Yemen: Deputy Country Director Operations

Apr 3, 2018 | ACTED
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Since 1993, as an international non-governmental organization, ACTED has been committed to immediate humanitarian relief to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer term opportunities for sustainable growth and fulfilling people’s potential. ACTED endeavors to respond to humanitarian crises and build resilience; promote inclusive and sustainable growth; co-construct effective governance and support the building of civil society worldwide by investing in people and their potential. We go the last mile: ACTED’s mission is to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard to reach areas. With a team of 4,300 national staff 300 international staff, ACTED is active in 35 countries and implements more than 450 projects a year reaching over 11 million beneficiaries. 

Position context and key challenges

Position profile

1. Positioning and Fundraising

• Analyze the country’s socio-economic situation, (donor) trends, needs and gaps;
• Regularly conduct stakeholder analysis, in particular who does what and where (3W)
• Alert the Country Director of gaps and emerging needs in order to trigger assessments in a timely manner;

• Contribute to the development of a country programme strategy in alignment with ACTED global/regional strategy;
• Assist the CD in identifying strategic opportunities for expanding ACTED’s work in the country;

• Maintain active and regular working relationships with donors and act as point of contact for all donor communication, including the coordination of donor visits in the field;
• Maintain active and regular working relationships with other NGOs, UN agencies, clusters, working groups, Alliance2015, consortia and academia;
• Ensure the establishment and regular update of a directory of donors, international and local NGOs, other partners and stakeholders;
• Lead the reporting to national and local authorities as required by ACTED registration/legal status in country;
• In the absence of Technical Coordinators, represent ACTED in key clusters, working groups, HCT and (I)NGO coordination bodies.

• Identify funding opportunities;
• Identify new donors for diversifying ACTED donors’ portfolio including private companies and private foundations;
• Contribute to the identification of potential relevant international and/or local partners (private sector partners, national and international NGOs, think tanks, academia, etc.) to be included in proposals;
• Update on a monthly basis the Donor Follow Up (DFU) which documents latest negotiations and proposal possibilities with donors;
• Liaise with AMEU to contribute to the ToRs of assessments to be conducted for proposal development and ensure their input in the logframe development (in particular the formulation of SMART indicators);
• Oversee the development of fundraising documents (Expression of Interests, concept notes, proposals) in line with ACTED country strategy and donor requirements and in close collaboration with ACTED HQ GMU (Grant Management Unit) and finance;
• Liaise with Area Coordinators, Project Managers and Technical Coordinators to ensure that proposals are relevant and technically sound;
• Ensure that learning from previous projects (e.g. lessons learnt and best practices) is incorporated into new proposals;
• Ensure the involvement of FLATS teams in the development of fundraising documents, particularly finance for the budget and logistics in case of specific donor procurement rules.

• Support the Country Director in negotiating proposals and/or contracts with donors;
• Address in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff in country and ACTED HQ GMU and finance;
• Read thoroughly all contracts before signature, seeking ACTED HQ GMU and finance advice when required.

2. Grant Management

• Ensure that contractual obligations (including visibility requirements) and reporting deadlines are known and met by Programme, AMEU and FLATS team;
• When any issue is identified in meeting deliverables in the given timeframe and budget, inform relevant staff in country and seek ACTED HQ Program Department advice on potential solutions that would meet donor rules.

• Ensure project kick-off and close out meetings are conducted for each project;
• Oversee the development of quality narrative reports, reflecting the progress and status of projects in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with ACTED HQ GMU and finance, which will contribute ultimately to steady cash inflow;
• Liaise with FLATS teams when preparing reports, esp. with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports;
• Work in close relation with AMEU to incorporate AME data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports and review M&E reports from AMEU;
• Update monthly the Reporting Follow Up (RFU) and ensure smooth and regular communication with ACTED HQ GMU;
• Ensure ad hoc requests from donors are addressed in liaison with the CD, Programme and support teams.

• Liaise with partners to develop and sign relevant grant agreements in close coordination with ACTED HQ GMU and finance;
• Ensure all potential partners have a clear understanding of what is expected in terms of reporting so as to comply with ACTED and donor requirements and regulations;
• Ensure partners report to ACTED in a timely and qualitative manner as per the requirements of the grant agreement.

3. Management and Internal Coordination

• Ensure that staff in the department understands and is able to perform its roles and responsibilities;
• Manage a team of Project Development Officers, Interns and Assistants delineating their responsibilities and follow-up the work plans and day-to-day activities;
• Ensure a positive working environment and good team dynamics;
• Manage interpersonal conflicts between departmental staff members;
• Undertake regular appraisals of staff and follow career management;
• Identify the PDD training needs, discuss plans with the coordination and HR for both internal and external trainings, and implement them according to PDD strategic and operational priorities;
• Coach, train, and mentor the PDD team with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the PDD team and providing professional development guidance.

• Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing from the Base, to the Area, Capital, and even up to the regional and HQ offices by ensuring implementation of ACTED coordination mechanisms (WAM, MCM) and dissemination to relevant staff;
• Ensure these meeting minutes are sent monthly to HQ;
• Ensure regular and clear communication with ACTED HQ GMU and finance to keep it updated about latest development, so that GMU can best advice you ahead of a task.

• Implement a filing system end ensure the proper filing of contractual project documents both in hard and soft copies;
• Together with AMEU, set up a Resource Centre at the office regularly updated with appropriate and relevant external and internal resources.

4. External Communication

• Oversee the PDD’s contributions to ACTED’s external communication strategy by feeding regularly ACTED HQ Communication Department with informal updates on projects, a flash news, pictures, articles on projects progress and/or specific events for ACTED communication tools, including, but not limited to, ACTED Newsletter, websites and ACTED Annual Report;
• Ensure the continuum of PR activities, including formal presentations, engaging media for coverage on success stories, updating project-specific and regional fact sheets, and documenting publications featuring ACTED in the media;
• Manage ACTED’s in country communication activities including media visits, photographer’s mission, videos, etc.;
• Oversee the update and design of in country communication and visibility tools and publications, their dissemination and availability to ACTED teams, as well as the capitalization of media and pictures of the mission;
• Follow, contribute to, draft and disseminate position papers, statements, reports and releases on ACTED’s engagements and humanitarian advocacy, in line with ACTED’s in country and global strategy as well as positioning, in close collaboration with the country director as well as HQ communication and programme departments.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate diploma in International Development and (or) relev ant Master’s level degree(anthropology, development studies, humanitarian aid, sociology)Fluency in written and spoken English
• Strong writing abilities and analytical skills
• Skills in political sciences or international relations
• Ability to work efficiently under pressure
• Previous experience in the humanitarian field, proposals development, and donor relations are required
• Previous experience abroad is required

Conditions

• Salary defined by the ACTED salary grid; educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance are considered for pay bonus
• Additional monthly living allowance
• Free food and lodging provided at the organization’s guesthouse
• Transportation costs covered, + luggage allowance
• Provision of medical, life, and repatriation insurance