International Operations Manager 105 views0 applications

About the organisation:

SEED Madagascar is a British Charity working in partnership with communities in the south east of Madagascar. We integrate high quality community health, sustainable livelihoods, education infrastructure and conservation programmes to support long term, sustainable change and add to international best practice through research and publication across all of our programmatic areas. We are now looking for entry level officers and managers to work alongside national staff and expand our team.

Position Overview:

Based in the coastal town of Fort Dauphin in the southeast of Madagascar, this post will provide management and support across all functional aspects of the NGO, managing career entry interns and officers in communications, administration, HR, finance and logistics and liaising with National Department Heads.

The role is office-based, works directly under the Director of Programmes and Operations and the diversity of activities undertaken will provide a wide-ranging experience for an early career professional looking for a management position in the complex world of overseas development work.

• Title: International Operations Manager
• Location: Fort Dauphin, Anosy Region, Madagascar
• Time frame: 18-months extendable
• Salary: The chosen candidate will receive a basic local stipend and up to £1,000 for the costs associated with an annual flight per year, in country visa extensions and contribution towards insurance.
• Reporting to: Director of Programmes and Operations (DPO)

Duties and responsibilities:

General:

• Work alongside the DPO, MD (Managing Director) and Head of Administration, HR and Finance to deliver organisational strategy, including preparation of work for the Trustees;
• Manage and motivate the functional support team, ensuring appropriate supervision, training and support is provided to enable work is performed to a high standard;
• Deputise for the Director of Programmes and Operations during their absence alongside other members of the NGO management team;
• Problem solving within the remit of the post, particularly in terms of administration, logistics and HR;
• Provide support to the Head of Administration, Finance and HR on procurement across the NGO including training of staff and audit;
• Synchronise and harmonise office operational systems to reduce waste, enhance efficiency and simplify approval processes;
• Work with the DPO to develop, rollout and maintain Standard Operating Procedures for effective knowledge management across the team;
• Support the work of the Project Development Department, including the management of databases, researching information and proofreading reports to donors;
• Support to the DPO in overseeing policy development.

Finance:

• Support the financial function of the NGO;
• Support the development and adaptation of budgets to different donor requirements;
• Supporting basic financial training to international team members;
• Work with the Head of Finance to improve financial systems;
• Support in performing internal checks, reviews, and informal audits.

Logistics:

• Manage the Volunteer and Logistics Officer with the on boarding of all new international staff including visa processing, arrival of long-term staff, housing requirements;
• Provide support to the Volunteering Department in Madagascar and the UK on the management and logistics across the short-term volunteering programmes;
• Oversee the development, maintenance and management of equipment inventories and logs;
• Work alongside the Head of Finance, Administration and HR in maintaining an accurate inventory across the NGO.

Communications:

• Manage the Communications and Media Officer across all platforms including social media, newsletter and website information for the NGO’s online presence;
• Create and lead communications strategy alongside the Director of Operations and Programmes and Managing Director;
• Manage external communications standards;
• Managing the development of regular internal communications;
• Coordinate dissemination of communication materials and messaging;
• Coordinate seasonal and flash fundraising appeals;
• Provide input to strategies, publications, and other technical documents, to ensure clear and concise messaging;
• Work alongside the London team to develop the marketing strategy for the short-term volunteering programme.

Human Resources:

• Manage the HR and Administration Officer to provide administration support across the NGO;
• Assist the Director of Operations in all day-to-day administration and HR related work including the recruitment and selection of new staff, managing references and overseeing the on-going development of human resource policies and procedures;
• Oversee the development, maintenance and management of logs including training of national staff in the management of these;
• Manage the advertisement of new international posts;
• Support ad hoc and informal capacity building across both national and international teams in the areas of induction and training throughout probation;
• Working alongside the Heads of Department in identifying national staff training needs and creating trainings;
• Conduct human resource orientations with incoming staff.

Person specification:

• Be educated to at least degree level or have experience working in a similar post for at least two years;
• Have at least two years’ experience working abroad;
• Have experience of managing or supporting staff or volunteers;
• Have experience of working in a developing country or extensive travel experience;
• Demonstrate a passion for the work of the NGO and experience relevant to the post;
• Be able to work independently and achieve deadlines over a wide range of tasks;
• Demonstrate experience of, or an ability to, manage and motivate a team;
• Ability to communicate in clear and engaging written English across a range of media forms;
• Demonstrate an excellent level of written English with an ability to proofread documents to a high standard
• Show a curious mind and a patient, problem solving attitude;
• Be capable and comfortable adapting to life in a developing country with sometimes basic living conditions;
• Be able to work and socialise within a small group of people and to be respectful and take personal responsibility for maintaining the good reputation for the NGO in the community;
• Be able to adjust to life in another culture and a foreign language and be able to work at all times with cultural sensitivity;
• Show passion, curiosity and motivation for the job and the ability to enthuse others;
• Demonstrate the ability and desire to work with teams from different economic and cultural backgrounds and across multiple language barriers;
• Demonstrate the ability and desire to build capacity and share skills across cultures;
• Be able to work to and advocate for all of SEED’s policies and procedures, safeguarding those that SEED works with and reporting any concerns appropriately;
• Demonstrate proven ability to recognise and appropriately deal with challenging situations;
• Demonstrate an awareness of and comfort with increased social and professional responsibility, working at all times with cultural sensitivity and respect;
• Have a flexible and patient attitude;
• Have good all-round computing skills and experience in a range of software packages.

The successful candidate will need to bring their own laptop