Country Director – YEMEN At War Child UK

We are a growing organisation, working with children and youth with partner organisations and through direct implementation in some very challenging places. We’re focused on child protection, education and livelihoods and our projects range from providing short term psychosocial support to children affected by conflict to supporting the development of sustainable child protection systems. We work in complex conflict settings which range from acute emergencies to protracted humanitarian crises and we aim to respond to crisis, support recovery and build resilience.

We are recruiting a Country Director in Yemen to lead the growing team, build the programme and bring a strong focus on quality, fundraising and representation. Our priorities have been shaped by the ongoing conflict, and as the shape of the conflict alters, we anticipate developing an approach which will respond to the recovery and rehabilitation of affected communities. We work in both the north and the south of Yemen.

You will have experience of leading and motivating teams in unstable environments, excellent knowledge of regional politics and developing trends, and a strong track record in resource mobilisation and effectively managing organisational growth whilst ensuring programme quality. You will demonstrate experience of building programmes with a focus on accountability and meeting needs.

Your role

War Child UK has worked in Yemen since 2017 with partners and local authorities to support improvements in child protection, education and livelihoods. Programmes have largely been focused in the north of the country in Sana’a, Al Hodeidah, Ibb and Taiz but we also have a smaller programme in the south.

We are recruiting a new Country Director for our Yemen programme. We are seeking an experienced NGO leader who is familiar with the challenges of operating within the constraints of a context such as Yemen. You will ensure that the War Child team remains safe, and that our security protocols are well maintained. We want to further grow our programme, and central to this role will be the ability to build networks and alliances with local and international partners and to represent effectively with a wide range of donors. We place a very strong emphasis on national advocacy as part of our theory of change, and you will need the representational and relationship skills to ensure that War Child is connected to the appropriate national and local authorities across our areas of operation. War Child has a clear vision and approach to programme quality, and you will have a track record in ensuring effective monitoring, accountability, and learning.

Leadership and team building skills are paramount. The Country Director will inspire results and performance across the team. The post also forms part of War Child’s dynamic and experienced Extended Leadership Team, with the ability to share experience across our country programmes. The Country Director will lead the Senior Management Team for War Child UK in Yemen, focusing on growing the programme to meet needs, developing the vision and strategy and take overall responsibility for HR, Financial and Security decisions. The role also ensures information from the country programme is shared across departments and will represent War Child at the highest levels; donors, national authorities, clusters and national partners in Yemen. The role is managed by the Director of Programmes and Advocacy based in London.

Your responsibilities

• Programme Development: Leadership on participatory programme planning and development, in line with WCUK’s organisational strategy; time frames, risk appetite and budgets as well as development of new concept papers and liaising with in-country donors.
• Partner liaison: Work with national partners to achieve shared programme objectives and build strong and accountable partnerships.
• Representation and Networking: Provide effective representation and profile of War Child UK and high level networking in forums and strategic engagement with a wide range of national and international stakeholders
• Financial Management: Ensure rigorous financial and administrative management**:** ensure grant management and expenditure information is received in an accurate manner on a monthly basis.
• Security Management: Effectively manage all staff and programme security within the guidelines of security Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Safeguarding: Responsible for creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults, and compliant to WCUK’s Safeguarding policies.
• Grant Management, and Donor Compliance: Ensure timely quality reporting to donors and compliance with donor requirements**,** including leading your programme and grants team to build a compliance and performance focused management system.
• Donor Engagement and Funding: Lead on donor engagement within country and with regional donor. Contribute to efforts to identify and secure in-country funding and providing the programme funding to deliver on the Yemen country strategy. Support the team with the information necessary to help develop proposals and reports, in line with donor schedules. Provide final country level approval of concept papers, proposals and budgets
• Team leadership: Lead the SMT, develop country strategy and build a culture of shared responsibility. Ensure team wellbeing and effective performance management as well as ensuring that WCUK’s standards and values are known and followed within the mission.
• People management: Take ultimate responsibility for Human Resources and Development, ensuring War Child is a fair and responsible employer. Leading and motivating all WCUK staff, promoting effective cohesion and team identity across the various offices and projects. Ensuring that WCUK’s standards and values are known and followed within the mission.
• Reporting: Ensure adherence to organisational requirements, including safeguarding policy, minimum standards for quality programme cycle management and regular programme reporting.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.

You have

• Experience in leading international humanitarian and development programmes, with strategic planning and a clear vision of how to work effectively with partners.
• Experience in the delivery and supervision of programmes within conflict environments with some experience of our areas of intervention, Reintegration, Child Protection, Education in Emergencies and/or Food Security/Livelihoods projects.
• Experience of both direct programme implementation and working with partners.
• The ability to advocate, think and manage strategically and represent the organisation at the highest level.
• Rigorous budget expenditure and financial management skills and experience
• Experience in security management in conflict settings
• Experience in team security management in fragile contexts and insecure settings and risk management. Negotiation skills and knowledge of the operational challenges of working in DRC are an advantage.
• Able to inspire team and partners to achieve results in a tough operational setting.
• Compliance focussed with a strong sense of accountability for results and performance.
• Deeply committed to safeguarding of beneficiaries, partners and staff and safe programming
• An experienced grant manager with direct experience in leading a portfolio of complex projects from multiple donors with a successful track record in securing funding from institutional donors and grant reporting
• A great team leader and people manager, with demonstrable skills in performance and change management.
• Able to support the professional development of team members.
• Able to travel in country and overseas as required.
• Previous international experience in Yemen or other conflict setting highly desirable.
• Excellent analytical skills with a systematic approach and an eye for detail
• Fluency in English. Written and spoken Arabic an advantage.

This role is open to Yemeni and non-Yemeni (International) candidates.