Country Director

ForAfrika is a humanitarian, development and advocacy organisation devoted to improving the lives of children, families and their communities around Africa.

Position Summary
-Provide overall strategic and operational leadership for ForAfrika CAR country office.
-Model a high standard of personal leadership to ForAfrika CAR’s Senior Management Team (SMT) and staff, ensuring full alignment with the Country Strategy, ForAfrika’s Global Strategy, Our Purpose, Mission and Vision.
-Grow ForAfrika CAR program in participants reached and in revenue.
-Ensure compliance with ForAfrika policies and standards, while meeting desired goals and objectives.
-Provide leadership that maximises ForAfrika’s impact for children, their families and communities.
-Ensure fulfilment of the ForAfrika CAR’s Transition Plan to become self-funded.
-Ensure ForAfrika CAR is appropriately structured, financially viable and appropriately resourced.
-Represent ForAfrika to the Government, donors, project partners, affiliate offices, global office, Church representatives, UN Agencies and non-governmental organizations according to given Power of Attorney and Limits of Authority.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:
Leadership and Management of ForAfrika CAR. Promote ForAfrika’s growth Vision, Mission, Purpose, Core Values, Organizational Standards and Practices among the staff and partners and ensure these are the core foundation of the office strategies and work,
-Grow ForAfrika CAR Country Program in the number of participants reached and in revenue.
-Provide a focused vision for the whole organization, motivating all staff to work together towards shared goals,
-Select, coach, develop and manage a strong Country SMT, building a culture of empowerment, high performance, open transparency and mutual support. Ensure capable staff are available to implement ForAfrika CAR strategy and operational plans,
-Promote and participate in leadership development initiatives while promoting at the same time a culture of learning & development, employee engagement and good stewardship of human capital in the office,
-Respect, value and promote gender, age, religious and ethnic diversity; (ensure implementation of ForAfrika Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Management policy and practices),
-Respect, value and promote Protection against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). Ensure implementation of PSEA Zero Tolerance policy and practices.
-Exercise stewardship of resources and prove to be trustworthy. Manage the human, financial, capital, and technical resources of ForAfrika CAR with prudence, diligence and discernment.
-Inspire and maintain high standards of work and clear accountability to stakeholders.

Performance (Standards and Accountability)
-Ensure growth.
-Ensure high programme quality and impact by developing and implementing programs which meet ForAfrika CAR’s highest quality and standards,
-Work with ForAfrika CAR SMT to jointly identify the key areas for future programmes and projects, for which targeted communities are in need,
-Ensure that all programs are implemented, monitored and evaluated to measure impact and in accordance with donors, Global Support Office (GSO), Affiliate Offices and other stakeholders’ frameworks,
-Ensure that proper feedback and complaint mechanisms for beneficiaries, communities, other stakeholders and ForAfrika CAR staff are in place,
-Ensure measurable improvement and impact on children is achieved.
-Ensure accountability for the implementation of effective programme to all key stakeholders,
-Develop and implement effective systems for strategic and adaptive management, ensure operational plans are in place and projects are able to make necessary adjustments to plans and budgets during implementation,
-Adhere to ForAfrika’s Safeguarding policies and standards. Perform other relevant tasks assigned by the direct supervisor,
-Develop relationships with Donors, UN Agencies, ForAfrika GSO and Affiliate colleagues in order to incorporate ForAfrika guidelines and initiatives in the developed proposals.

Representation and Networking
-Strengthen presence and awareness of ForAfrika CAR’s program both within and outside of ForAfrika,
-Represent ForAfrika CAR at appropriate national government level, UN/ NGO/ donor meetings, joint agency assessments, and task forces, as required,
-Provide leadership, strategic direction and support to the team for developing and implementing excellent donor experience and acquisition of funds,
-Ensure that ForAfrika is positioned as a leading African NGO in promoting the well-being and rights of children within the country context to deserve public and stakeholders’ confidence and trust,

Transition to Self-Funded office
-Lead successful implementation of the ForAfrika CAR Transition Plan,
-ForAfrika CAR fulfils the ForAfrika family likeness to ensure program quality and to manage risk and reputation issues,
-Lead Transition/ Change Management Team in achieving the set transition targets,
-Build ForAfrika CAR team understanding, engagement and ownership in transition processes,
-Establish / maintain a team structure that safeguards all funding streams and facilitates cross fertilisation.

Financial Management, Financial and Operational Audit Compliance
-Ensure efficient and effective organizational practices that would result in successful financial and operational audit scores,
-Oversee action planning and execution to resolve audit findings in an agreed and timely manner; oversee appropriate reporting of audit results and actions.
-Oversee strong financial compliance through timeliness and completeness of financial reports,
-Oversee strong operational compliance through timeliness and completeness of program/project reports,
-Manage overall financial integrity of the programs to Donors, Partners, Affiliates, the Government and other stakeholders,
-Provide overall strategic leadership and initiative for identifying and securing financial resources to support the program.

Spiritual Leadership
-Ensure that the office has a high-quality Faith and Development approach with mainstreamed country appropriate interventions developed, annually agreed by SMT
-Model a high standard of personal Christian leadership, ministry and integrity though lifestyle and work relationships. Exhibit spiritual maturity, integrity and a dynamic personal sense of life calling,
-Participate and lead spiritual nurture meetings/devotions as scheduled.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
1. CAR citizen in good standing with government.
2. University degree in Food Security or related discipline.
3. Qualifications in management or project management.
4. 3+ years proven Leadership experience with International NGOs in transformational development programming.
5. Experience in managing integrated Relief/ Development and Advocacy programs.
6. Proven project management experience with Government grants, and major private donors.
7. Proven track record of delivering programs and reports on time.
8. Knowledge of humanitarian sector and donor community.
9. Politically astute and well-developed diplomatic skills, especially in dealing with government, donors, UN partners, Affiliates, staff and ForAfrika GSO.
10. Proven negotiation skills and ability to handle multiple demands from many stakeholders.
11. Strong communication skills with ability to express ideas clearly and persuasively with internal and external stakeholders.
12. Good knowledge of financial management and change management.
13. Understanding of development, monitoring & evaluation processes.
14. Experience in program assessment, design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and report writing.
15. Excellent French and English communication skills (verbal and written). Proficiency in Songa and regional dialects will be an added advantage.
16. Commitment to ForAfrika’s Vision, Core Values and Mission.
17. Ability to exhibit exemplary lifestyle as interpreted in specific local culture context.
18. Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as required.