Roving Country Director

Title: Roving Country Director
Department: Middle East Region
Location: Roving Position, with extensive travel in Middle East region (home-based but on deployment estimated 80% of the year)
Reporting to: Regional Director
Direct reports: As per each assignment
Budget responsibility: As per each assignment

ABOUT Relief International.

Relief International (RI) is a leading nonprofit organization working in 15 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty with a focus on the four RI sector pillars: Health, WASH, Education and Economic Opportunity. Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.
RI includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

About our Region.

RI operates in six countries in the Middle East region: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. RI currently employs more than 3,500 staff (direct and indirect) in the Middle East region and implements a range of emergency response and development programs valued at approximately $70 million USD on an annual basis. The majority of RI’s programming in the region is focused on Health, but also includes RI’s other three pillars of expertise (Economic Opportunity, Education and WASH).

Position Summary.

As a member of the Middle East Regional Team, you will be home-based with availability to deploy at short notice to any of RI’s countries in the region, including remote and insecure locations, according to RI strategic priorities. The majority of deployment assignments will be for a Country Director role to fill gap in coverage (ie, between CD-ships, maternity leave, extended medical leave, etc). While priority will be as gap-filling for Country Director role, other leadership roles may also be filled as needed, including but not limited to: Deputy Country Director, Program Director, Program Manager, etc. Gap filling at regional level and/or leadership in the start- up of new country missions and/or large-scale projects will also be required if needed. The Roving Country Director is a strategic role in ensuring continuity in management, mobilization and effective scale up and quality of RI programs in the region. The Roving Country Director will be part of the regional team and participate in internal coordination meetings and other region-driven
initiatives as relevant when not on deployment assignment. It is anticipated that this position will be deployed up to 80% of the year.
*Note: in case of multiple CD vacancies in RI’s other region (Africa/Asia), the Roving Country Director may be requested exceptionally to gap-fill for a post in RI’s Africa/Asia region.

Key Responsibilities and Duties.

Key Responsibilities and Duties of the job-holder will be the same as those of the position for which the job-holder is deployed, in addition to participation in other regional tasks as requested. Indicative areas of responsibility and duties are below.
People and Program Management

• Assume overall management and oversight of country programs, coordinate project implementation plans and budgets within the framework of the agreed emergency response programme, establishing strong partnerships and networks
• Mobilize donor resources to allow start-up of a RI Country Program, based on ongoing needs consistent with the RI global strategy.
• Work closely with the Regional Team to support response in a timely and effective way to urgent needs.
• Represent RI as focal person on a national, regional and international level with external stakeholders, including humanitarian partners, donors, authorities, etc. Establish systems for communication with local Government partners, relevant line departments and community representatives in the project area(s).
• Advise and ensure that programs meet stated objectives, are in line with RI’s philosophy and strategy, monitor programme objectives, outputs, indicators and activities.
• Monitor and analyse, identify and address gaps and weaknesses so as to improve overall country program performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.
  Grant Management and Development
• Deliver and monitor effective grants management, secure strategic funding opportunities and develop proposals based on identified gaps and needs in strict compliance with RI national and global policies and procedures and with relevant donor regulations and agreements.
  Financial Management
• Oversee the financial health and management of the Country Office.
• Through the Regional Finance Manager, support all audit processes across the region
• Support the implementation of all relevant audit recommendations at regional and country level
  Risk and Security management
• Work closely with Regional SMT on anticipating and mitigating programmatic and organizational risks, through introducing and ensuring constant improvement of country teams through systematic approaches, including but not limited to country risk registers, monthly country-level reporting, monthly portfolio review, incident management process, security planning and reporting, etc.
• Prioritize building and improving security capacity and processes at country level, ensuring internal policies for security are followed. Lead the roll-out and follow up of compliance and due diligence policies and procedures in the country office, in coordination with regional team members.

Ethics and Compliance

• Ensure efficient and effective compliance measures and prompt and successful resolution of audits and investigations of alleged noncompliance and/or ethical issues.
• Oversee implementation of effective compliance communication and training programs for regional team and country teams as well as other efforts to promote an enterprise culture of integrity and compliance, both for new and existing employees.
  Financial Management
• Oversee the financial health and management of the Country Office.
• Through the Regional Finance Manager, support all audit processes across the region
• Support the implementation of all relevant audit recommendations at regional and country level
  Incident Reporting and Management
• Lead incident management at country level; ensuring investigations are correctly reported to Incident and Crisis Management Teams
• In coordination with the Global Support Office Incident and Crisis Management Team, ensure incidents are reported to the appropriate donors and regulatory authorities, as appropriate.

Safeguarding

• Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.
• Support systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse and promotes the implementation of the Code of Conduct and safeguarding policies.

Culture and leadership

• You will ensure a positive and productive work environment which is free from harassment and bullying.
• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity and understanding of diversity and cultural differences, gender issues and the commitment to equal opportunities

Experience and skills required for the role.

• Track record of achievement in a previous, similar role. Proven field experience in team management, having served as Country Director or equivalent previously; finance and administration; donor relations; and inter/intra-agency communications in progressively senior roles
• Demonstrated record in collaborating with local governments, rural communities, other NGOs U.N. Agencies and other international emergency response and development actors.
• Experienced in representation on a national, regional and international level to donors, partners, relevant government bodies, the media and members of the humanitarian community.
• Demonstrated project cycle management skills, inclusive of work plan/ timeline/ deliverables/ and budget tracking and course correction.
• Willingness to travel, sometimes at short notice, as required for the successful implementation of the role.
• Ability to work and manage a highly complex security situation, emergency context, programs in remote and unstable environments.
• Strong understanding and experience in risk management.
• Strong preference given to candidates with prior experience in Middle East.
• Proficient English language writing and verbal skills are required.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Relief International is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Relief International (RI) is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to RI’s Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and accountability
• Agility and innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability

You will be asked to upload a CV and Cover Letter. The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post with Relief International and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

Closing date. Please apply immediately we will be reviewing applicants on a rolling basis, therefore may withdraw the position for the job board closing date.

Please apply by uploading your cover letter and up-to-date CV on our website.

Due to limited resources, only short-listed candidates will be contacted

Relief International is committed to protecting our staff and the communities we work with from abuse and harm including sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment.

All staff is expected to abide by our Code of Conduct.

Recruitment to all roles in Relief International includes criminal records self-declaration, references, and other pre-employment checks, which may include police and qualifications checks.