Plan International Deputy Country Director Job in Nairobi Kenya

Position: Deputy Country Director
 

Grade: F

Department & Location: Plan Kenya

Reports to: Country Director (CD)

Purpose: Working in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, Plan’s stated Global Strategic Goal (2011-15) is to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalised, with high-quality programmes that deliver long-lasting benefits. Plan aims to achieve this goal by working in partnership with others and through high performing teams whose behaviours reflect the corporate values.

The latest Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for Kenya has been approved for the period 2011 – 2015. Currently, the country program reaches over 1,000,000 children supported in seven Programme Units (PUs) and an urban program. 

It has a country annual budget turnover of near 18 million Euros, a growing team of 300 full time staff, a caseload of 68,164 sponsored children and a large grants portfolio from bilateral and multilateral donors including the European Union and CIDA with great potential and future plans to engage global fund, USAID and others.

The Deputy Country Director is responsible for leading, managing, and supporting all Programmes, Sponsorship, Business Development Technical Team Monitoring and Evaluation, and Urban Program teams in order to ensure delivery of quality and integrated programming in line with the organizational standards, frameworks, and procedures.

The Deputy Country Director is managed directly by the Country Director and will at times be required to take on the responsibilities of the Country Director position in his/her absence.

Dimensions of the Role

• The Deputy Country Director is a member of the Core Country Management Team along with other country managers and is expected to contribute to Plan’s understanding and strategic direction in the country. He or she deputises for CD on CMT which draws membership from CD, DCD and 5 departmental managers
• The Deputy Country Director supervise Senior Programme Implementation and Quality Manager, Business Development Manager, Communications Manager, Sponsorship Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and Team Leader Programme Technical support
• The Deputy Country Director reports regularly to the CD on the management of all risks associated with programme delivery including budget, people management, and legal compliance.
• The Deputy Country Director oversees implementation of the overall programme development.
• Has responsibility for organizationalcompliance and cost effectiveness in line with organisational policies, procedures
• Facilitate engagement of other leaders with the Country Strategic Plan to ensure maximum understanding and operationalisation of agreed strategies.
• The Deputy Country Director oversees the preparation, consolidation, and analysis of collated country and PUs budgets for submission to the regional office annually.
• Monitor programme performance and budget utilization and advise on corrective measures
• Upon delegation of the Country Director, the Deputy Country Director may approve all commitments, contracts, grants, leases, disbursements, and transfers to third parties up to €200,000.
• The role is expected to participate in various Humanitarian Networks in Kenya including the UN and other local, regional, and international fora both in Kenya and outside.
• Builds relationships with NOs to increase and preserve Kenya’s assignment levels and sponsorship assignments.

Typical Responsibilities - Key End Results of Position

Team development and people management

• Team building and maintenance: establish, agree, communicate and monitor standard of performance and behaviours for the above listed departments/operational units. Team ToR, objectives, and key performance indicators (KPI’s) are agreed annually, and monitored and updated quarterly
• Individual development and performance management: manage and develop the performance of the operations support teams across the country to ensure delivery of quality support and services. This includes agree, monitor and evaluate individual accountability and personal development plans as per Plan’s performance management policy and process.

Strategic planning, reporting and support to programmes delivery

• Strategic planning: contribute to the strategic development and management of the country in particular by reviewing and commenting on the draft Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and the Programme Unit Long Term Plans (PULTP)
• Support to programmes: Oversee the planning and delivery of all general services and logistical requirements of program work in line with established procedures e.g.: procurements, storage, transportation and distribution;
• Reporting: coordinate the reporting process, in particular quarterly and annual reports, to the RO including timely submission of all required reports and implementation of follow-up actions and recommendations.

Resources- Sponsorship and Other Budgeting:

• Guides the country team in Resource allocation decisions particularly Sponsorship allocations to the PUs in line with country priorities and needs.
• Designs measure to ensure integration of Sponsorship and programmes incl Grants for effectiveness and maximisation of impact to communities.
• Develops actions for implementation of organisation Sponsorship procedures and policies.
• Puts in effective mechanisms to address risks and issues affecting performance in both deliveries of Sponsorship productions in the country.
• Signs off the Sponsorship programme overview and update reports.
• Builds relationships with NOs for furtherance of sponsorship enrolmement and assignments
• Oversees the coordination of the preparation, consolidation, analysis and submission of country and PUs budgets to the regional office (RO) as per field budget instructions and guidelines;

Compliance and management of risks

• Policies and procedures: coordinates with relevant heads of Department/Section so that systems and processes are in place to comply with Plan global policies, standards and procedures and legal requirements in the areas of finance, people & culture, administration & logistics, ICT, security
• Child Protection: ensure the compliance and coherence of Plan’s Child Protection Policy at all times to safeguard and protect children from all forms of abuse;
• Risk Management: Ensure systems and processes are in place to identify and manage risks including developing, updating and submitting countrywide risk register to the RO in line with the Global Risk Management policy, and ensuring that risks are adequately identified, assessed, mitigated and reported on through risk registers at all levels in the country.
• Health and Safety: oversees the development and implementation of health and safety standards in compliance with the host country laws and Plan’s global health and safety policy;
• Loss and Incident reporting: report timely and consistently all losses and incidents, including updates, to the International Headquarters (IH) and the RO;
• Legal and regulatory: oversees the review of agreements and contracts and ensure compliance with the host country laws and regulation, ensure the interface with the legal advisors, timely report all potential legal cases to legal advisors and to the RO and to IH as relevant;

Procedures, process and applications support

• Applications and systems support: oversees the in-country rollout of corporate systems and applications
• Global and regional policies and procedures: oversee the rollout of global and regional policies and ensure compliance to standard procedures
• In-country policies and procedures: oversees the development and implementation of up-to-date financial and administrative systems, policies, procedures and guidelines to support in-country operations and ensure compliance of Plan’s global standards and donor requirements.

Other responsibilities

• Liaison with stakeholders: liaise with and communicates with government bodies, donors, United Nations and local and international agencies stakeholders – as required and directed by the Country Director.

Dealing with Problems

• Ability to quickly understand and assimilate the complexity of Plan’s business model, systems and procedures, organisational structures and decision-making processes;
• Capable to work in a matrix management setup and to work collaboratively with functional leads at different levels
• Good understanding of people management, financial and admin systems and standards and be able to propose appropriate solutions to achieve efficiency and effectiveness;
• Good understanding of Security/emergency management to ensure staff safety, minimize risks and maintain business continuity;
• Ability to provide support to program units and the country office staff to address internal child protection issues and other incidents;
• Ability to identify critical and systemic risks and take timely and appropriate actions.

Communications and Working Relationships

Internal

• Country Management Team members
• Other Deputy Country Directors in the Region
• Deputy RD-Operations Support
• Functional departments Heads at CO Global Assurance Manager and Team
• Legal Counsel in the International Headquarters.

External

• National and Local authorities especially relevant ministers in the country e.g. labour department, Ministry of Finance etc.
• Partners organisations
• Other INGO deputies and functional managers Legal Advisors in country;
• Security Associations and Networks

Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours required to achieve role’s objectives

Knowledge

• Demonstrable knowledge as a result of education, training or practical experience on the key debates in development, particularly around child rights;
• Practical knowledge of operations support for development and emergency response
• General knowledge of, administrative, and business management matters;
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), e-mail and the internet;
• Strong knowledge of the requirements of donors’ compliance and grants management;
• Fluency in English both spoken and written;
• Knowledge of the host country, the geopolitical factors affecting child-poverty in the country as well as the political, social and economic opportunities for development are an advantage.

Leadership Skills and Behaviours demonstrated from experience

Striving for high performance:

• Achieves clarity and accountability among whole team of their individual and collective objectives;
• Organises work clearly and effectively within the team;
• Deals with poor performers by either improving their contribution or managing their exit, if appropriate.

Strategic thinking and innovation:

• Creates strong strategic direction for own part of organisation in wider Plan context;
• Major contributor to direction in the management team of which they are a member;
• Flexible in responding to new demands presented in emergency situations.

Decision making and risk management:

• Can address complex problems in a balanced way;
• Good judgment in decision-making, making best use of available information;
• Willing to make difficult or unpopular decisions and stand by them.

Influence and communication:

• Uses the potential of varied cultures to reach solutions;
• Excellent listener who understands and shows sensitivity to the views of others;
• Forms good relationships quickly with wide range of people, including those in positions of power and who have different views/ interests;
• Represents Plan effectively with senior people in external stakeholder organisations;
• Understands external and internal politics and able to navigate these;
• Communicates with clarity and passion both 1-1 and with large groups;
• Effective negotiator in complex situations;
• Assertive without being aggressive.

Building effective teams and partnerships:

• Creates a highly motivated team with a unified purpose;
• Modifies own view to get best outcome for organisation;
• Contributes effectively to work of other functions/ units and to management team as a whole
• Able to build partnerships and improve relationships;
• Resolves conflict effectively in own team or across boundaries.

Developing people:

• Continuously uses both 1-1 and team situations to develop others;
• Organises work to give others development opportunities;
• Adapts style to suit the needs of a wide variety of people;
• Deals effectively with mistakes and re-motivates those involved.

Self-awareness and resilience:

• Aware of own strengths, weaknesses and pro-active in using feedback and self-development
• Aware of impact on others and uses impact to create positive climate at work
• Aware of own emotional reactions and able to manage them
• Manages own workload effectively and manages stress without harm to self or others
• Positive about change and able to cope well with ambiguity and support others in doing so

Physical Environment: Based in the country office located in Nairobi with extensive and regular local travel as well as some international travel

Ability to travel to remote areas,

Current security level for Kenya is low.

Level of Contact with Children: Mid contact - Occasional interaction with children

How to Apply

CLICK HERE to apply online

Send your motivation letter and CV as one document when applying.

The closing date of applications is 3rd November 2014.

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.