Human Resources Business Partner – Sri Lanka At HALO Trust

HR Business Partner – Sri Lanka

Two-year fixed-term position

Location – Kilinochchi, Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Salary – Attractive salary and benefits

Do you have a passion for working with people, thrive on a challenge and adaptable to change? Do you have experience of HR Business Partnering or HR Management within the INGO sector?

This is a great opportunity to join an established operation in Kilinochchi on a two-year fixed term contract with support from the UK HR team. You will play a key role leading all HR activities for our amazing people, doing amazing things to make the world a safer place. And that’s pretty special!

About Us

The HALO Trust is the world’s largest and oldest international humanitarian mine action non-government organisation (NGO). For over thirty years, we have been saving lives and helping war-torn communities recover, by making their land safe. Our mission is to protect lives and restore the livelihoods of those affected by conflict.

HALO is known for its work to clear landmines, but we also lead on dealing with unexploded ordnance, from bullets to aircraft bombs, and we educate communities to keep them safe. We also build safe arms stores and systems for securing guns. HALO was established in Afghanistan in 1988 and now employs over 9,500 staff in 28 countries and territories.

We are extremely proud of the work we do and the people in our team. For us all, it is more than just a job. It is a shared purpose.

HALO has been working in Sri Lanka since 2002 and now has over 1,300 staff working in the Northern Province. To date, HALO has safely destroyed over one million items of explosive ordnance, including more than 270,000 anti-personnel landmines. The explosive ordnance contamination is a result of over three decades of civil war that ended in 2009. HALO and other mine action stakeholders are working to clear Sri Lanka of all known contamination by 2028 to meet Sri Lanka’s obligations as a state party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

About the role:

As a senior leadership role, the primary responsibility of the HR Business Partner (HRBP) is to lead, manage and motivate all support services on a large programme. The HRBP will review, assess and, over time, improve existing support systems. The successful individual will have a mandate to develop these departments as they see fit in line with the programme strategy set by the Programme Manager (PM), the organisational strategy, and in support of all HALO Sri Lanka operations. There will be a requirement to train new and existing staff and develop the support capacity of the programme.

Key Working Relationships: The HRBP will report directly to the Programme Manager and will work closely with the Deputy Programme Manager, Operations Manager and Donor Relations Manager as well as the managers of the teams for which they are responsible in Sri Lanka. The Head of Region (UK based) would be the second reporting officer and the Director of HR UK based) will provide professional support and be a sounding board for decision making as required.

Responsible for: The HRBP will have direct line management responsibility for the managers of the HR & Admin department as well as the programme’s Safeguarding Officer.

Responsibilities:

Line manage HR & Admin department:

• Create a culture of continuous improvement and review HR policies, systems and practices ensuring programme compliance with all relevant local legislation and working with external legal advisors
• Design and implement a leadership skills training programme for national staff
• Lead the roll-out of HALO’s global staff survey on the programme
• Monitor attendance and oversee issuance of disciplinary action in line with the programme’s disciplinary policy
• Oversee the recruitment of national staff positions; support the recruitment of international staff positions
• Advise on compensation strategy and appraisal process as needed
• Ownership of HR database – oversee its development and implementation

Support to Staff Livelihood Transition strategy:

As Sri Lanka approaches the final stages of mine clearance, HALO is developing its Staff Livelihood Transition strategy, in line with Sri Lanka’s National Mine Action Strategy 2023-2027, aimed at ensuring sustainable livelihoods for our staff following completion. HALO will identify training and professional development courses that match both the skills of our workforce as well as the demands of the local labour market. The HRBP will:

• Coordinate and oversee the design and implementation of capacity building and vocational training opportunities linked to the implementation of the Staff Livelihood Transition Strategy and the wider HALO Sri Lanka Programme Strategy, in line with the National Mine Action Strategy.
• Lead or support assessment of labour market absorption capacities in Northern Province in Sri Lanka and staff surveys
• Identify and nurture partnerships with local businesses and institutions for vocational training and job placement opportunities

Act as safeguarding focal point:

• Manage the programme’s safeguarding policies, processes, and practices together with Safeguarding Officer, including ensuring compliance with HALO’s global safeguarding policy
• Lead on or support safeguarding investigations and ensure timely reporting and record keeping
• Develop and maintain relationships with Mental Health and other counselling service providers in HALO’s area of operations for staff referral
• Provide capacity building training to the programme’s Safeguarding Officer and oversee the delivery of safeguarding training to programme staff
• Work with the global safeguarding lead to develop suitable training material for the Sri Lanka programme

Support to programme logistics:

• Oversee visa application processes for international staff and HQ visitors to the programme
• Manage the coordination of international travel arrangements for all staff and track external visitors to the programme. Provide familiarisation and programme briefs to visitors on arrival
• Participate actively in country programme management and strategy meetings with other members of the senior management team.

Who we’re looking for:

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Required

• Experience in all aspects of HR management, university degree in relevant field and/or professional certification preferred (e.g CIPD)
• Significant experience in HR management in INGO in an international setting, preferably working on programmes of +1,000 staff
• Experience in implementation of HR database systems
• Project management experience
• Have proven experience of leading safeguarding in the humanitarian sector, across a diverse workforce, ideally including experience in designing and delivering safeguarding training
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills
• Resilient, adaptable, and able to work comfortably in a post-conflict rural setting
• Demonstrated management and leadership skills
• Collaborative working and communication style
• Fluent English speaker with very strong written English
• Strong numeracy skills and data analysis skills
• Good cultural awareness, able to adapt to collaborating with different people
• A self-starter, able to organise and manage their own time and lead a team to deliver quality work in a timely fashion
• A practical and adaptable person, prepared to work in a challenging and fluid operating environment

Desirable (not essential)

• Previous work experience in South Asia
• Tamil language proficiency
• Knowledge of Sri Lankan labour law
• Experience in humanitarian mine action

The HALO Trust is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any applicant for employment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

The HALO Trust is committed to a culture that is both diverse and inclusive and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people form a diverse candidate pool.

If you wish to apply, please submit your CV (no more than 2 pages) and a covering letter (no more than one page). Closing date for applications will be 8th May 2023. We reserve the right to close the advert earlier that the advertised closing date.