Head of Western Balkans Regional Hub

The Head of the Western Balkans Regional Hub will ensure that the strategy of the Strong Cities Network is driven by the needs of cities across the region in preventing violent extremism, hate and polarisation at local levels. The post holder will build high-level strategic partnerships and strong relationships with cities, governments, and other partners in the region, and lead ongoing development and sustainability efforts.

The post holder will have extensive knowledge of key security and governance challenges affecting communities across the Western Balkans and will have a proven track record of working on these issues at a senior or leadership level. The successful applicant will demonstrate substantial experience in partnership and network building, ideally with national/local governments, civil society and/or international organisations.

Key responsibilities include:

• Establish and implement effective outreach and engagement processes with cities across the region in order to map local needs and gaps that inform SCN’s regional efforts.
• Lead on the technical content, event agendas, and policy focus of all regional activities in coordination with HQ colleagues, informed by deep subject matter expertise as well as strong familiarity with regional issues and debates.
• Identify opportunities and develop strategic partnerships with relevant multilateral and regional institutions and partners to ensure that SCN efforts are represented in wider P/CVE and/or relevant policy and practice frameworks.
• Develop strong relationships with national governments in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia to improve collaboration with SCN and strengthen the role of cities and municipalities, including through stronger national-local coordination.
• Line management responsibility for two junior direct reports.
• Lead on business development opportunities in close partnership with SCN leadership and HQ colleagues, covering all stages from concept inception through to proposal and budget submission and follow-up to secure funded support in line with SCN strategic priorities in the region.

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Job requirements

Candidates must have the following skills and experience:

• Relevant experience in, or Bachelor’s degree in international relations, political science, security, law, diplomacy or similar.
• Expert knowledge of counter-terrorism, preventing/countering violent extremism, rule of law, peacebuilding, conflict mitigation or international cooperation.
• Strong knowledge of local government structures in 2-3 relevant countries.
• Significant experience in developing and/or delivering peacebuilding/preventing violent extremism/local governance programmes with a range of stakeholders.
• Native or professional working proficiency in English and at least 1 relevant regional language.