code of conduct.
- Establish project monitoring plans and systems for identifying and tracking the indicators and develop processes/procedures and forms to support monitoring, timely implementation and inform learning.
- In coordination with programs staff ensure the preparation of timely program and donor reports on project activities in compliance with internal RI requirements and any relevant donor requirements.
- Ensure optimal safety and security management procedures and practices are in place for the emergency response program and continually monitor the safety and security situation, adapting staff safety and security procedures accordingly in collaboration and cooperation with any relevant security staff.
- Oversee effective functioning of logistics systems to procure, store and distribute stock, supplies and services for the timely delivery of project objectives.
- Ensure strong accountability to beneficiaries.
Personnel Management and Development
- Plan, identify and resource appropriate and effective structure & staffing needs for entire response (including ensuring that personnel policies are in accordance with national laws)
- Act as a Point of Contact for Child Protection, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Harassment, and Code of Conduct policies, and ensure staff and beneficiaries are oriented on reporting misconduct mechanisms.
- Oversee the development & implementation of staff wellbeing (policy) and ensure appropriate staff wellbeing and R&R policy and processes in place, where applicable.
- Ensure that capacity building plans and performance management systems are in place to develop the requisite competencies in staff to ensure ongoing sustainability and quality of response into recovery phase.
- Coach and mentor international staff and national level counterparts and link in to wider organizational talent development mechanisms.
External Representation
- Represent RI’s emergency response on a national, regional and international level to donors, partners, relevant government bodies, the media and members of the humanitarian community.
- Help shape broader sector strategies through influence of and leadership within inter-agency coordination forums.
- Regularly undertake high-level representation and advocacy with governmental and non-governmental partners and officials, including UN and coordinating bodies, as well as donor representatives.
Qualifications & Requirements:
- This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding, fast paced and often insecure environment.
- Extensive experience (over 7 years) of working within a senior management role within a complex country program in a complex emergency response or fragile state. Previous experience of managing program teams in first phase emergency response is essential.
- Demonstrated strong project cycle management skills, inclusive of work plan/timeline/deliverables/and budget tracking and course correction.
- Knowledge and experience in at least two of the following sectors / program areas essential: Health, Nutrition, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Food Security and Livelihoods, Education. Knowledge and experience of market-based and cash-transfer programming desirable.
- Absolutely essential is a strong understanding of UN and humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
- Proven expertise of leading in fundraising, seeking and securing new donors, successful proposal writing and reporting.
- Evidence of understanding the challenges of donor and grant/contract management and the implications for program management
- Experience of managing large and complex, multi-donor, multi-sector programs (including ECHO, DFID and OFDA / USAID / BPRM) in a first phase response.
- Substantial experience in the financial management of budgets, including preparing financial projections, general financial management and reporting.
- Strong report writing skills and experience
- Excellent English language skills.
- Experience of international level representation with key stakeholders, and co-ordination with government, other NGOs/UN
- Experience of M&E and beneficiary accountability systems in large and complex programs
- Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
- Commitment to the aims and principles of Relief International. In particular, a good understanding of the humanitarian mandate and principles.
RI Values: We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:
- Inclusiveness
- Transparency and Accountability
- Agility and Innovation
- Collaboration
- Sustainability
More Information
- Job City Moyo District
