International Rescue Committee

The Deputy Regional Director (DRD), Central Africa (CA) 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, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. The DRD will ensure the quality of IRC's programs, develop new program opportunities, and drive performance and results in the region. The DRD is expected to be an outstanding communicator and team leader, and a committed humanitarian.

Scope of work

The Deputy Regional Director will support the Central Africa Regional Vice President in overseeing IRC’s engagement and programming in response to the humanitarian crises impacting the Central Africa region. The DRD will lead or coordinate efforts to improve program quality in all aspects across design and implementation. 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 Vice President. 

Position overview

The Deputy Regional Director will oversee program design and implementation in IRC’s country programs in the Central Africa region. The DRD will be an ambassador for organizational priorities and goals to these country programs and supporting country programs to continue to implement IRC’s Strategy 100 through the implementation of their SAP, focusing on cross-functions collaboration for quality delivery, client first, partnership, business development, monitoring, and learning. The DRD will be a model of organizational leadership and driving performance in the region while partnering with the RVP on promoting a culture of openness, transparency, duty of care for all staff and duty of service for our clients, and power rebalance in favor of those close action. 

Exercising the delegated authority of the Vice President, 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 and influence 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 and strategy delivery. 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 RVP to ensure that the IRC’s global Strategy 100 and Country SAPs are guiding decision-making throughout the region. 
• Oversee implementation of SAPs/SAP-IPs and SAP strategic investments monitoring and review process, including leading annual SAP reviews and reporting. 
• Maintain consensus around a common vision of what shared success in Central Africa looks like, including supporting implementation of the regional road map. 
• Drive institutionalization of the Outcomes and Evidence Framework, IRC’s program design tools.
• Facilitate and amplify IRC Strategy 100 ambitions and SAP IPS at the country level. In particular, promote and facilitate the use of cash/voucher assistance and equal partnerships in the country programs.
• Support delivery of country-level strategy action plans (SAPs) and SAP IPs. 
• 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 Central Africa 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.
• Oversee and champion complex, multi-country projects.
• 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.
• In close coordination with the RVP, coordinate with regional INGOs, Donors and UN representatives in Nairobi, ensuring that IRC remains a key partner in coordination mechanisms hosted in Kenya.

Innovation & Program Quality 

• Support the Technical Regional Leads to strengthen 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.
• In coordination with the Technical Regional Leads, facilitate sharing and learning across countries, and support country programs to incorporate learning from other regions into project design and operations management.
• Collaborate with regional focal points, DDPs, and technical sectoral leads to ensure the integration of GEDI & Safeguarding within IRC’s client facing interventions.
• 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.
• In coordination with the Technical Regional Leads, 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. 
• Collaborate with regional focal points, DDPs, and technical sectoral leads to ensure the integration of GEDI & Safeguarding in project design/proposal development process.
• Ensure timely submission of competitive, responsive and high-quality proposals that align with country priorities identified in Strategy Action Plans and SAP IPs, 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 Central Africa 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-SAP IP with the priorities of existing and new donors.

Direct reports and supervision responsibilities: 

• Coaching and mentoring of country DDPs in support of functioning SMTs and effective cross-functional management 
• In collaboration with the RVP and leadership teams to ensure a culture of inclusion, belonging, and model empathetic leadership.
• Direct reports (through Management in Partnership) of Director, Awards and Management (DAM), Regional Emergency Director (RED), Regional Measurement Advisor (RMA), Health Regional Lead, Violence Prevention and Response Regional Lead, and Regional Partnership Advisor. 

Key working relationships: 

Internal: Vice President Central Africa; Central Africa Country Directors and teams; other Central Africa regional staff; HQ and UK colleagues in various departments; Technical Units (TU).

External: Donors; NGO representatives; UN officials; and Media

Qualifications and experience

• 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 M&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.
• Previous experience with IRC is desirable.
• Fluency in English and French.

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

#LI-CA1