Country Director – Dominican Republic At Plan International

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent child rights and humanitarian organisation committed to children living a life free of poverty, violence and injustice.

We actively unite children, communities and other people who share our mission to make positive lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives. We support children to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. We place a specific focus on girls and women, who are most often left behind.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 85 years, and are now active in over 80 countries.

The Opportunity

As a Country Director, you will drive Plan International’s programme and influencing work, setting overall direction, leading a high performing team, ensuring accountability for meeting demanding targets and maintaining alignment with the global strategy.

You will be deeply comfortable with leading transformative change, have a demonstrable commitment to gender equality and relish the prospect of representing Plan International to the highest levels of government, civil society, the media and international media. You will understand and drive efforts to deliver positive change for girls through advocating, campaigning and communicating at a national level.

Equally you will ensure the country operating model is fit for purpose, and that the country has the right funding mix (with a strong dependency on international grants and local funding sources) to achieve our ambition, key business processes are in place and organisational values are embedded in everything we do.

You will lead by example in ensuring gender equality is evident in everything we do from staffing, to programming and influencing, to ways of working. You will work with your team to bring about the right culture that ensures we are champions for girls and gender equality.

You will lead a motivated team, ensure legal compliance, and be ready and able to respond to emergency and development needs of the most marginalised children, especially girls.

Do you have what it takes?

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• Proven experience of exercising leadership functions with increasing responsibility in an international environment related to development.
• Proven understanding of “child rights” and “gender in development” concepts and the promotion of girls’ rights in the context of relevant International Conventions (Convention of the Rights of the Child, Convention for the Eradication of Discrimination against Women) and the Global Goals (SDGs).
• Experience and understanding of the concepts of sustainable community development and participatory approaches and practice in development interventions.
• Proven experience of managing organizational sustainability.
• Knowledge of the requirements of donor compliance and financial management
• Knowledge of programming in challenging environments with good understanding and appreciation of the historical, security context, political environment, economic, social/religious and humanitarian context in Dominican Republic or a comparable environment.
• Proven skills in the development and management of effective and motivated teams, including distance management.
• Excellent English and Spanish written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven networking and negotiation skills with governmental and non-governmental actors
• Strong diplomatic and communication skills, including through mass-media in order to influence decision-makers and key stakeholders.

Desirable

• Relevant University degree in development, social science, business administration or related field
• Knowledge ofthe geopolitical factors affecting child-poverty in the country and the political, social and environmental opportunities for change is an advantage
• Field knowledge of the social, economic and political situation in Haiti.
• Secondary language as required: French or Creole.

Please respond to the requirements of the role in your cover letter. Only CVs and cover letters in English will be accepted.

Location: We will be recruiting globally for this role, but the individual must be based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and therefore support with relocation is available.

Type of Role: 5-year renewable contract

Reports to: DSR – Central America & The Caribbean

Closing Date: 17th March 2023

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from 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.