ROLE PROFILE
Title: Country Director – Tanzania
Functional Area: Country office , Tanzania
Reports to: Director of Sub-Region – Southern Africa
Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Travel required: Extensive
Effective Date: June 2019
Grade: H
Role Purpose
Plan International is a rights-based development and humanitarian
organisation working for better lives for all children. We are
independent of government and have no political or religious
affiliation.
Our purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.
We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries
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 sustainable development goals, and in
particular the goals on gender equality.
Our organisation is transforming itself to meet this enormous challenge everywhere we work.
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 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 understand and drive efforts to deliver positive change for
girls through advocating, campaigning and communicating at a national
level. Equally you will ensure the country operating model is fit for
purpose, we have the right funding mix to achieve our ambition, key
business processes are in place and organisational values are embedded
in everything we do.
You will lead by example in ensuring gender equality is evident in
everything we do from staffing, to programing 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 girlsDimensions of the Role
Plan International has been working in Tanzania since 1991, helping
vulnerable children, young people, and their families to break the cycle
of poverty. Plan Tanzania’s country office is located within Dar es
Salaam and 8 Program Units (PUs) in 13 regions. Plan is involved in
humanitarian programming in the Burundian refugee camps in Kibondo. Plan
International Tanzania has embraced a partnership model and works with
20+ partners at both local and national levels.
Currently the country office implements a viable portfolio of
approximately Euro 13 million/annum. This includes sponsorship and
grants from both bilateral and multilateral donors e.g Global Affairs
Canada, Global Sanitation Fund, AFD, USAID, EU, NORAD, SIDA, ECHO,
UNHCR, UNICEF, and private donors.
We currently employ approximately 280 staff with a Country Leadership
Team of 30 members, 8 of which reporting directly to the Country
Director.
Plan International Tanzania is a member and co- lead of the DRM Centre
of Excellence on girls in crisis and also a member of the 18+ Centre of
Excellence on ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy and the Centre
of Excellence on Cost Recovery.
As part of the broader organizational effort to transform itself to
achieve greater impact, Plan International Tanzania will be going
through a transformational change and strategy development process in
2020. This process requires leadership of the Country Director and
experience in change management. The organization is committed to
meeting safeguarding expectations across all its operations and will
expect the country director to ensure all incidents regarding child
abuse and sexual harassment are reported and effectively managed.
Accountabilities
Plan International’s work in Tanzania will be focused on gender
transformation and will be relevant to the needs of the most vulnerable
children, particularly girls
- Develop and implement an ambitious Country Strategy, based on a thorough analysis of gender power relations and child rights issues ensuring programme and influencing work and projects are focused on gender transformation and equality for girls. This should include the participation and consultation of key stakeholders for child rights in the country, including children and young people themselves
- Ensure our programme and influence approach is effectively utilised and that we are achieving impact at scale by linking grassroots action to national level influencing
- Ensure effective and swift emergency preparedness analysis, risk reduction and resilience building is part of all our programme and influencing work in country.
- Work with and lead the country management team to ensure Plan International is ready to respond to emergencies – predictable and sudden onset – in a timely and professional manner and show consideration for gender equality.
- The location of programme work is regularly reviewed to ensure alignment of sponsorship and grant funding, that existing sponsorship communities receive regular benefits as per the Sponsorship Commitments and that phase in and out of communities are managed appropriately.
- Country leadership and staff are well aware of the country security situation and protocols, and Standard Operating Procedures are developed and implemented giving due consideration to security and safety of staff and visitors.
Plan International’s work will be delivered by a motivated and
efficient team, skilled in their area of expertise and compliant with
the expectation Plan International has of all staff
- The Country Office meets performance against organisations management standards at all times.
- Develop and manage a high performing team that delivers excellent technical work, using child-centred, participatory and gender-sensitive approaches in line with Global and Country Strategies
- Manage individuals across the team to ensure full development of potential through induction, mentoring/ coaching, and performance management, ensuring compliance in all core policy and business areas, including Gender and Child protection
- Ensure staff numbers and structures will be designed and kept at a level that is efficient and cost effective, in line with the available country budget
- Manage work environments to reduce risk from health and safety and security hazards
- Generate solutions for identifying and supporting high performing staff to deliver country objectives.
- Ensure that Plan’s portfolio of work is registered with the relevant authorities and compliant with local law, including having the relevant MoUs with concerned ministries that give due recognition to Plan International and its work.
Plan International’s work will be guided by accurate and timely work
plans and budgets that can be used to create impact and efficiency
- Deliver accurate and timely Annual Plans and Budgets
- Develop work plans from Country Strategy documents, ensuring the context and environment at any point in time is considered
- Create realistic phased budgets for all programme and influence work and projects
- Ensure efficient and fully compliant financial management in the allocation/budgeting, disbursement and accounting for all resources
- Ensure proper use of systems in country as well as data quality to enable reporting and analysis
- Deliver grant and sponsorship work on time with clear measurable impact on children and in full compliance with donor requirements and Plan International’s policies and procedures ensuring that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are in place to measure outcomes and stimulate learning within and beyond the organization.
Plan International’s work will be well funded ensuring sustainability as required
- Develop and Implement an effective Resource Mobilisation strategy that enables Plan International to maximise its value in country, meet its strategic ambition and has the greatest impact for children.
- Represent Plan International to donor agencies locally and track potential funding sources to ensure timely knowledge of funding opportunities in a coordinated manner
- Explore local funding opportunities and support proposal development in partnership with Plan International’s National Organisations and in line with the agreed strategy.
- Ensure sound proposal development and budgeting, maximising opportunities to cost recover
Plan International’s work will aim at influencing key decisions of
local, national and international institutions to advance the rights of
children, particularly girls
- Develop, implement and maintain strategies, capabilities and structures to maximize the impact of Plan International’s influencing work on key decisions with respect to gender equality and girl’s rights.
- Lead representation of Plan International’s work and positions on priority issues to all key stakeholders within the country, including media and the highest levels of government.
- Initiate and engage in extensive collaboration with local and central authorities, INGOs, national NGOs and local communities.
- Ensure timely and engaging external communications that keeps Plan International at the forefront of the issues affecting children and equality for girls.
As Country Director you will work collaboratively across Regional and National offices as required:
- Work with regional management and other country offices to identify and implement options for shared services that contribute to the efficiency and/ or impact of Plan International’s work in country and within the region – these can be for programmatic, influencing or operational activities in both development and humanitarian contexts
- Enable the sharing of lessons, programme models, good practices, etc. within the region and wider organisation for organisational learning
- Be an active contributor and volunteer to participate in global or regional initiatives where you believe your experience can add value or where your country can benefit from and contribute to such work.
Child Protection and Gender Equality & Inclusion
- Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
Key relationships
Internal:
- Country Management Team
- Staff within the country office and all Programme Units
- Director of the Sub Region – line manager
- Regional Office Management Team members
- Other Country Directors, especially those in the region.
- Plan International National Organisations
- Functional departments in International Headquarters.
External:
- National and local authorities (national government, municipalities, etc.)
- Community leaders in the areas of Plan International’s operations
- Partners, civil society members and alliances
- Media at local and national level
- Grants donors, National Organisations, Corporates, and National Institutions
- Other INGO leaders and networks.
- Relevant UN cluster group, including UN and donor representatives
- Relevant university, research and influencing partners in country
Technical expertise, skills, and knowledge
Essential
- Proven experience of 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 good understanding and appreciation of the historical, security context, political environment, economic, social/religious and humanitarian context in Tanzania or a comparable environment.
- Proven skills in the development and management of effective and motivated teams, including distance management.
- Excellent English and written and verbal communication skills.
- Proven networking and negotiation skills with governmental and non-governmental actors
- Strong diplomatic and communication skills, including through mass-media in order to influence decision-makers and key stakeholders.
Desirable
- Relevant University degree in development, social science, business administration or related field
- Knowledge of the geopolitical factors affecting child-poverty in the country and the political, social and environmental opportunities for change is an advantage
- Secondary language as required. Typically French or Spanish
Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable
- Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
- Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
- Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
- Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
- Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people
- Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
- Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
- Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
- Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.
- Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
- Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
- Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
- Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.
- We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
- We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
- We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.
Level of contact with children
Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children
