Central Asia Programme Manager

Saferworld is an independent international organisation working to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives. We work with people affected by conflict to improve their safety and sense of security and conduct wider research and analysis.

Saferworld has been active in Central Asia since 2009. We have offices in Bishkek and Osh, and programmes in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. We help build trust and improve services by bringing people and security providers together. We encourage accountability and cooperation between communities and authorities to ensure that people’s security needs are addressed, and work on addressing women and youth concerns.

The post-holder provides overall leadership and direction to Saferworld’s work in Central Asia, in line with Saferworld’s organisational strategy for 2021-2031 and Saferworld’s values and principles. They will provide strong leadership and be responsible for further developing, managing and monitoring the regional strategy and programme, elaborating the strategic vision, fundraising to pursue programme development opportunities, providing financial oversight, managing staff, and reporting to donors. They will also represent Saferworld in interactions with relevant authorities, donors, and other stakeholders in Central Asia and globally – developing these relationships to advance our regional strategy. The post-holder will engage in cross-organisational information-sharing and lesson-learning on key policy and strategy issues and contribute to building synergies between the programmes.

The Central Asia programme deals with politically-sensitive issues and complex context. In this environment,

effective programme management means that the post-holder must lead on planning for and managing a range of

expected risks. Finally, the post-holder will contribute to organisation-wide strategic planning, processes and discussions to advance Saferworld’s thematic and operational priorities, methodological approaches and organisational development.

This position is an exciting opportunity to lead Saferworld’s regional programme in Central Asia. As the programme portfolio expands, the post-holder will contribute learning generated by all of our projects in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with other Saferworld’s team around the world.

The person we are looking for will have an excellent understanding of the Central Asia context and experience of working in Central Asian countries. A good understanding of the discourse on peacebuilding and conflict prevention, especially security and justice issues, inclusive peace processes and reforms, gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as the international policy environment in which these issues are addressed will be key. You will also need significant experience at senior management level, with proven experience managing multi-thematic programmes and excellent written and oral communication skills, including strong expertise in facilitation and accompaniment of staff and partners (government, non-state actors, and civil society organisations).