Country Coordinator

We are currently looking for a Country Coordinator to oversee our team in Poland as part of our Ukrainian response.

Position:Country Coordinator

Contract duration:12 months

Location: Warsaw, Poland

Starting Date: ASAP

COUNTRY PROFILE

Following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, military hostilities have caused widespread damage to infrastructure and houses, hundreds of civilian deaths, disrupted markets and essential services, and led to massive displacement within Ukraine and into neighbouring countries. Since then, more than 8.4 million refugees have reportedly fled Ukraine, with over 4.3 million refugees arriving in Poland. Nearly 1.5 million applied for PESEL (Personal Identification number) and received Temporary Protection status in the country.

IMPACT has played a central role in the 2022 regional refugee response in Poland by producing and disseminating critical evidence-based information products to assist humanitarian response planning. IMPACT is now seeking funding to continue its efforts and build upon its baseline of well-established data collection tools, data collection teams, local partnerships, and technical capacity building expertise, which will be fundamental for information management (IM) and coordination efforts as the refugee situation in Poland evolves.

FUNCTIONS

Under the management of the Head of Programmes, the Country Coordinator oversees the programs and staff in Poland with close coordination with other IMPACT offices in the region – Ukraine and Moldova.

Within their Unit, the Country Coordinator leads the IMPACT team to achieve program excellence and ensure the highest level of impact and accountability, while ensuring compliance to IMPACT’s guidelines and standards. The Country Coordinator contributes to the development and implementation of IMPACT’s country strategy and promotes organizational vision and core values across the mission.

The Country Coordinator will be hosted by ACTED and will fall under the direct responsibility and management of ACTED’s Country Director and their delegates for all Administrative, Security, Logistics, HR and Finance issues. They will therefore fully abide by ACTED’s Security, HR, Administration and Logistics rules and regulations, and, in coordination with ACTED, will ensure IMPACT staff in his/her unit abide by them.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Country Coordinator responsibilities include the following:

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION

• Ensure IMPACT has an up-to-date understanding of the country’s socio-economic situation, the impact of the crisis, as well as the aid/humanitarian coordination mechanisms
• Develop and oversee the implementation of a Country Strategy for the mission, and take a lead role in identifying strategic opportunities for strengthening IMPACT’s work in the country, including identify funding opportunities to strengthen country programs
• Ensure each Unit within the mission develops and pursues a Unit Strategy that is aligned with the Country Strategy objectives

FUNDRAISING

• In close coordination with IMPACT HQ, approach donors to identify funding to support IMPACT’s programs in country;
• Oversee project proposal conceptualization, within the framework of the country, regional and global strategy, and budget design, in consultation with ACTED and IMPACT HQ, ensuring the application of IMPACT guidelines on proposal, budget and contract design;
• Negotiate proposal and/or contracts with donors, in close coordination with IMPACT HQ and in consultation with ACTED Country Director (when joint proposal/contract).

PROGRAMME PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Ensure that all IMPACT programs contribute to supporting better aid planning and are aligned with IMPACT global and country strategies;
• Supervise all stages of program implementation, receiving regular updates from team members providing inputs when required, and conducting field visits to program sites for monitoring, quality control and program staff mentoring and coaching;
• Maintain regular link with ACTED (as relevant) to facilitate the provision of logistic, administrative and security support to facilitate program implementation, as well as ensuring that IMPACT teams comply to ACTED’s security and other relevant FLAT regulations during program implementation;

PROJECT CYCLE MANAGEMENT

• Grant and Project Management: ensure that contractual obligations are met in terms of deliverables as well as narrative and financial reporting requirements, provide ad-hoc support to project implementation through trouble shooting and eliminating blocking points and ensure adequate contribution to project and proposal follow up tools through the timely submission of monthly updated Reporting Follow Up (RFU) tool
• Finance Management: Control project budgets to avoid under/over spending, ensure accurate and timely financial tracking, forecasting and reporting and anticipate financial risks and gaps in funding;

TEAM MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

• Provide leadership across the mission, as well as within the country Senior Management Team, transmitting IMPACT’s values and vision
• Staff Management: Ensure that all staff have clear and regularly updated TORs, workplans and Key performance Indicators against which their performance will be appraised, promote the growth and development of staff within the organisation and manage interpersonal conflicts (internal and external);
• Administration and HR management: Ensure transparent and timely recruitment of national staff and contribute to international staff recruitment upon HQ identification, proactively adapt the staffing structure to needs and funding and ensure regular performance appraisal and career management

INTERNAL COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION

• Facilitate internal communication within the team and information sharing, ensure regular reporting to IMPACT HQ through the Monthly Coordination Report, as well as direct reporting to HQ grants management, finance, HR and program departments. Ensure that any risk to IMPACT programming, projects or staff is as soon as possible communicated to and understood by IMPACT director of country programmes and relevant HQ head of departments
• Ensure regular coordination with ACTED’s Country Director, Project Development, Finance and other FLAT departments at all stages of project development and implementation, including consultations for donor discussions, participation in project kick off and lessons learnt meetings, joint drafting of monthly internal updates and drafting of donor reports or amendment requests. Ensure that all IMPACT staff is aware and fully abide by ACTED’s regulations in terms of administration, logistics and security

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

• Establish, maintain and improve active and regular working relationships with coordination platforms (clusters, sectors, working groups, NGO forum, HCT, etc), UN agencies, donors, NGOs, consortia, academia, and key decision-making forums;
• Identify potential opportunities and develop donor relationships, as relevant.

REQUIREMENTS

• Academic Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (International Relations, Political Sciences, Social Research, Economics, Development Studies, or similar)
• Years of work experience At least 5 years of relevant working experience or proven progression within IMPACT.
• Management experience Previous experience in a senior management role in an INGO at field level. Proven track record in successful management of international and national teams in humanitarian contexts.
• Familiarity aid system Familiarity with the aid system, and the research community.
• Communication/reporting skills Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting, including proven experience in contributing to high level presentations/briefings.
• Experience in geographical region Past experience in the region/supporting Ukraine response is desirable;
• Research skills: Excellent research and analytical skills an asset. Experience in assessments. M&E, field research, evaluations an asset.
• Software skills: Proven knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite, to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Familiarity with R, SPSS and/or STATA or other statistical analysis software an asset
• Multi-tasking skills Ability to multitask with tight deadlines, on numerous research cycles in complex environment;
• Level of independence A self-starter with a proven ability to work independently;
• Cross-cultural work environment Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility;
• Language skills Fluency in English required, competency in Polish, Ukrainian or Russian is an asset.