Country Director for Ethiopia

Organization

iMMAP is an international nongovernmental organisation that provides information management services to humanitarian and development organizations. Through information management, we help our partners target assistance to the world’s most vulnerable populations. Our core philosophy is that better data leads to better decisions and that better decisions lead to better outcomes. iMMAP’s critical support to information value chains helps to solve operational and strategic challenges of our partners in both emergency and development contexts by enabling evidence-based decision-making for better outcomes.

Background

Since May 2017, iMMAP has been supporting the humanitarian community and the government in Ethiopia with information management (IM), mapping, and analysis services to assist decision-makers in planning, coordinating and evaluating the emergency response.

Currently, iMMAP in Ethiopia manages two different projects that aim at strengthening the IM capacity of humanitarian sector members and provide situational analysis support to improve the mechanism used to identify the needs of vulnerable populations. iMMAP in Ethiopia is a team of around 25 national staff and 2 international.

Description of Duties

The Country Representative (CR) is the senior iMMAP management position in host country, with supervisory and managerial responsibility for all in-country personnel, programmes and policies. The CR is responsible for developing the overall iMMAP strategic direction for programming in concert with the iMMAP senior management team and local and international partners. S/He is also responsible for developing and implementing systems, policies and procedures for iMMAP operations in country. As the iMMAP senior manager in country, the CR is also responsible for financial oversight, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, staff safety and security, human resource management, and representation in the field. Working closely with the chief executive officer, the CR ensures that country programme operations meet the highest standard and are supportive of regional and global iMMAP strategies.

• Strategy and Vision
• Formulate and plan, in consultation with key stakeholders, a clear vision of present and future programme goals and strategies which can be clearly communicated to team members, local beneficiaries, international partners, governmental counterparts, and donors.
• Set direction by prioritising and organising actions and resources to achieve program and organisational objectives.
• Evaluate program priorities within the country and participate in regional prioritisation.
• Explore, evaluate and present new country and project funding opportunities that leverage impact and integrate initiatives and activities; support and direct related fund-raising activities with both institutional and private donors.
• Project Management
• Oversee the overall design of the program ensuring objectives are met within the required time frame and budget. Where necessary ensure preventative and corrective action is taken.
• Develop and support the rolling out of an implementation strategy that is appropriate to the country context and strategy.
• Manage a comprehensive activity plan, including resource needs analysis, covering the time frame.
• Maintain an overview of the national and regional context with a view to the strategic development of the project both in the current identified sites and the potential of future program extension and expansion.
• Support program implementation as needed, including: developing assessments, baselines, budgets, monitoring and evaluation systems, field visits to verify data, reporting
• Support in the program close-out or modification requests
• Financial Management
• Plan and construct the program budget
• Ensure that budgets are spent according to donor proposals and regulations.
• Monitor the spending of designated program funds in the pre-operational phase of the program.
• Team Management
• Develop and maintain an adequate human resource plan consistent with iMMAP’s policies, including current position descriptions for all iMMAP in country positions, personnel orientation and professional development plans, personnel evaluation system, field personnel policy manual, and personnel grievance procedure system.
• Recruit, manage and motivate an informed, skilled and efficient team with an emphasis on excellence and achievement; encourage a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, incorporating staff development strategies and performance management systems into the team building process.
• Establish leadership and personal credibility with the iMMAP team, and implement and create an organisational culture of accountability, responsibility and quality of services.
• Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation
• Ensure the programme is based upon sound principles of design and utilise iMMAP and donor required monitoring and evaluation systems.
• Representation
• Represent the iMMAP country programme with national and international donors, partners, media, and participate in local community activities as appropriate.
• Maintain effective and positive internal contacts with iMMAP headquarters officers and staff, and external contacts with the Embassies, national and local government officials, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), donor agency officials, vendors, media, and the general public.
• Fiscal, Compliance Management and Accountability
• Coordinate overall country budget; manage budget within approved spending levels and establish an annual cash flow plan to ensure a steady and adequate supply of funds for program activities.
• Oversee budget management of sub-grantees/sub-contractors if any.
• Build and maintain operational structures that ensure proper segregation of duties between finance, administration and logistics and fully support field programs.
• Security
• Manage safety and security of the entire iMMAP country team and assets according to best practices, operating standards and field realities.
• Liaise with security officials of the local government and other humanitarian, relief and development stakeholders concerning crucial events, periods of increased risk, incident reporting, and security policy changes.

Requirements

• Education
• Advanced university degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Information Science or other relevant fields;
• Experience
• At least 8 years of experience with increasing responsibility in management positions, preferably within the UN or other humanitarian organizations;
• Complete understanding of the UN cluster system and its functioning;
• Proven ability and experience interacting with a wide range of organizations and stakeholders from the UN, donors, clusters, NGOs;
• Experience in emergency relief management and field coordination;
• Soft skills
• Strong presentation and communication skills;
• Service orientated and ability to build consensus.
• Ability to understand and adapt to complex and dynamic situations;
• Ability to work in harsh operational environments;
• Takes initiatives, manages own use of time and is self-motivating;
• Self drive, flexibility and creativity.

Guiding Principles

Personnel is expected to conduct itself in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and iMMAP’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all Countries.

iMMAP has zero-tolerance for sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, child abuse and exploitation. Any violations of these principles and policies will be treated as serious misconduct.

iMMAP is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background.