Country Director Honduras 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

Plan International has been working in Honduras since 1977, helping vulnerable children, young people, and their families to break the cycle of poverty. Plan International Honduras country office is located in Tegucigalpa and implements projects funded through grants and sponsorship Program Units in Choluteca, Copán, Intibucá, La Paz, Lempira, San Pedro Sula and Santa Bárbara.

Our global strategy has a specific focus on girls, as they are often the most marginalised and most often left behind. We have committed ourselves to the ambitious target of reaching 100 million girls over 5 years, to ensure they can learn, lead, decide and thrive. This is our contribution to reaching the sustainable development goals and in particular the goals on gender equality. We need bold, forward-thinking and innovative individuals to lead our country operations, driving change and delivering results that will allow us to reach our target of 100 million girls.

As a Country Director, you will drive and lead 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 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?

This role requires a person with strong leadership experience. You will manage the development, review, approval, execution and evaluation of the country’s strategic plan. You will direct the Country Management Council and manage operations within the country.

You are responsible for the management and development of the organization as a whole, including managing our talent, ensuring learning, evaluating continuous improvement and providing technical assistance as an integral part of each domain.

You will establish contacts and productive relations between the countries of Plan, Regions, IH, National Organizations and other organizations that incorporate best practices and learning in the operations of the countries.

You will direct and manage policies, procedures, and legal requirements for country operations while you build and manage the relationship within the Plan, with the government and with other organizations to optimize the commercialization and the granting of financing opportunities.

You will act as a representative for missions of donors, delegations, and embassies of their countries, on behalf of Plan.

Essential

Proven experience in 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.
Knowledge of the requirements of donor compliance and financial management
Knowledge of programming in challenging environments with a good understanding and appreciation of the historical, security context, political environment, economic, social/religious and humanitarian context in Honduras or a comparable environment.
Proven skills in the development and management of effective and motivated teams, including distance management.
Proven networking and negotiation skills with governmental, non-governmental actors and the private sector.
Strong diplomatic and communication skills, including through mass media in order to influence decision-makers and key stakeholders.
Must be fluent in both Spanish and English

Desirable

Relevant University degree in development, social science, Industrial Engineering, business administration or a related field
Extensive experience in management-related work.
Extensive demonstrable experience in executive management.
Demonstrable work experience outside the geographic and cultural area of origin.
Proven track record of experience in the program, communication, finance, human resources management and fundraising support.
Knowledge ofthe geopolitical factors affecting child poverty in the country and the political, social and environmental opportunities for change is an advantage.
Considerable experience in planning and budgeting management.

For a detailed job description, please click on the below link CD Honduras- Feb 2023.docx

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

Type of Role: 5-year renewable contract

Reports to: Director of Subregion Central America and the Caribbean

Closing Date: 1st March 2023

Equality, diversity and inclusion are 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.