REGIONAL MANAGER West Africa 91 views1 applications

VACANCY: REGIONAL MANAGER West Africa (M/F, 1 FTE)

Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal

Duty station: Mali, Bamako

About ICCO

ICCO Cooperation is a global, non-governmental organization. From a coherent theory of change we design, manage and implement programs for inclusive development (SDG 17) of sustainable agricultural systems to foster food and nutrition security of smallholder farmers and their families (SDG2); economic empowerment of smallholder farmers and SMEs (SDG 8) as well as more resilient and disaster-prepared communities (SDG 6 and 11). Our focus areas are inclusive finance, climate resilient food systems, new technologies and youth entrepreneurship (SDGs 10 and 12). Our organization consists of a Global Office in the Netherlands (Utrecht) and 5 Regional Offices and numerous associated country offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America. ICCO Cooperation has approximately 400 employees worldwide and a turnover of 45M€ in 2018.

About the West Africa Office

The regional office in West Africa works in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. The region has a total of 75 staff spread across 4 countries. Our work specifically contributes to strengthening food & nutrition security (SDG 2) and economic empowerment (SDG 8) of smallholder farmers and SMEs, but also incorporates cross-cutting issues, such as Reducing Inequalities (SDG 10), Responsible Business (SDG 12) and Public Private Partnerships (SDG 17). We have four priority topics including Climate Resilient Agricultural Systems, New Technologies, Youth Entrepreneurship and Inclusive Finance (Blending).
Together with our partners in West Africa, ICCO’s interventions strategies focus on responsible business, inclusive markets and sustainable food production and consumption. Our objective is to empower smallholders, agripreneurs and their organizations, and strengthen micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in order to realize sustainable agricultural systems. We want to ensure the viability of small-farm economies as a contribution to fighting poverty and undernourishment in the region. We mainly focus on women and youth, in particular on empowering them and increasing their nutrition awareness.We work to give farmers and producers access to markets and to give them the opportunity to create their own sustainable livelihoods. This enables them to become more resilient and better equipped to challenge the dominant forces in their society.

For more information, please visit www.icco-cooperation.org.

The position and responsibilities of Regional Manager

The Regional Manager represents ICCO Cooperation in the West African region. He/She has the overall responsibility for the work of ICCO Cooperation in the region. The Regional Manager is a member of the ICCO Management Team and reports to the CEO.

The main responsibilities of the Regional Manager are to manage all operational processes of ICCO West-Africa and the processes of strategy development, program development and implementation, program innovation, program evaluation and fundraising/ business development in the region, in line with the mission, vision and overall strategy of the organization.

This entails:

– representing the ICCO Cooperation in West Africa;

– establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with stakeholders, including partner organizations, financial partners Governments etc;

– overall responsibility on program development and implementation;

– overall responsibility over staff, administration, legal aspects and HR;

– establishing regional strategy building on ICCO’s global strategy;

– final responsibility over various budgets within the region;

– ensuring a positive office atmosphere that contributes to staff motivation, to innovative and entrepreneurial staff behavior and excellent results;

– direct supervision of region’s management team.

The required profile

The Regional Manager

– is a strong strategic thinker, and a visionary and innovative leader with a business-like approach;

– is a people manager and team player with strong communication skills and integrity;

– is able to proactively build and maintain a network, also outside of the usual NGO context;

– is able to identify and exploit opportunities and has an entrepreneurial mind-set;

– is able to work effectively in a decentralized multicultural and multireligious work environment;

– has substantial experience (over 10 years) in a relevant field of which at least 5 years in a senior leadership position, in challenging and volatile contexts;

– has relevant work experience within (West) Africa and a relevant network in the region;

– has substantial experience in business development, program management, financial management, fundraising (private sector, bilateral donors, government institutions, etc.), and the ambition to create growth;

– has an NGO background with experience with Public-Private Partnerships or private sector background with an understanding of NGO ambitions;

– has up-to-date knowledge of development issues, change processes and North-South cooperation, the socio-political environment in the West African region and the role of religion and faith-based organizations;

– has strong financial and analytical skills;

– is fluent in French, has excellent language skills in English, and preferably has good language skills in Dutch;

– is aware of civil society structures in The Netherlands, including the role of churches;

– has affinity with the Christian roots of ICCO.

What do we offer?

Terms and conditions of the West African Regional Office will be valid. For Dutch nationals the ICCO terms and conditions for Postings abroad will be applied. Having a work permit is a condition for a possible extension of the contract. The intended starting date is to be confirmed in mutual agreement.