Regional Director, Asia & Global Humanitarian Response

ActionAid is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice.

We want to see a just, fair and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression.

So we work to achieve social justice and gender equality, and to eradicate poverty.

Our strategy is to build international momentum for social, economic and environmental justice, driven by people living in poverty and exclusion.

In practice, this means working closely with people living in poverty and exclusion, civil society organisations, social movements and supporters. Together, we deliver grassroots programmes, provide emergency relief and campaign for things such as women’s economic rights, tax justice and climate justice.

Our work falls into four broad areas: women, politics and economics, land and climate, and emergencies. We have a particular focus on women’s rights; it’s a thread that runs through all our work.

Role overview

Action Aid International (AAI) has been going through a period of organisational transformation resulting in a newly defined Global Secretariat (GS) Leadership Team reporting directly to the AAI Secretary General.

This position will hold a dual regional (Asia) and global functional (Humanitarian Response) role.

It is a very strategic role essential for the success of ActionAid’s Global Strategy. The role will be part of a Global Management Team that provides leadership to achieve internal coherence and external impact.

The Director will harness the capacities and energy of both the regional and dual functional teams reporting to him/her to jointly drive transformation of country impact and sustainability in collaboration with other GS teams.

The Regional Director remit will provide political leadership at regional and global level, convening and mobilising countries to engage in collective priorities of the Federation, both internal and externally facing mission work. The Regional Director will also line manage a regional team including the Head of Country Engagement and Transformation as well as matrix manage critical roles based at regional level.

By elevating our Humanitarian team to an independent global function with strong Director-level focus and leadership, we expect to achieve substantial gains in AAI’s humanitarian profile, impact, influencing and funding, building on our feminist humanitarian signature.

Key Activities and Areas of Responsibility

Strategic Impact and Contribution

Ensures that AA’s Humanitarian work and the Humanitarian Signature is part of the core of AAI mission working closely with the other Regional/Functional Directors.

• Elevates the success and impact of AAI’s humanitarian work by:

  • championing the humanitarian commitments and objectives of the Federation and ensure their collective ownership and implementation.
  • working closely with the Director of Political and Programme strategy to increase the synergy between AAI development and humanitarian work, and to expand donor funding for humanitarian and resilience work.
  • working closely with the Director of Public Engagement and Supporter Growth to increase AAI’s humanitarian profile externally and spearhead innovation to maximise the potential of humanitarian response to engage and activate new and existing supporters.

• Together with other Regional Directors, effectively engage Country Directors, and ensures meaningful engagement of members in the humanitarian work.

• Works closely with other Directors and the wider Global Management Team to oversee and drive an integrated cross-functional strategic plan for increasing the transformation, sustainability and impact of AAI countries across all regions.

• Plays an important political convening role with Country Directors in the region to deliver country transformation and financial sustainability goals.

• Builds unity, trust and ensures active and meaningful engagement of members and countries in the region in federation processes.

System, Policies and Procedures and Product Management

• Enhances the constant improvement and implementation of the Humanitarian Signature.
• Works closely with the Director of Programme and Political Strategy to drive and champion innovation and improvement in AAI’s approach to the “humanitarian/development nexus”, particularly in the arena of climate justice.
• Owns and champions AAI’s policies, standard operating procedures and best practices for humanitarian work, ensuring that they evolve in line with the changing external landscape and donor requirements, and that they reflect and reinforce other core standards (e.g. SHEA and Safeguarding policies, Data Protection policies, Financial Management Framework).
• Promotes adherence to all Federation core policies by countries in the region and champions understanding and ownership of these policies as a key ingredient of country sustainability and impact.

Issue Resolutions, Crisis/Risk Management

• Working with regional team and other directors, provides the essential leadership to detect and resolve tensions and manage crisis at country and regional level that impact ActionAid’s mission.
• In collaboration with other regional and functional directors, ensures a constructive balancing of power within the Federation and ensure that ActionAid walks the talk on Feminism, decolonialisation and anti-racism
• Manages and creatively resolves tensions within the GS and Federation around humanitarian priorities, positions and approaches, working closely with the Director responsible for Political and Programme Strategy.
• Acts as the ultimate owner of reputational, security or other risks in humanitarian responses, and oversees management of these risks when needed (as escalated by Director of IHART).

Communications, Influencing and Coordination

External:

• Acts as ActionAid’s most senior public spokesperson on humanitarian issues, representing the organisation in key high level external engagements and international humanitarian spaces.
• Works closely with Director responsible for Public Engagement and Supporter Growth to ensure that AA Humanitarian Signature and responses are timely and relevant for external audiences and media.

Internal:

• Ensures the unity and cohesiveness of the Federation in the region and works with other regional directors to strengthen the federation’s internal coherence and external impact
• Ensures Federation members participation, ownership and meaningful alignment and buy in with the Humanitarian Signature
• Plays an important political convening role with Country Directors in the region to deliver country transformation and financial sustainability goals.
• Builds unity, trust and ensures active and meaningful engagement of members and countries in the region in federation processes

People Management

• Build and nurture a highly motivated team that fully realises their potential to contribute to ActionAid’s mission.
• Specifically responsible for recruiting, developing, coaching and performance managing high-performing Heads.
• In collaboration with the primary reporting managers, support the regional team members that have matrixing reporting obligations to the Regional Director to succeed
• Deliberately work to break silos and foster cross functional ways of working that harness the collective potential of different teams within the cluster and across regions
• Models and nurtures a feminist and anti-racist leadership culture within own cluster and whole of GS, with consistent and dedicated attention to building trust; dismantling bias and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion; promoting effective and accountable collaboration; encouraging courageous innovation; and caring for self and others.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Masters degree in relevant field.
• Other relevant post-graduate trainings

Essential Experience

• 15 or more years’ experience in senior leadership roles in global non-profit organisations, including significant experience in international leadership and management, preferably in the development, social justice or environmental justice sectors.
• Experience managing large multi-country, cross-cultural teams (including substantial remote management) and budgets of at least £2m annually.
• Experience with and networks for engaging with relevant regional decision-making bodies, donors and civil society movements in the regional context.
• Experience in working with Boards.
• Experience in leading Humanitarian portfolios globally.
• Basic financial literacy and general management experience of the financial, HR, fundraising, compliance and other dimensions of non-profit organisational sustainability and effectiveness.

Essential knowledge

• Deep understanding of intersectional gender, economic and environmental justice struggles globally and in the region. Understanding of and passion for ActionAid’s theory of change that poverty and injustice can only be overcome by strengtheningthe individual agency and collective power of oppressed groups to win systemic change.
• In depth understanding of the global humanitarian global landscape and its connections with the wider geopolitical order and current development and gender, economic and environmental justice agendas.

Essential Skills

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to inspire and motivate staff and partners across the Federation.
• Proven skills in multi-stakeholder management and crisis resolution.
• Skilled in driving clear, measurable objectives and key results, including in cross-departmental and cross-functional settings.
• Feminist leadership skills and attributes, including self-awareness, a positive growth mindset, ambitious drive for collective results excellent collaboration and team-building skills, and strong commitment to dismantling bias and promoting equity and inclusion.
• A “big picture” thinker and leader with the ability to build consensus around and drive organisation-wide vision and goals, overcoming functional and regional silos

Language Requirement

• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Working knowledge of another language widely spoken in the Federation will be an advantage.

Action Aid Culture, Values and Feminist Leadership

It is part of every staff member’s responsibility to contribute to ActionAid International culture and comply with organisation’s values and practice, which are:

• Leading Innovation and Change: Establish a culture of excellence in respective team that values experimentation and continuous improvement
• Feminist Leadership: Championing feminist leadership principles and values including commitment to diversity and inclusion (race, gender, power)
  • Click on the following link to access Top-Ten-Basics-of-Feminist-Leadership—one-pager
• AAI Values Practice: Ensure personal and team culture that demonstrates all of AAI values including: Mutual Respect, Equity and Justice, Integrity, Solidarity with People Living in Poverty and Exclusion, Courage of Conviction, Independence and Humility

Appointment details

Location: Asia- ActionAid Global Secretariat (GS) Hubs

Contract Type: Permanent

Direct Reports: IHART Director, Head of Country Engagement and Transformation, Country Directors of Country Programmes in the region

Matrix Reports: Finance Advisor, CMR Advisor, HR and Change Management Advisor