Head of Delegation – Burundi At Land of men

Entry into office: 01/03/2025

Duration: 12 months

Activity rate: 100%

Work location: Bujumbura, Burundi

Status: Accompanied

Application Deadline: Terre des hommes does not set an application deadline for this position, recruitment is open until the position is filled.

Tdh:

The Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh), headquartered in Lausanne and with an office in Zurich, is the largest Swiss children’s rights organisation with over 2,000 employees worldwide. We work alongside children to guarantee their rights, protect their lives and improve their well-being. We achieve this through our innovative programmes in the areas of health, migration and access to justice, designed to have a positive and lasting impact.

Context :

Burundi is facing a socio-political crisis affecting its economy and leading to structural vulnerability of its population (HDI: 187th out of 191).

The Terre des hommes Foundation has been present in Burundi for almost 40 years and is made up of around forty employees deployed in 3 operational bases (Bujumbura, Ngozi, Ruyigi) and with a national operational reach.

Tdh currently operates through 3 operational axes:

• Child protection: Support for community protection systems, prevention and response to violence against children, Children in Street Situations, etc.
• Restorative justice: Strengthening of actors in the criminal justice chain (judicial police officers, social workers, magistrates, etc.), support for the implementation of alternative measures to deprivation of liberty, intervention in juvenile detention centers (psychosocial, professional training, etc.), reintegration of minors, improvement of detention conditions in prisons (mother/child spaces in prisons).
• Population displacement and humanitarian response: child protection for urban refugees and for returning children, crisis response intervention (multi-sectoral assessments, distribution of NFI).

These different projects are sometimes implemented directly by Tdh teams or by civil society partners, notably through funding from the European Union, UNICEF and ENABEL.

Main responsibilities:

• Under the supervision of the Deputy Operations Manager, he/she ensures the smooth running of operations at the national level; in this capacity, he/she represents the Foundation in his/her country of assignment.
• She/he directs and supervises all activities related to Tdh projects in her/his country of assignment, in line with the PS and strategic orientations.
• She/he represents Tdh (including legally) and promotes the entirety of its mandate in the country of intervention.
• She/he demonstrates ethical and exemplary leadership to maintain the good reputation of the Foundation and leads all the delegation’s employees towards a common vision in line with the strategic orientations of the foundation. In collaboration with the programs and expertise, she/he develops the Strategic Planning (SP) of the Delegation’s interventions in compliance with the general reference framework.
• She/he develops and guarantees the implementation of the delegation’s Annual Operational Plans (POA) in compliance with Strategic Planning and internal processes (budget management, HR and logistics management, quality and accountability).
• She/he guarantees the implementation of an operational risk management system on the delegation.
• She/he supervises and supervises all staff attached to the delegation.
• She/he ensures the internal and external communication of the delegation.
• She/he feels indebted to beneficiaries, collaborators and donors.
• She/he ensures that her/his teams and partners are aware of the security policies and the general code of conduct and respect them at all times.
• She/he is responsible for the security of the Tdh teams under her/his responsibility and is in charge of the security rules as well as the contingency plans of the country(ies) under her/his responsibility.
• Manages and assumes ultimate responsibility for the risks and access aspects of the mission.

The full job description will be shared with candidates selected for technical testing.

Profile :

Training: Master’s degree or training/experience deemed equivalent within the framework of international cooperation, bachelor’s or master’s degree in health are an asset.

Experience / Skills:

• Experience in the fields of Health, Justice, Social Cohesion and Migration, experience in the fields of child protection, WASH and ICT4D are an asset
• Experience in managing triple nexus projects and programs (Humanitarian, Development, Peace Promotion)
• Experience as Country Director of at least 5 years in an NGO.
• Experience in consortium development and management
• Proven experience in managing a large delegation
• Excellent knowledge of institutional donors (ECHO, INTPA, BMGF, FM, UNICEF, USAID, etc.)
• Experience in West Africa – Sahel desired
• Experience in a volatile security environment

LANGUAGES :

• French, English an asset

IT knowledge:

• Perfect mastery of IT tools (Office Pack)

Salary :

Expatriate contract under Swiss law, gross monthly salary between CHF 4,850 and CHF 6,610 x13 (+ AVS deduction for Swiss candidates). Insurance, illness, accident, repatriation. 25 days of leave/year. Return plane ticket/year.

Tdh Global Code of Conduct and Risk Management Policies:

• Commits to respecting the Global Code of Conduct and systematically reporting any violation of the Code through Tdh’s reporting procedure: raising awareness within the Foundation about violence and abuse, and the rights that result from it, with regard to children, community members and our own employees
• Commits to complying with the Risk Management Policies, including: Safeguarding policies (Child Safeguarding Policy, Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Policy, Abusive Behaviour at Work Directive), Safety/Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption and Prevention of the Financing of Criminal Activities Policies
• Committed to reducing the risk of abuse by developing an open and informed management culture within the organisation and in our work with children and the communities in which we operate

We offer you exciting and varied work, useful and meaningful, within a team that wants to make a difference for children in situations of great vulnerability.

Have we piqued your interest? Are you up for the challenge?