The IRC has been working in Ethiopia since 1999 implementing emergency and development work in rural communities and 21 refugee camps, reaching over 3.2 million clients in FY18 through programs in environmental health, health, education, child protection, economic recovery and development, and women’s protection and empowerment in six regions across country.
Job Overview/Summary: The IRC Country Director (CD) is responsible for overall leadership and supervisory management of IRC staff, programming, and operations, including program quality and accountability, stewardship of resources, staff safety and security, performance management and external representation. The CD is directly responsible for the program's overall coordination and strategic direction; providing oversight and coaching for directly supervised senior managers; leading country program teams to identify, design and deliver responsive, high-quality programs; ensuring efficient management of public grants and private funds for results, compliance, and focused, timely reporting; and oversight of financial management and compliance systems. The CD will maintain continuity of humanitarian support in current operational areas, while, in collaboration with the regional office, exploring the possibility of expanding the geographic scope as needs warrant and conditions allow.
Major Responsibilities:Leadership and Representation• Lead the country program by maintaining open and professional relations with colleagues, promoting a strong team spirit, oversight and resources to enable staff to perform successfully.• Develop and carry out strategies that result in strong representation with: government ministries and line bureaus at various levels; UNOCHA; donors including OFDA, USAID , DFID, BPRM, ECHO, EU, UNHCR, UNICEF and other international organizations; international and local NGOs; and networks.• Ensure that IRC remains a partner of choice for major international donors.• Develop and maintain a high level of understanding of donor priorities and planned funding streams.• Initiate and sustain strong, mutually beneficial and authentic partnerships with local organizations.• Seek out and pursue opportunities to raise the profile of the work of IRC and its partners, as well as the lives and the needs of the people IRC seeks to serve.• Play a leadership role in efforts to improve humanitarian coordination.• Lead country program collaboration with colleagues to deliver country programming and advocacy.• Ensure leadership and management processes enable the IRC to effectively adapt to contextual changes and fully make use of opportunities to expand humanitarian access and assistance.
Strategic Direction, Quality, and Growth• Ensure the strategic vision and direction of the country program is aligned with IRC2020 strategy to serve people with responsive, high-quality and accountable programming, and secure the resources necessary for realization.• Ensure the strategy action plan is of quality, implemented and guides decision-making.• Ensure quality through consistent use throughout the country program of: rigorous assessment, design, and proposal development and review processes; comprehensive monitoring & evaluation, accountability and learning systems; staff development investments; and partner organization capacity strengthening.• Remain current on national and regional issues impacting the country program and partners, and develop responsive strategies to changing contexts.• Ensure the SMT delivers the leadership, management structures, staffing skills and approaches, and operational systems required to ensure a coherent ‘one IRC’ approach to achieve country objectives.• Find opportunities for appropriate expansion and growth of programs, supported by the acquisition of and investment in human resources.
Safety and Security Management• Take primary responsibility for overall management for the country program.• Oversee the management of all security issues, including appropriate response to emergency situations as they arise.• Maintain a culture of safety throughout the country program, including trainings and briefings that prepare all country program staff for security incident prevention and response.• Keep security, evacuation and contingency plans current and accessible to country program staff.• Maintain close coordination and communication with the Regional Safety and Security Advisor on relevant concerns and evolving issues that could adversely affect IRC staff or operations.
Staff Management, Learning and Development• Oversee the management, coaching and development of IRC Ethiopia staff to build a team of skilled, committed and motivated staff. Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting quarterly performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.• Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and offering guidance on career paths.• Hold high-quality 1:1 meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, at least bi-weekly.• Approve and manage all time, attendance and leave requests of direct reports to ensure adequate departmental coverage.• Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Model healthy work-life balance practices. Support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs of IRC Ethiopia staff.• Offer leadership support for successful adherence by all staff to IRC’s country, regional and Global HR Operating Policies and Procedures.• Work with regional HR staff to identify and implement recruitment and retention strategies.• Undertake regular reviews of labor and salary markets in the area for the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of the IRC’s overall compensation package for national staff.
Stewardship and Operational Management• Drive operational excellence to achieve optimal efficiency and cost-effectiveness in all functions and operations of the country program.• Oversee the development, deployment and utilization of financial and operational policies, procedures, and systems to deliver compliance with IRC and donor requirements.• Ensure responsiveness and appropriate levels of in-person and remote support to all offices, especially in the areas of HR, finance and supply chain.• Provide timely and effective oversight of the country program’s financial position.• Maintain effective and coordinated budget monitoring processes for grant funds and discretionary funds.• Seek opportunities to introduce efficiencies and eliminate redundancies in existing business processes.
Communications• Model and encourage active practice of the principles of the “IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct” throughout the Ethiopia country program.• Maintain a healthy and empowering office environment that encourages open, honest and productive communication among IRC staff and with partner organizations.• Maintain open communications with regional management staff, regional technical advisors, and HQ departmental staff.

Requisition ID: req6645

Job Title: Country Director - Ethiopia

Sector: Program Administration

Employment Category: Regular

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: Yes

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Job Description

Qualifications