Change Support Manager

War Child Holland and War Child UK are creating the War Child Alliance, a closer collaboration between War Childs to create more impact as a global networked expert organisation. We think we can have more weight in discussions with scaling partners and the global agencies that set the standards to which such organisations adhere if we evolve our identity from Dutch / English to global. That’s why we want to transform ourselves from a Dutch/UK organisation with spinoffs in Sweden, Germany, and US to an international network with a shared platform.

We are building a networked organisation that can deliver on our ambition and reach more children, faster and with quality via an international network where all War Child entities can work effectively together with other organisations, agencies, and governments.

Our ambition is not just to build any family. Traditional NGO family structures are criticized for being dominated by northern donor groups. We want to create a progressive platform in which we can share governance of the platform with individuals from the countries where we want to work.

In the light of this ambition, War Child Holland and War Child UK are merging their programme operations into one organisation – War Child Alliance Foundation – which will be the implementing arm of War Child’s programmes. In DR Congo – where both War Child Holland and War Child UK have an office, we are aiming to merge these two offices into one joint DRC programme organisation.

Your Challenge!

The Change Support Manager will work closely with the DRC Country Teams of both War Child Holland and War Child UK to plan and execute the DRC merger in line with the agreed process guide. This role will advise and support the Country Directors with the following responsibilities.

Your Responsibilities

• providing support to the teams in operationalizing the decisions relating to the merger under the direction of the Country Directors,
• mapping and supporting the implementation of the merger process towards the intended Go-Live date of Jan 2024,
• preparing the teams to work in one integrated system*,
• facilitate discussion, inclusion, participation of both WCH and WCUK teams and promote team building processes in line with the merger vision.
• exploring options for registrations of War Child Holland, War Child UK and War Child Alliance Foundation,
• conducting review of the legal aspects and constraints of the merger process
• finalizing the organization design for the merged DRC structure and supporting its implementation,
• mapping out and implementing the process for transfer of assets and (staff, funding, and facilities lease) contracts – if applicable,
• establishing shared records and files for retaining key documents from the two separate programmes,
• provide a written assessment of the financial status and overall outstanding risks and issues from the two separate programmes to enable visibility and future planning,
• supporting Country Directors to communicate with staff in DRC as needed,
• preparing regular draft updates on the merger process to inform the DRC merger group, the Global Change lead, and the broader organizations. Such reports are to be approved by both CDs before distribution.

* Systems integration itself is being prepared by a specific project group and is therefore outside the scope of this ToR. The preparation and support for implementing those changes in systems and procedures in DRC will, however, be part of this role.

Position in the organisation

The Change Support Manager will report to the Country Directors of War Child Holland and War Child UK and relate to the Global Change Lead for alignment.

The Change Support Manager will work closely with the Operations Teams of both organisations and in particular with operations Assistants (temporary roles to support the merger) in each DRC Operations Team. The Operations Assistants will be line-managed by the Operations Managers of War Child UK and War Child Holland in DRC respectively and will be matrix-managed by the Change Support Manager.

Key results areas

• Exploration of legal options regarding registration, assets transfer and transfer of contracts (staff, funding and leases, as appropriate): outcome of this exploration will be a clear roadmap for registering War Child Alliance Foundation and a clear roadmap for transfer of assets and contracts between the different entities.
• Merger process planning: a clear roadmap for the implementation of the merger of the two operations in DRC, supporting the Country Directors in implementing the merger, monitoring progress of the implementation, reporting potential issues and concerns and supporting in finding solutions for those.
• Systems integrations support: following the lead from a global systems integration project, support the actual implementation of systems changes in DRC.
• Completing all change process tasks with all team members as relevant.
• Transitions communications support: supporting the Country Directors in preparing specific merger-related communications materials for both country teams of War Child Holland and War Child UK

Core values

• Impact and Accountability
• Creative and Bold
• Inspiration
• Integrity and Transparency
• Anti-Racism and Committed to each other.
• Inclusiveness and Sharing Power

All About You!

Knowledge and skills:

• Experience with organisational improvement and change processes
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to design, lead and deliver results across multiple simultaneous project strands.
• Mastery of the legal obligations and registration processes of International NGOs in the DRC (would be an asset)
• The experience and ability to move between process management, change management, tactical and operational issues and contribute with relevant content if applicable.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to bring many dispersed and diverse colleagues along with the process, demonstrating patience, tact, diplomacy, and sensitivity to culturally diverse environments.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills
• Capacity to design and implement consultation processes which add to the quality of decisions and build the confidence of participants in the outcomes.
• Communication skills which clearly and transparently ensure that all stakeholders have the information they need to feel engaged in the process.
• Good skills in budgeting and longer-range financial planning
• Good meeting facilitator skills
• A personal profile that brings positive energy, can-do mentality and a sense of both humour and perspective
• Fluent French and English language skills
• Affinity with War Child’s mandate, values and mission

Competencies

• Quality orientation
• Planning and organizing
• Persuasion
• Cooperation

What We Offer

Contract with salary and secondary labour conditions based on the international or local salary scale and T&C will apply.

The Organisation

War Child is a dynamic organization. We try to keep an informal ambiance within our office, with a lot of room for creativity, inspiration and self-initiative from employees. We practice what we preach: dynamic, innovative, integrity focused, and a drive to reach the highest possible results against the lowest possible costs. War Child aims to offer a challenging job in an inspiring workplace.

Child safeguarding

Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm. Successful applicants will be expected to be compliant and sign up to our Child Safeguarding policy, our Code of Conduct and PSEA: Adults at Risk Policy. You can find the Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk policy here: https://www.warchild.org.uk/whats-happening/news/our-child-safeguarding-policies-and-procedures