South Sudan: Country Director - South Sudan

GOAL has been delivering both humanitarian and development programmes in South Sudan since 1985. Currently GOAL is operating across a number of field sites in South Sudan in Warrap State; Abyei Administrative Area and Upper Nile State. GOAL directly implements a multi-sectoral programme addressing the root causes of poverty and poor health. GOAL supports health services through 65 primary health care facilities and works to increase Ministry of Health (MoH) capacity to deliver services through technical, logistic and management support to the County Health Departments (CHDs) in six counties. GOAL’s WASH programme focuses on both hardware (borehole drilling with in-house team, institutional and market latrine construction) and software (community-based management structures such as Water User Committees, Community-Led Total Sanitation and Household Latrine Demonstration Centres). GOAL’s livelihoods programming is expanding with new funding to move beyond seeds and tools provision to the use of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), support to Farmer Associations and more specific inputs along the value chain based on thorough market assessments.

In response to the on-going humanitarian crisis in South Sudan GOAL has set up an emergency response programme in Upper Nile State which provides community health, nutrition, curative care, water and sanitation, and food security and livelihoods support to conflict affected populations.

General Description of the Role

The GOAL Country Director (CD) takes overall responsibility for the planning, management and appropriate development of GOAL’s work in-country. The CD is responsible for ensuring that GOAL’s work contributes effectively and efficiently towards meeting the short, medium and long term needs of the poorest of the poor, within the framework of GOAL’s organisational and regional objectives, in a co-ordinated manner and in accordance with GOAL’s guidelines and principles. The CD must ensure that there is regular and effective communication within the country team, with the Regional Director, and with GOAL Dublin. The CD has ultimate responsibility for all issues of security. The position is based in Juba with regular visits to field sites.

Key Duties
Programmes
The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that all programme activities are planned, resourced, implemented, monitored and evaluated in a timely manner, to ensure that they are appropriate, necessary, cost effective, targeted, sustainable and in keeping with GOAL’s mission and philosophy.

• The County Director will work closely with the Assistant Country Director – Programmes on all aspects related to programmes.
  • The Country Director must ensure that GOAL programmes meet the highest national and international standards and comply with codes of conduct and agreements to which GOAL is a signatory.
  • The Country Director must continually review and develop the overall country strategy, and of individual programme objectives, to match the current context/ environment. The CD must undertake, with the Senior Management Team, continuous review, monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness, impact and direction of each programme.
  • The Country Director will review all programme proposals prepared by the Assistant Country Director – Programmes and the programme team before their submission to donors, and ensure that all proposals and reports are submitted to GOAL Dublin and approved prior to submission to donors.
  • Any other duties as assigned by GOAL.

Donors
The Country Director is the principal point of contact with the in-country donors.

• The responsibility for securing adequate funds to support GOAL South Sudan programmes is shared between the Country Director, Regional Director and GOAL Dublin; it is the responsibility of the Country Director to secure programme funding from donors in-country where possible.
  • The Country Director must be familiar with all relevant donors present in-country and is responsible for developing GOAL’s working relationship and maintaining its reputation with them.
  • The Country Director is responsible for liaising with donors regarding all matters related to programmes; including facilitating visits to GOAL programme sites.
  • The Country Director should be familiar with the legal requirements of the donors, providing support to GOAL’s programmes,as well as donor country strategies.
  • The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that the country team conducts regular Grant Management Meetings to ensure that projects progress in a timely manner, meeting set targets within the proposed budget.

Financial Accountability
the Country Director is ultimately accountability for all financial matters in the field and must review and approve the monthly management accounts.

• The County Director will work closely with the Financial Controller on all aspects related to finance.
  • The Country Director must ensure adherence to the financial guidelines as per the GOAL Dublin Financial Manual.
  • The Country Director must ensure that comprehensive and timely reports are produced in accordance with schedules agreed by GOAL HQ.
  • The Country Director must ensure that donor financial reports are submitted in accordance with specific donor requirements.
• The Country Director has responsibility to inform Head Office of budgetary overspends or underspends as they affect programmes and plan appropriate interventions. As such, the Country Director should ensure that Budget Monitoring Tools are produced by Finance on a monthly basis and reviewed by Programmes and Operations.

Personnel
The Country Director is responsible for the health and welfare of staff including expatriate and local personnel and the CD is empowered to use all available resources to promote their development in line with GOAL policy.

• The County Director will work closely with the Assistant Country Director – Systems on all aspects related to Personnel.
  • The responsibility for securing adequately qualified international staff to support GOAL South Sudan programmes is shared between the Country Director, the Regional Director, and GOAL Dublin.
  • The Country Director must ensure that the policies and guidelines, as laid down in the GOAL Personnel Manual, are adhered to by all staff.
  • The Country Director, with programme staff, ensures that all staff responsibilities are defined and understood. This includes the provision of clearly defined job descriptions and up to date contracts. GOAL Dublin must be provided with all copies of job descriptions / contracts and contract extensions related to expatriate staff.
  • The Country Director has overall responsibility for the preparation and implementation of in-country personnel policies in line with overall GOAL and government policy. The Country Director must ensure that all local staff contracts must:
  a) Respect local labour laws.
  b) Be consistent with GOAL policy.
  • The Country Director must ensure that all incidents/warnings etc. relating to personnel are clearly documented, and signed by the relevant parties.
  • The Country Director must ensure that there are procedures in place to support and encourage professional development of staff within the context of the organisation’s objectives.
  • The Country Director is responsible for ensuring staff receive the necessary support and supervision they require. This includes the provision of training for staff in tasks such as project proposal preparation; report writing etc.
  • The Country Director has the mandate to recommend repatriation of any international staff member in line with the GOAL personnel policy.
  • The Country Director must ensure that ongoing informal review/evaluation of staff performance, and formal written evaluation of each of the international staff is prepared on a six monthly basis, and sent to GOAL Dublin in confidence.

Resource Management/Logistics
It is the responsibility of the Country Director to ensure that all available and appropriate resources are accessible in their country of assignment.

• The County Director will work closely with the Assistant Country Director – Systems on all aspects related to logistics.
  • The Country Director must ensure that the policies and guidelines, as laid down in the GOAL Logistics Manual, are adhered to by all.
  • The Country Director must ensure that the reporting requirements outlined in the GOAL Logistics Manual are fulfilled in a timely fashion.
  • The Country Director must ensure that there are appropriate systems in place for the effective utilisation and management of finance, personnel, supplies, transport, capital assets etc.

Safety and Security
It is the responsibility of the Country Director to be fully informed regarding the political and security environment within their country of assignment, and for ensuring that all reasonable measures are taken to minimise / mitigate the safety and security risks faced by programmes and programme staff.

• The Country Director is accountable for the overall safety and security of staff and for ensuring there is a culture of security within the organisation.
  • The Country Director must immediately inform the Regional Director and GOAL Dublin (through agreed communications protocols) of any security incidents relating to GOAL staff, assets or programmes. Regular communications and updates on security must be shared with the Regional Security Advisor (RSA), Regional Director and GOAL Dublin as per protocol and as requested.
  • The Country Director is accountable for ensuring that the policies and guidelines, as laid down in the GOAL Safety and Security Manual, and the site specific security guidelines, are adhered to by all staff at all times.
• The Country Director is responsible for ensuring staff have access to the appropriate resources and training to enable them to understand and adhere to staff security guidelines.
• The Country Director is accountable for ensuring that policies and guidelines relating to safety and security are reviewed periodically and revised to reflect relevant changes in the operating environment.
  • The Country Director must ensure that Area Coordinators adequately monitor the safety and security situation in their programme sites and that all incidents or adverse conditions affecting staff safety or project operations are notified to the Country Director in a timely Fashion.
  • The Country Director must work closely with the RSA and the Regional Director when assessing the country security context and dealing with any potential threats to GOAL programmes or staff.

Representation/Visibility
the Country Director has the responsibility and mandate to represent GOAL within their country of assignment this includes media and visibility.

• The Country Director must ensure that there is appropriate engagement and negotiation with the relevant Government partners, regional and local authorities, donors, local agencies etc. at all levels of project implementation.
  • The Country Director has sole responsibility for dealing with the media/ press in-country. All (political) statements to be issued, and/or policy positions, must be approved by the Regional Director and GOAL Dublin.
  • The Country Director has the responsibility to provide feedback to the Regional Director and to Dublin on the possible implications, on programme and staff security, of any comments or statements being prepared by GOAL Dublin.
  • The Country Director is also responsible for ensuring that the visibility of GOAL is promoted appropriately at field level.

Information Management
All Country Directors must be fully informed regarding the political, security and humanitarian conditions within their country of assignment.

• It is the responsibility of the Country Director to be fully informed regarding the humanitarian, relief and development perspective in their country of operation.
  • Appropriate information should be collected, collated, analysed and forwarded to the GOAL Dublin office on a regular basis.
  • The Country Director must ensure that there are regular, effective communications within the country programme, with the Regional Director and with GOAL Dublin. This includes the submission of weekly and monthly reports to GOAL Dublin.
  • The Country Director must ensure that GOAL complies with all the relevant legal requirements of the country.

Requirements (Person Specification)
• 5+ years of previous overseas management experience in humanitarian assistance programmes in complex emergency situations
• Experience of managing security, related to staff and programme activities, in a volatile post conflict environment
• Experience of staff management
• Good interpersonal skills
• Experience in liaising with government officials and a variety of donors
• A willingness to accept basic living conditions
• A willingness to regularly travel to programme sites
• Experience in proposal and report writing with a proven ability to secure donor funding
• Budgetary control and financial management skills
• To be familiar with and abide by the NGO Red Cross Code of Conduct, the People in Aid code and Sphere Minimum Standards

GOAL has a Standards of Integrity and a Child Protection Policy, which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants and children from exploitation. GOAL also has a confidentiality policy ensuring the non-disclosure of any information whatsoever relating to the practices and business of GOAL, acquired in the course of duty, to any other person or organisation without authority, except in the normal execution of duty. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to these policies any job offer made is also subject to police clearance. GOAL is an equal opportunities employer.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated. Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date. We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.

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