Central Asia Director At International Alert

International Alert is looking for an exceptional fundraiser and peacebuilding expert to lead its Central Asia programme. Based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan or Dushanbe, Tajikistan, you will lead and further develop Alert’s strategy and peacebuilding work in Central Asia, including outreach and relationship development with key strategic partners and donors, mapping and pursuing areas of strategic growth, and ensuring programming quality in existing initiatives on community peacebuilding, resilience and reintegration.

You will oversee teams in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the neighbouring countries, with potential expansion into new areas, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. You will ensure effective management and oversight of implementing partners, including travel to the offices in Tajikistan and/or Kyrgyzstan.

Due to the shifting nature of donor funding and priorities in Central Asia, you will be expected to develop a clear fundraising approach and targets for 2022-25, targeting various funding streams and donors, including traditional grants and commercial contracts and exploring how to situate the Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan programmes as a hub for regional programming.

You will demonstrate strong fundraising experience, with the ability to develop and implement strategies, target key stakeholders with appropriate messaging, and maintain strong relationships with donors and implementing partners. You will have experience designing, monitoring and evaluating peacebuilding programming and packaging positive peacebuilding outcomes for strategic influencing. You will have strong managerial experience and a track record of successfully overseeing programmes in difficult operating environments, ideally with experience of remote management of field offices.

You will practice principles of fairness and equity in your professional career, and you will be able to bring together your colleagues around common objectives.

Role duties and responsibilities:

Strategic leadership

• Lead the strategic development of Alert’s role in the Central Asia. Ensure the programme strategy is aligned to organisational priorities, adapted to local and regional dynamics, and informs strategic decisions.
• Lead the team to undertake context-specific conflict analysis and ensure that feeds into peacebuilding strategies.
• Keep informed of up to date analysis and changes in the context, as well as key events and opportunities within the policy community.
• Nurture collaborative relationships with a wide array of stakeholders including with government and political leaders, private sector, international agencies and institutions, civil society, national and international NGOs and key bilateral donors.
• As a member of Alert’s Global Leadership Team, contribute to organisational development, raising and engaging on organisational issues.

Programme implementation

• Ensure Alert’s programming in the Central Asia is high quality and delivers impactful and timely peacebuilding. Directly support project implementation and grant management where needed.
• Lead on the development of a communications and advocacy strategy for the Central Asia programme. Ensure visibility of Alert in various peacebuilding and NGO platforms, and work with the Advocacy and Communications team to deliver Alert’s influencing strategy.
• Ensure the programme has effective monitoring and evaluation plans; create the space for learning lessons and ensure effective knowledge management within the team and communication of impact and results to various audiences.
• Conduct scoping and monitoring visits across the region, ensuring these visits lead to sound conflict and peace analysis that can inform programming options.
• Ensure new local partnerships are identified using coherent methodology and invest strategically in partner accompaniment.
• Write and deliver internal and external reports in a timely manner, highlighting programme impact and lessons learned. Contribute to Alert’s global knowledge base, sharing lessons learned and joining organisational events.

Fundraising

• Ensure the sustainability and the growth of the Central Asia programme. Lead the identification of new areas of intervention for Alert’s programme in the Central Asia, thematically and geographically.
• Lead the fundraising strategy, programme design and fundraising, including developing relationships with donors, pitching ideas and writing funding proposals and budgets in line with organisational policies.
• Represent International Alert and liaise regularly with donors in the region.

Human resources

• Provide internal leadership and communicate the vision and mission of Alert in the Central Asia. Support staff to feel ownership of the organisation’s mission and our Central Asia strategy.
• Ensure the team is well staffed, with the appropriate mix of talents, knowledge and skills, and that the management structure enables staff to work effectively. Ensure all staff have clear roles and responsibilities.
• Line manage five senior staff, providing support, encouragement and performance management.
• Provide opportunities for staff to learn and develop, and monitor staff’s progress in capacity, knowledge and insight as much as in performance and skill.
• Promote coordination and cross learning within the Central Asia team, regionally and organisationally. Hold staff accountable for responding to the requirements of other teams in the organisation.
• Ensure respect for Alert recruitment, retention and staff performance management policies. Ensure HR and administrative procedures comply with relevant laws, Alert global policy and donor-specific requirements.

Financial and operational management

• Ensure compliance of budget holders with local legislation and procedures as well as donor regulations, in particular to ensure a ‘do no harm’ approach when contracting local partners and consultants.
• Oversee the programme budget and take corrective measures to minimise and/or fill identified gaps. Review actual and forecast expenditure and negotiate with partners and donors to make necessary adjustments to activity plans and budgets. Ensure that budgets and forecasts are realistic and accurate.
• Ensure that programme finance management policies and practices are in line with Alert’s global finance manual, ensure efficient use of financial resources by staff and partners, and minimize the risk of fraud.
• Following Alert’s security procedures, manage staff security in the Central Asia, including evacuation or relocation of staff, decisions to limit movements to/from or within certain areas. Ensure security manual and procedures are kept up to date and all Central Asia staff are informed about and respect Alert’s security procedures.

Contribute to Alert’s organisational development

• Play an active role in the generation and dissemination of knowledge throughout the team and Alert as a whole.
• Contribute to the wider development of Alert as an organisation, raising and engaging on organisational issues, through engagement in policy development and staff development, regional strategic workshops and organisation-wide discussions.
• Take proactive steps to ensure that effective relationships are created and maintained with staff across the organisation.

Kindly note the above are some of the requirements for the job. For the full job requirements, please view the job description.