Country: Tajikistan
Closing date: 11 Jul 2018
Job description – in short: Country Director TAJIKISTAN
This position offers a unique opportunity to:
1) Manage and expand a set of successful rights-based WASH, DRR and Social Inclusion projects – with a special focus on People with Disability;
2) Coordinate and guide the related teams of technical and support staff, and;
3) To develop the existing projects and teams into a cohesive country portfolio with a sound and sustainable financial base and effective government and institutional donor relations.
Location: Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, with regular trips to project locations throughout the country.
Length of contract: Annual contract, renewable, with 3 months trial period. Mission East is seeking candidates with a long-term commitment
Line Management
You will be managed by the Brussels based Head Quarter Programme Manager for Tajikistan.
You will manage Mission East’s country office for Tajikistan and a team of 35 international and national staff.
Communication: You will have regular communication with Mission East’s office in Denmark on fundraising matters, and with our office in Brussels, Belgium, on programme management, institutional fundraising, donor liaison and HRM matters.
Position type: This is an accompanied position.
Mission East GLOBAL
Mission East is a Danish relief and development organization working to help vulnerable populations, support communities’ capacities to organize and assist themselves, through activities ranging from disaster relief to development assistance.
As well as direct implementation, our organization works with and through local and international partners in order to enhance the relevance, impact and sustainability of our programmes.
The organizational values that we strive for are: honesty, integrity, compassion, valuing the individual, and respect for all people.
We currently have offices and programmes in: Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq, Nepal and Tajikistan. In addition, we support programmes in Myanmar and North Korea. Previously our organization was active in Albania, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Pakistan and Romania too.
We are member of EU-CORD network, Integral Alliance, VOICE (European platform for humanitarian NGOs), CONCORD, Globalt Fokus (Danish development CSO platform), the CHS Alliance and ISOBRO (Danish umbrella organisation for ethical charity fundraising).
Institutional donors include the Danish and German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission: Mission East has held an ECHO FPA since 1993 and has a PVO status with USAID. In addition, our organization has a strong private donor support.
Mission East TAJIKISTAN
Mission East has a twenty year record of working in Tajikistan. Our organization started post-war with a relief programme and then moved into development programming, with a focus on rural community development and disability & inclusion.
Besides our country office in the capital of Dushanbe we currently operate from Penjakent (north-west Tajikistan), Kulob (south-west Tajikistan) and from Dashtak-Nusai, from where we operate in the Badakshan area of both Tajikistan and of neighbouring Afghanistan.
The two recent major programmes are WASH-DRR and Social Inclusion – Gender Equality and Equal Rights for People with Disability.
The primary objective of our WASH-DRR programme in Tajikistan is to improve the livelihood of local communities by reducing the incidence of water-borne diseases in the communities and by strengthening their disaster risk reduction measures. To effectively realise this we apply a three-fold approach: we construct (1) village water supply systems and (2) public and household latrines and (3) we intensively promote improvement of individual hygienic practices. On the DRR side we focus on two elements: 1) building local capacity to respond to and mitigate natural hazards, and 2) promote for inclusive DRR through awareness-raising and local and national level advocacy.
The primary objective of our Social Inclusion programme for Tajikistan is to contribute to an inclusive society. Our programme specific objectives are to promote and support 1) gender equality, and 2) respect for the rights of people with disability. To realise these goals we: run rights-based projects for service provision (legal advice, rehabilitation training etc.), train, coach and capacitate representative civil society, and we *support advocacy and lobby for the rights of girls & women, and persons living with a disability. The latter with specific attention for the national implementation of the CRPD and the CEDAW, and the related national legal framework.
Key tasks and responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
1) Identify trends and new areas of involvement for use and updating of our Country Strategy for Tajikistan.
2) Build donor & partner relationships in Tajikistan to support the organization’s strategic direction.
3) Ensure learning from monitoring & evaluation on programme and organization level.
4) Ensure compliance with quality standards & donor requirements.
Programme Management & Development
Manage successful the development and completion of Mission East programmes and projects in Tajikistan:
1) Steer needs-assessments preparing ground for potential new projects, and coordinate organizational-assessments of (potential) local partners.
2) Oversee planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) with Mission East’s system and tools.
3) Use M&E data for strategic project management and programme policy development.
4) Visit individual project sites on a regular basis.
5) Support programme forming and team building between the individual projects.
6) Coordinate reporting and communication as per Mission East and donor’s requirements and procedures.
7) Deliver timely quality reporting to donors and other external partners.
Staff Management
1) Line manage and support key staff (expatriate and national) in their tasks and development.
2) Align actively the country’s human resource (HR) practice and policies with Mission East’s global HR management procedures.
3) In case of absence of key project staff, take up direct management of project/ programme.
Liaison & Coordination
1) Appropriate and extensive liaison with other (I)NGOs, donors, and governmental agencies and ministries, for excellent coordination and representation through established in-country coordination mechanisms and networks.
2) Raise Mission East’s visibility and profile in all relevant and key networks (clusters etc.), for increased recognition of Mission East Tajikistan portfolio.
Proposal Development and Fundraising
1) Seek external and in-country funding for current and potential new projects and programmes.
2) Coordinate proposal design and writing from in-country.
3) Ensure that Mission East’s Tajikistan programming conforms to country government strategies and law and collaborates/ coordinates with government programmes.
Finance and Administration
1) Coordinate country and programme finance and budget management.
2) Ensure compliance with all Mission East financial and administrative procedures and policies, and with applicable donor regulations.
Security Management
1) Be responsible for the safety and security of all staff & visitors.
2) Lead field security planning and management in line with Mission East policy.
Qualification, experience and competencies
We are in search of the candidate with demonstrable management experience and who can proof his or her vital involvement in hands-on development work at the moment and/ or in the past, in rural, remote and challenging locations.
Qualifications required: education should be of degree level or higher.
Demonstrated experience
• Substantial experience in overseas programme and office management in an international relief and/ or development setting, preferably in the sectors relevant to current Tajikistan portfolio. This must include significant field experience including management of national and international staff, project planning and implementation, and budget management.
• Experience in donor liaison, preparation and successful funding of large relief and development projects, including budgets, log frames, and work plans.
• Experience in assessing the needs of poor rural communities and appropriate and sustainable ways of addressing them.
• Leadership experience in a humanitarian/development INGO setting, including strategy development and detailed coordination.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills to negotiate and work with foreign experts, managers, government officials, national staff, other non-governmental staff, community elders etc.
Necessary Competencies
• Personnel management and team-building skills with an ability to delegate, follow-up and supervise as well as support.
• Fluency in spoken and written English. Some knowledge of Dari /Persian would be an asset.
• Excellent computer skills in Word and Excel. Experience with Outlook, Power Point etc.
• Agreement with Mission East’s Organisational Values.
How to apply:
Application Procedure
Interested individuals should visit www.miseast.org/apply to register their interest and submit the following by 11/07/2018.
Candidate's resume accompanied by a Cover Letter (mandatory!), applications that are incomplete won't be considered.
Mission East may decide to process application before the deadline, therefore interested candidates should submit their applications asap.