Country Director At Christian Aid

Christian Aid exists to create a world where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. We are a global movement of people, churches and local organisations who passionately champion dignity, equality and justice worldwide. We are the changemakers, the peacemakers, the mighty of heart.

Learn about Christian Aid’s vision, mission, and values

Christian Aid’s work in Burkina Faso

Christian Aid Burkina Faso (CA BF) uses a risk-based approach to address the underlying causes of poverty for marginalised groups and works in collaboration with national and provincial governments, communities, faith actors and development partners to implement programmes and influence policies that reduce poverty and social injustice.

CA BF programme has three main objectives which are: i) Linking response, preparedness and resilience to promote social protection and sustainably improve agricultural productivity and household income as well as the disaster response and coping capacities of vulnerable people to the negative effects of conflict and climate change. II) Promoting access to affordable, clean, sustainable, renewable, and reliable energy and energy efficiency/effectiveness. III) Addressing inequality and promoting equal access to and control over natural and economic resources, knowledge and skills for men, women and people with disabilities.

With our operational base in Ouagadougou, our geographic footprint and intervention covers six regions, 10 provinces and 23 municipalities.

Role purpose

Christian Aid is seeking a Country Director to lead the staff team in delivering an impactful programme in Burkina Faso.

Reporting to the Head of Operations for Africa, he/she sets and communicates its vision, ensures the programme is well-resourced and leads in its development and implementation, managing for results and developing a culture of reflection and learning. He/she ensures that staff understand their responsibilities and perform at a high level, manages financial resources efficiently and champions operational excellence. He/she builds relationships with key external stakeholders to effectively represent and position Christian Aid in-country, and with local partners to build capacity and ensure excellence in delivery. The Country Director also has strong internal partnerships with teams across Christian Aid in Africa and globally.

This role brings dynamic leadership to Christian Aid’s programme and team in Burkina Faso, enabling the organisation in partnership with others to contribute significantly to the change we want to see: individuals and communities living in dignity, free from poverty and need; economic, political and social systems transformed to remove the power imbalances and other root causes of poverty and inequality; and movements of individuals and communities speaking out against poverty and injustice and securing their eradication. The role also champions operational excellence of Christian Aid’s Burkina Faso’s programme ensuring that the team’s skillsets, the quality of our programmes, our financial resilience and digital capability all work effectively together to realise the organisation’s goals and ambitions.

Key outcomes

• Programme strategy & representation – setting and communicating the vision; leading the development and implementation of strategy; working with appropriate local/regional/international partners based locally to implement; successfully representing and positioning CA in the country based on thorough analysis of the context, building relationships to communicate with and influence key stakeholders in government, civil society, donors and the private sector.
• **People –**ensuring staff understand their responsibilities and perform at a high level, developing staff skills working as a team & individually to implement strategy and programmes. Strengthening linkages from individual to team to department to improve organisational performance and developing staff to achieve the maximum.
• Financial stewardship – managing finances more effectively and efficiently in support of strategy implementation, reducing the misuse of resources.
• Risk, Operations and Compliance – getting the basics right on managing and mitigating risks that undermine operational excellence, improving Africa’s standing on compliance as a foundation for programme delivery and quality. Ensuring policies and procedures are understood and implemented. Seizing the opportunities of digital transformation.
• Programme delivery and quality – managing for results, transparency and accountability, learning and reflection and ensuring focus on strategic priorities, partnership and partner portfolio management. Challenging programmes to deal with power and harness prophetic voice to deal with the underlying causes of poverty and drive transformational change.
• Robust country programme strategy developed, financed, and delivered with a portfolio of carefully selected partners (including faith-based partners) and encompassing development and humanitarian programming, policy advocacy and communications.
• Fundraising around an agreed resourcing strategy to promote financial resilience and ensure a diverse portfolio of institutional and non-institutional donors.

Applied Skills/Knowledge and Expertise

Essential

8-10 years solid field-based experience including managing large and complex multi-partner development programmes and donor-funded projects at a senior level with at least 6 years in a senior management position.

Strategic and operational Management

• Demonstrated experience in leading strategic and operational planning
• Extensive conceptual skills including strategic analysis
• Demonstrated management skills in a complex international setting

People/Relationship Management

• Have high levels of personal integrity.
• Demonstrated self-awareness, leadership and interpersonal skills
• Strong human resource management skills including capacity building, coaching and conflict management;
• Experience supervising and developing a multi-disciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting; Demonstrated interest and ability to give feedback, develop, motivate and lead a diverse team to achieve results;
• Demonstrated use of positive coping strategies in stressful environments

Financial Management: Knowledge and experience with financial management as demonstrated by ability to:

• Manage a complex budget
• Effectively follow-up on internal and external audit recommendations
• Ensure donor compliance and reporting

Information/Knowledge Management

• Ability to establish a learning culture within the CO and to facilitate knowledge sharing across CA

Language Skills: French and English language proficiency

Desirable

• Experience of working with UN and donor agencies, INGOs in Africa, including local civil society and faith-based partners.
• Good understanding of fundraising strategy and practice
• The post holder must hold a minimum of a tertiary degree or equivalent; ideally in a field related to international development and/or a relevant certification in management.
• A strong understanding of the drivers of poverty and its eradication.
• A first-hand understanding of the country within which this post is based.

Further information:

At Christian Aid we strive to be an inclusive and diverse employer and recognise the value that this brings in helping to build strong, creative and high performing teams.

We are actively encouraging racialised minorities, people with disabilities, returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people with caring responsibilities, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, women, and older workers to apply. This is because these groups are under-represented within our teams, especially at senior level, and we recognise and value the contributions members of these groups make to strong, creative and high performing teams.

We have a strong Christian ethos and we encourage applications from all faiths and none.

All successful candidates will require a DBS/police check appropriate to the role and location and a Counter Terrorism Sanction check as part of your clearance for commencing your role with us. Christian Aid also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, they will request information as part of the referencing process from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Christian Aid is committed to providing a safe and trusted environment for every person connected to the work we do; and to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour including sexual harassment and exploitation, abuse, and financial misconduct. Any candidate offered a job with Christian Aid is expected to share and demonstrate our values and adhere to Christian Aid’s Safeguarding policy and sign Christian Aid’s Code of Conduct.

Appointment details

Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

You can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a generous holiday allowance and flexibility that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.