Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in 1971, is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of medical professionals, logistics, administrative and various other professions, all guided by our medical ethics and our principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.

MSF WaCA, created in 2019, is the first MSF headquarters in Africa, and responds to the desire to reinvent the MSF movement after 50 years of humanitarian actions in the world, for more access to care, more reactivity and proactivity for greater medical coverage of affected populations in the world.

Why join us?

You are preparing to become a member of the MSF family, with over 50 years of emergency medical action that earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. We are an inclusive organization that considers social and professional well-being a right for all and provides an environment that takes into account the diversity of each member. MSF WaCA claims an African anchorage that considers the local expertise with which it contributes in the implementation of its activities and makes each member, a key actor of the new dynamics of the humanitarian action in the world.

We Are Looking for: HR DIRECTOR

Department: General Direction

Direct Manager: General Director

Functional Manager: General Director

Working %: 100%

Position Based in: Abidjan

Mobility: All WaCA’s Interventions Zones

Type of Contract: Fixed-Term Renewable

Position to be filled: As Soon As Possible

Mission

Reporting to the General Director (GD), the Director of Human Resources (HRD) drives culture and people strategies to ensure the long-term people needs for MSF WACA to achieve its social mission ambitions and strategic objectives. The position holder directly manages a team of 4. The Director of Human Resources leads the Human Resources function of MSF WACA- Operational Centre in Abidjan Ivory Coast and addresses the people management challenges of the organization.

MSF WACA is composed of 80 HQ staff mostly based in Abidjan, over 80 staff expatriated in field missions or flying and 500 national employees in countries of intervention. The HRD will be responsible to finalize and consolidate the setup and the foundation of an HR department for MSF WACA and to build a culture and practice that enable trust and empowerment of MSF global workforce and to ensure the wellbeing of the people The HRD is a key member of MSF WACA Management Team, and of the MSF International Human Resources Platform (IDRH). S/he also actively participates to all meetings with the Board and the associations’ General Assembly.

Objectives

As Director, you participate in the drafting of WaCA global strategic plan and its implementation. As HRD, you define and manage the HR strategic plan in close collaboration with every department; you reports and presents HR and People’s stakes to MSF WaCA board. You contribute actively to the construction of MSF WaCA through orientations that support a continuous improvement of the main elements of HR Strategy and safe environment: Administration management, Talent’s acquisition & retention, workforce planning and development, strategic governance, and this in compliance with WaCA philosophy.

Main responsibilities

Short-term (within 6 months) priorities:

a. Compensation and benefits

• Reviews, plan strategies , create, and oversees every element of the organization’s remuneration system. This includes the salary, bonuses, welfare benefits, staff health and retirement plans
• Ensures that the remuneration and reward schemes are fair, equitable, and attractive.
• Current context:
  • Challenge the ongoing compensation and benefits validation frame and propose improvements
  • Leads the discussions and validation steps and timelines for finalization and implementation of grading system, salary grid, compensation and benefits

b. HR Good Practices

Reviews, defines and implements Internal Regulations, policies and tools for people management for headquarters.

c. HR Information Systems:

• Ensures WaCA’s employee data meets data protection requirements.
• Current context:
  • Drives the finalization of the choice of WaCA HRIS
  • Validates and monitors the framework of implementation

d. Safeguarding and inclusion

• Drive a positive and inclusive work environment that maximizes staff commitment and nurtures a culture of wellbeing for all staff
• Support the promotion of diversity, prevention of discrimination and professional equality within the organization.
• Prevent abuse and discrimination within the organization and streamline the management of such cases when occurring. Collaborates effectively with WaCA safeguarding Committee and GD

Mid- to Long-Term Responsibilities

1. Designs HR Objectives, strategic plan & set up in line with MSF WaCA strategic plan.

• Together with the General management, Operations Direction, and the HR team defines, implements an HR action plan to achieve operational objectives of the organization.
• Defines and implements an HR Strategy / continuously updates and creates policies / tools for headquarter, the field and ensure their quality and that they are aligned on organization ambitions and contextualized.
• Makes recommendations, workforce planning and staffing strategies to meet future MSF operational needs.
• Guides the development and implementation of recruitment strategy and learning and development programs.
• Leads the main strategic institutional HR Projects, monitors their progress and ensures that the results are in line with what has been decided (Development & Implementation of HRIS, compensation & Benefits, Digitalization system)

2. Ensures the implementation of HR policies of MSF WaCA and the internal mechanisms necessary for their updates:

• Provides input and analysis to Leadership Team and Managers/Heads of all department from HR perspective in the design and execution of MSF WaCA annual plan and mid-term strategies
• Reviews structure and HR set up needs to ensure strong HR services are provided and adapted to the needs of the organization
• Provides support and guidance to the HR teams, managers on human resources management and ensure the proper dissemination of HR strategies / policies
• Anticipates and responds to the changing labour landscape, analyses internal and external trends and where appropriate, translates findings into actions in order to guarantee compliance to laws and regulations.
• Provides regular monitoring of HR indicators and ensure they are accurate and consistent. Accordingly propose corrective actions with innovative approach.
• Is accountable of resource management including budget management for the services under supervision of the position
• Produces internal quarterly and yearly human resource review reports
• Leads and manages HR team staff including monitoring and evaluation of performance, career and individual development
• Holds regular team meetings to coordinate, monitor and review activities.

3. Development & Implementation of WaCA HR Information System

• Is the owner for the organization’s HRIS software.
• Together with the IT department is responsible to ensure the operating HRIS team is in place

4. External relations:

• Creates partnerships with other MSF operational centers and supportive sections and participate actively to the MSF HR Directors platforms on relevant topics
• • Actively seeks and cultivates existing relationships with external contacts on HR trends and best practices, and act as focal point for key external partnerships (Universities etc.)
• Represents MSF WaCA within MSF IDRH international platform.

5. Safeguarding and inclusion

• Drives a positive and inclusive work environment that maximizes staff commitment and nurtures a culture of wellbeing for all staff
• Supports the promotion of diversity, prevention of discrimination and professional equality within the organization.
• Prevents abuse and discrimination within the organization and streamlines the management of such cases when occurring. Collaborates effectively with WaCA safeguarding Committee
• Ensures the highest standards of ‘duty of care’ for MSF WaCA staff.
• Provides direct oversight of complex case management including disciplinary and legal cases and crisis management support (including acting as lead HR Decision Making Authority for behaviour issues)

6. Risk Management:

• Ensures that external/internal risks and opportunities for HRs are considered in HR planning and in the organization’s Risk Management.
• In critical incidents ensures direct and indirect HR crisis support services are available and acts as focal point across different services
• Owns the mitigation and management of legal key risks for the organization

7. Be responsible for the budget of his department:

• Develops, manages, and monitors the HR department budget.

Job requirements

Education

• A diploma or Master’s degree in Human Resources
• Equivalent combination of education, training and experience will be considered

Competencies

• Adaptability to international humanitarian sector and new environment.
• Leadership capacity with proven ability to drive change, continuous improvement of HR function & result oriented.
• Experience in people management of multicultural teams
• Analytical capacity & ability to read, understand, summaries complex material.
• Agility and ability to use IT technology
• Ethics, social intelligence & fairness

Professional experience required

• Minimum 5 years’ experience working in a senior managerial HR position
• Experience working with a Board of Directors (associative and executive role) is highly desirable
• Knowledge of the MSF organization and its practices is an asset

Languages Skills

• Working proficiency in English and French (Mandatory)

Computer Skills

• MS Office suite (mainly MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint)

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MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.
Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
N.B.: This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.