Regional Director, Central and East Africa At Search for Common Ground

The Organization:

Search for Common Ground (Search) is the world’s largest dedicated peacebuilding organization, founded in 1982. With programs across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the United States, Search transforms conflict with a diverse set of tools inspired by its Common Ground Approach. Search is currently implementing a 10-year strategy aimed at driving enduring change and transforming many of the world’s most consequential conflicts.

The Region:

The Central and East Africa region is the largest of Search’s four regions, with a diverse portfolio of programs in 10 countries and about $16 million in annual forecasted revenue. The programming streams include stabilization, preventing violent extremism, atrocity prevention, civil society strengthening, media and digital peacebuilding, security sector reform, and support to women and youth-led organizations.

Team Summary:

The Program Implementation team has oversight for the implementation of Search’s programs and projects in its country offices, in accordance with Search and donor policies and procedures. The Program Implementation team works on the full life-cycle of the project, from the start-up phase to the full close-out. This involves designing work plans, implementing activities, reporting, financial management, and staffing management The Program Implementation team collaborates with other departments, including Finance, Institutional Learning, Programs, Global Affairs and Partnerships, Human Resources, and Information Technology.

The Role:

The Regional Director (RD) offers leadership and oversight in the execution of Search’s 10-year strategy across the Central & East Africa region. S/he is a member of the Global Leadership Team, contributing to key organizational initiatives and policy or strategy changes with particular attention to the suitability for field-level implementation.

The position oversees three key areas of leadership and management:

1). Strategy execution

2). Program Management

3). Thought leadership, reputation & external relationships

The RD champions the iteration and execution of programming in the following countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. Expansion into Mozambique is planned and remote and punctual technical assistance is underway in Ethiopia.

S/he plays a leadership role in driving excellent performance through the management of the program portfolio in the geographies under his/her supervision (management of people and resources). The RD plays a critical role in coordination (through matrixed relationships) with all other functional departments to achieve performance targets, ensuring resources are strategically oriented and prioritized.

The RD ensures that Search’s program portfolio reflects best practices, codified methodologies and embraces reflective practice and adaptive management. S/he leads teams towards capturing results that demonstrate impact as per Search’s Peace Impact Framework.

S/he supports the development of a team spirit and collaborative office culture in each country and throughout the region, respecting diversity, equity and inclusion and reflecting Search’s values in practice and through supporting teams.

The RD is responsible for ensuring excellent program design and implementation in compliance with Search and donor policies and regulations. The RD supports outreach, advocacy and networking for the region and Search at-large, pursuing partnerships and ensuring Search’s reputation remains strong and relevant.

Key Responsibilities:

Regional Strategy Execution

  • Lead execution of conflict geography and country strategies, including facilitating regular review of the strategy execution at the conflict geography level
  • Lead on shifts in the geographic coverage of the program portfolio, including opening and closing offices, identifying new sub-offices, in line with the conflict geography strategy
  • Oversee annual planning (OKRs) for each country and regional team and facilitate regular review of performance dashboard and OKR progress
  • Ensure that program design is aligned with strategy

Business Development

  • Support the engagement of country and conflict geography leadership with current and new donors in line with annual targets and in line with Search’s program development strategy
  • Actively participate in prioritized bids including: contributing meta-level strategic inputs at the design phase, cultivating strategic partnerships, ensuring that the resources proposed will enable compliant and timely implementation with attention to minimum capabilities in each conflict geography
  • Collaboration with the Africa Program Development team on prioritization of country bids, as well as internal competitions

Program Management

  • Delivering a range of management, technical, and operational support to empower and enable program leaders to achieve time, scope and budget objectives as per their OKRs and the conflict geography strategy
  • Ensure program implementation in compliance with Search and donor policies and regulations
  • Ensure that program implementation teams are equipped with access to Search’s library of tools and methodologies, and that they embrace a culture of reflective practice and adaptive management
  • Maintain ongoing communication and close collaboration with key donors and partners to ensure strong relationships during implementation
  • Supervise the program support team, ensuring quality and timely grant management support that responds to risks and opportunities

Personnel Management

  • Recruit, supervise, mentor and support the professional development of country leadership teams and the regional program management staff
  • By empowering staff and leading by example, promote a culture of inclusion, learning, support, diversity and innovation
  • Demonstrate and promote Search’s culture and values
  • Working with relevant colleagues, supervise ethics inquiries and related actions

Finance, Administration & Operations

  • In coordination with the Finance department, ensure that the leadership in the portfolio ensures efficient and compliant financial management of the program portfolio. This includes regular participation in organization-wide financial performance reviews, annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting and review of performance as per revenue targets
  • Ensure efficient and compliant opening and closing of country offices in line with Search’s strategy
  • In coordination with the Human Resources and Administration department, support on mitigating risk and efficiently managing security, legal, safeguarding, or other operational challenges
  • In coordination with the Senior Manager – Safety and Security, ensure that minimum standards are adhered to throughout the program implementation portfolio in each country and the region

Thought Leadership, Reputation and External Relations

  • In coordination with the Global Affairs and Partnership team, develop and strengthen new and existing relationships with public and private sector donors and work to position Search as a partner of choice
  • Represent Search’s regional portfolio and thought leadership with current and prospective donors, professional networks and other key stakeholders
  • Promote interregional and global learning through the support of thought leadership through regional exchanges and peer learning
  • Assess and keep abreast of the emerging trends in international peacebuilding, including business intel on opportunities

Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in conflict resolution, international relations, international development or a related field; or appropriate degree complemented with experience
  • At least 4 years of working in Africa and in a cross-cultural environment
  • Minimum of 12 years of program management experience at a senior level, preferably in peace building or a related field
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a diverse team, with attention to coaching and managing performance, and professional development of staff
  • Successful track record of fundraising and excellent skills in the cycle of design and proposal development
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal)
  • Fluency in English, required; fluency in French is an added advantage
  • Excellent financial literacy and management skills, including a familiarity with the basic compliance requirements of major donors
  • Ability to respond collaboratively in situations of uncertainty, ambiguity /or conflict
  • Willingness to travel up to 30 percent of time
  • Experience in overseeing a complex portfolio, involving matrix relationships with other teams and departments, as well as remote supervision of diverse teams
  • Significant field experience in managing multiple projects, multi-tasking, clear delegation and follow-through
  • Experience working collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders, local government officials, and international donors

The position will be based in one of the countries within the Central and East Africa region preferably in Nairobi, Kenya.

How to apply

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