Save the Children UK Country Director Kenya Job Vacancy

Job Profile
Job Title:
Country Director 

Place of Work:
 
Kenya with regular visits to the field - in Dadaab , El Wak, North East Province
Grade:
 
1 Step- 1
Reports to:
 SC UK Regional Director, East & Southern Africa
Line Management responsibility:
 Senior Management Team of country programmes
Budget Responsibility:
 In excess of £ 1m
Child Protection Level:
 
Level 3
Introduction

The Country Director is a member of the regional leadership team
 
[1] of the International Operations Region in which the country programme is based.

The purpose of the International Operations Department is to develop and deliver our portfolio of programme work around the world (including in the UK) to maximise our impact on realising the rights of vulnerable children. We work increasingly closely with other members of the International Save the Children Alliance to achieve this end.

[1] The Regional Leadership Team consists of the Regional Director, all Country/Programme Directors in the region and key managers in the Regional Office, including the Regional Programme Manager, Regional HR Manager and Regional Finance Manager.
Job Purpose

The purpose of the role is to lead the strategic development and delivery of our programme of work in the country, to maximise our impact on realising the rights of vulnerable children, and to contribute to our global impact, in keeping with the Save the Children UK global strategy and programme objectives.
 

The Country Director manages the SC UK staff team, including programmes, finances, grant management and a basic support structure; developing and maintaining a range of relevant internal and external relationships while 
managing and mitigating key risks. This will also include daily management of programmes in Dadaab, El Wak and North East Province
Key accountabilities
1. Programme Development and Delivery: To strategically develop and manage Save the Children UK's portfolio of programme activities in the country, to maximise our impact for children, including work with other Alliance members, in particular SC Canada and SC Finland in Kenya. This will include:
a. Leading work to review and update our programme strategy in the country, in line with the changing needs of children and our global objectives and approaches
b. Reviewing and evolving our thematic portfolio in the country, and the way we are working with partners, to maximise our impact in achieving our longer term objectives in the country
c.
 
Preparing for and securing rapid and effective responses to major emergencies affecting children, working closely with SC Canada, SC Sweden and SC Finland.
d. Ensuring learning by the country programme from relevant best practice, securing and monitoring implementation of relevant programme approaches and standards, and assessing performance regularly against agreed programme objectives and indicators
e. Ensuring that we are appropriately accountable to children and the host government in the country, and comply with all relevant laws
f. Identifying and effectively managing all key risks, including security risks, related to delivering the country programme and its impact in conjunction with the other SC Alliance Members.
g.
 
Lead and develop a senior management team with the required expertise at country level (e.g. in programmes, policy, advocacy and finance) and to build the capacity of these senior managers and their teams to achieve our full potential
Person specification

All essential unless otherwise indicated
1. Programme Delivery & Impact

  • Experience of leading, developing and implementing strategy at national level or equivalent
  • Track record of delivering results and impact at national level or within equivalent large scale programmes/operations
  • Experience of leading the planning and implementation of emergency response programmes
  • Experience of reviewing strategy and managing change effectively
  • Experience of managing organisational risks in large scale programmes/operations
2. Team Leadership:
  • Experience of managing and developing large teams of international and national professional staff in different locations, demonstrating significant results
  • Experience of leading and motivating senior professional staff from a broad range of disciplines
  • Experience of managing a major crisis requiring sudden and major change in priorities and rapid management action to respond
  • Experience of handling crises in an insecure environment (highly desirable)
  • Experience of working successfully with senior managers in other parts of own organisation or partner organisations to deliver major change
3. External Orientation:
  • Experience of successfully repositioning an organisation or a part of an organisation in key markets for which responsible, in response to market analysis and insights
  • Experience of successfully influencing other large organisations to change their policies or priorities, and of effective media representation
  • Experience of building personal external networks at senior level, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organisation
  • A strong understanding of key trends in international development, and of the evolving role of international NGOs.
  • Leadership experience in an international NGO (desirable)
4. Managing Resources, Quality, and Risk:
  • Experience of successfully implementing changes to processes to improve and monitor quality standards and impact achieved
  • Experience of systematically and effectively assessing, monitoring, managing and reducing risks
  • Experience of managing and shaping large income and expenditure budgets efficiently and effectively, and of implementing effective financial control processes
5. Personal Interests, Skills, and Circumstances:
  • Commitment to Save the Children's mission and values
  • The ability to speak and write English as a primary working language
  • The ability to speak and write another language relevant to the country or region to an effective working standard (highly desirable)
  • The resilience and personal circumstances to be able to travel within the country and to a lesser extent internationally, for an indicative maximum of 90 - 100 days a year, in some cases involving long journeys (this will vary depending on the country)
  • Awareness of own strengths and weaknesses and evidence of commitment to self-managed personal development
Working contacts
Internal (including Alliance): The post holder will be expected to work closely with their country senior management team, with staff throughout the programme, with other country directors, with the regional director and with the other members of the regional office team. The post holder will also be expected to have regular direct contact with senior managers across all departments of Save the Children UK, and with relevant leaders in other Alliance members, in particular SC Canada, SC Sweden and SC Finland. The post holder will participate in regional and global meetings and will have occasional direct contact with Save the Children UK and Alliance Board members.
External: The post holder will be expected to develop and maintain personal links with relevant senior country representatives in donors, UN bodies, intergovernmental bodies, and other international NGOs. The post holder will be expected to meet regularly with relevant ministers in the host government, and with children involved in our work. The post holder will be expected to represent the organisation on relevant issues in international and UK media, and with marketing our work to UK based donors and supporters as required.

To apply please go to our website
 http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/jobs and quote reference 5954.

The position closes 14th October 2010 at mid-night.


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