Deputy Regional Director at IRC-Kenya

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Job Description
The Deputy Regional Director (DRD), Great Lakes will have significant management and international experience, a passion for humanitarian relief and development work, relevant language skills, and be capable of thoroughly understanding and successfully overseeing program design and delivery in Burundi, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRD will ensure the quality of IRC’s programs, develop new program opportunities, and drive performance and results in the region. S/he is expected to be an outstanding communicator and team leader, and a committed humanitarian.
SCOPE OF WORK
The Deputy Regional Director will support the Regional Director in overseeing IRC’s engagement and programming in response to the humanitarian crises impacting the Great Lakes region. In addition, the DRD will engage with regional INGO, UN, and donor representatives, to position IRC on regional initiatives and to further IRC’s strategic goals. The DRD will also be actively engaged in business development opportunities, especially around multi-year, high value projects.  The DRD will be based in Nairobi and report to the Regional Director.  This is an accompanied post.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Deputy Regional Director will oversee program design and implementation in IRC’s country programs in the Great Lakes region. S/he will be an ambassador for organizational priorities and goals to these country programs and supporting country programs to implement IRC’s Strategy 2020.
Exercising the delegated authority of the Regional Director, the DRD provides a range of strategic, programmatic and operational management support to country programs and regional colleagues. A key function of the role is to navigate the organization on behalf of the country programs. The DRD will travel regularly to country offices to provide management support, including exceptional management of specific issues as required, and to monitor program quality. A significant portion of the DRD’s time will be spent on business development activities, regional representational activities, Strategic Plan monitoring, and staff mentoring.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategy

  • Work closely with the Regional Director to ensure that the IRC’s global strategy is understood and guides decision-making throughout the region.
  • Drive institutionalization of the Outcomes and Evidence Framework, IRC’s program design tools.
  • Support delivery of country-level strategy action plans (SAPs). Facilitate and coordinate regional participation in global strategy discussions, initiatives and pilots.
  • Oversee implementation of SAP monitoring mechanism and review process, including leading annual SAP reviews and reporting.
  • Build consensus around a common vision of what shared success in the Great Lakes looks like, including developing and tracking appropriate indicators.

Leadership & Coordination

  • Supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and leading documented semi-annual performance reviews.
  • Provide leadership to increase country programs’ coordination, collaboration, communication and harmonization of programming.
  • Drive seamless coordination between programming and operations and across sectors and outcomes, with the objective of improving the quality of IRC programs and impact on the people IRC serves.
  • Facilitate close and efficient coordination of regional staff’s support to the country programs, and with headquarters departments on common programming, operational and funding issues.
  • Coordinate with regional INGOs, Donors and UN representatives in Nairobi, ensuring that IRC’s remains a key partner in coordination mechanisms hosted in Kenya.

Innovation & Program Quality

  • Manage the region’s relationships with the Technical Units (TUs), and support TU-country program collaboration to optimize impact on program quality within and across country programs.
  • Strengthen the region’s readiness to respond to new emergencies in line with global IRC emergency response and preparedness guidelines.
  • Facilitate sharing and learning across countries, and support country programs to incorporate learning from other regions into project design and operations management.
  • Coordinate the region’s engagement with IRC’s R&D lab.
  • Engage the regional team and country programs in on-going context analysis to ensure IRC programs are continually adapted to the evolving contexts across the region.
  • Ensure that programs are designed and implemented in support of IRC’s vision of cost-effective, outcomes-driven and evidence-based interventions that are responsive to the local context and the priorities of our beneficiaries.
  • Where applicable support country teams to adopt and use industry-standard remote management practices and maximize program quality and controls.

Business Development & Partnerships

  • In coordination with the IRC’s Awards Management Unit, provide focused business development support to country programs, building country capacity to win multi-year and high value projects.
  • Take go/no-go decisions regarding pursuit of regional funding opportunities. In coordination with Country Directors, engage in strong regional-level representation with governments, donors, international and local NGOs.
  • Ensure timely submission of competitive, responsive and high-quality proposals that align with country priorities identified in Strategy Action Plans, and support country program colleagues in negotiations with donors.
  • Oversee the design and implementation of IRC’s work in partnership to support and build capacities of local civil society and other key stakeholders, positioning IRC as a valued INGO partner.
  • Participate in shaping policy positions and advocacy messages pertaining to the overall humanitarian situation and IRC’s response in the Great Lakes region.
  • Advise country programs in networking and alliance-building activities, promoting cross-sectoral engagement with the private sector, universities, research institutions, and other potential “non-traditional” partners.
  • Support the development of country business development plans which marry the priority outcomes identified in each country SAP with the priorities of existing and new donors.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:  Regional Management Action Coordinator
KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Internal: Regional Director; Great Lakes Country Directors and staff; other Great Lakes regional staff; HQ and UK colleagues in various departments
External: Donors; NGO representatives; UN officials; and Media
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
IRC and IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
Qualifications

  • 7-10 years in senior program management roles, with several of these being in an international NGO.
  • Post-graduate qualification or equivalent relevant experience in a relevant discipline.
  • A diverse background in programs, with strong understanding of DM&E, strong analytical skills, and experience leading strategic planning processes
  • Demonstrated ability to influence peer agencies, local government and community leaders to work effectively towards a common and agreed upon result.
  • Demonstrated ability to evaluate and implement best practices and processes affecting multiple technical specialties to achieve rapid, consistent and high quality outcomes.
  • Demonstrated expertise in representation and negotiations, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organization
  • Highly-developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching. Must be able to give direction from a variety of management styles and roles.
  • Demonstrated ability to work independently with limited supervision
  • Strong commitment to the IRC’s mission, purpose and values
  • Fluency in French is highly preferred;
  • Previous experience with IRC is desirable

Other Information: This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya and will require up to 40% of time spent traveling within the region.
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