Afghanistan: Country Director

Sep 25, 2017 | Norwegian People's Aid
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Norwegian People's Aid is a humanitarian organisation rooted in the Norwegian Labour Movement. We work with International Development Partnerships, Humanitarian Mine Action, Rescue Service and First Aid, and Asylum and Integration. Norwegian People's Aid has about 12000 members in Norway and 2400 staff worldwide. We work in 36 countries around the world, and in 2017 we will have an expected turnover of 1000 MNOK. 

Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) is looking for an experienced Country Director (CD) to lead our recently established Humanitarian Disarmament (HD) programme in Afghanistan. We are looking for someone with strong leadership capabilities, strategic and analytical skills and with good understanding and experience in mine action. This position will provide you with the opportunity to lead and engage in the exciting upstart stage of a new and challenging programme.

Duties and responsibilities:

The CD has the overall responsibility for all aspects of the programme, operations, personnel, finance and logistics, including deliveries of delegated tasks. The CD will be stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan.

General responsibilities:

• Responsible for the design and implementation of the NPA HD Programme in Afghanistan, its mode of operation and geographical targeting
• Developing and maintaining a proper programme document hierarchy (Country Strategy, project proposals, Plan of Action, reporting and annual plans for internal management, implementation and monitoring)
• Be responsible for the development, monitoring and management of the programme according to strategies, annual plans and budgets in accordance with overall NPA guidelines and NPA Humanitarian Disarmament strategy and policies, with emphasis on relevance, quality, cost efficiency and impact
• Responsible for resource mobilisation for the NPA Mine Action Programme in Afghanistan
• Motivate for synergy and further cross-utilisation of resources between the NPA projects within the region and globally
• Put in place and maintain calibrated quality management of all aspects of the programme and its activities, including the use of NPAs Operational Management System (NOMS), if and when appropriate
• Be responsible for management, tasking and supervision of all expatriate and locally employed staff
• Responsible for the security of programme staff and programme assets, including ensuring that evacuation plans, the External Office Security and Crisis Management Plan, security and threat assessments are updated regularly and relevant for the programme activity

Specific duties:

• Ensure that NPA is maintaining its registration and established NPA as a Humanitarian Disarmament organisation in Afghanistan, including establishing accredited Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs)
• Define and implement the organisational framework, including chain of command, job descriptions, quality assurance, productivity measures and coordination mechanisms
• Consolidate and develop NPA's relationship with local and national authorities, development agencies and other operators
• Identify new programme activities and possible expansion into other areas
• Strategic planning for NPA in Afghanistan
• Ensure that work carried out is in accordance with overall plans, Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) and International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) and/or AMAS
• Target resources and work towards an improvement of the planning process, so that operations are carried out with focus on quality, cost efficiency and impact
• Ensure regular monitoring of the security situation, conduct threat assessments and regularly update a risk management matrix for the NPA Programme in Afghanistan
• Regularly monitor the rotation of staff to ensure full coverage of all tasks during the R&R and leave cycle

Required qualifications:

The position requires education and experience at management level as well as good mine action operational understanding. Good communications and diplomacy skills are required as is a proven track record of constructive stakeholder dialogue and fund-raising. Relevant background would encompass the following:

Must have:

• Relevant higher education or equivalent qualifications and proven ability to lead, manage, develop and motivate a team, or similar experience from the Mine Action sector
• Documented leadership skills from challenging and high risk environments, preferably from the region
• Experience in crisis management
• Experience in security management
• Experience from managing and/or monitoring Mine Action operations
• Understanding of the land release concept and the demining toolbox consisting of manual clearance, mine detection dogs and mechanical demining machines
• Experience from setting up quality management systems
• Experience from operational management and organisational development (e.g. humanitarian mine action/UXO programmes, overseas relief and development programmes or military international deployments)
• Experience from project planning, implementation, follow up and reporting
• Previous working relations with national authorities, military forces, partners and/or donors is an advantage
• Good knowledge in computer handling and report writing is necessary
• Written and verbal proficiency in English

Desirable:

• Good understanding of mine action operations' support, including logistics, finance and human resources
• Experience in working with animal detection systems and mechanical demining operations
• Knowledge of one or more of the languages of Afghanistan (Dari or Pashto) would be an advantage
• Proven experience in planning and implementation of mine action programme

• Certified qualifications of EOD level 2 or higher would be an advantage

• Experience of managing logistics, finance and human recourses is an advantage

Personal competencies:

• Good communication, cultural understanding and interpersonal skills

• Ability to adapt to harsh environment and work calmly under pressure and with limited supervision

• Ability to work in and adapt to difficult and complex cultures and conditions is necessary

NPA offers:

• Salary: In addition to base salary, our salary package for this position includes post allowance, hardship allowance and a hazard allowance specific for Afghanistan*
• Accommodation: NPA will provide free accommodation
• Leave: The programme has an R&R rotation system and in addition NPA offers five weeks annual holiday** 
• Flights: Flights are paid by NPA in connection with R&R, in addition to contract start and end flights*
• Insurance: You will be covered by NPA's comprehensive insurance package which includes travel insurance, group life insurance, accident insurance and worker's compensation insurance
• Health checks: Will be provided in connection with assumption of duty, and on a yearly basis
• Contract: A one year contract with possibility for renewal

* Terms apply according to NPA's internal regulations

** Terms for annual holiday follow the Norwegian Annual Holidays Act

In general: 

We emphasize the importance of strong health, cross-cultural communication skills, positive attitude, creativity and the ability to work under pressure and difficult conditions. One of NPA's overall objectives is to promote gender equality in our organization, and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

For more information about NPA, please see our website at www.npaid.org/ www.folkehjelp.no, or visit NPA Humanitarian Disarmament on Facebook or Twitter.  

Please apply online by the closing date of October 1^st, 2017.

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