Danish Refugee Council recruits 01 Area Manager

Overall Purpose of the Role:

The Area Manager is responsible for overall management, compliance and strategic direction of DRC’s response in Djibouti under the direct supervision of the Country Director (CD) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Area Manager is expected to ensure that the Djibouti office and programming function according to the DRC’s standards for compliance.  The Area Manager will represent DRC with the local government bodies (especially ONARS and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs), international organizations in-country, other stakeholders, beneficiaries, and other (I) NGO’s as part of regular and quality communications to maintain good relations. The post-holder will build the portfolio of the Djibouti area by ensure high quality implementation of all projects and supporting new business development.  S/he will need to clearly understand and ensure fair, accountable and transparent management of program, finance and human resources, and promote a learning environment for staff and the organization. The Area Manager will also be responsible for compliance to Standard Operating Procedures for safety, security and general operations.

About the job

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Management and Coordinator:

• Overall responsibility for the recruitment and daily management of the Djibouti-based program and support teams, including ensuring positive and collaborative working relationships in line with DRC’s Code of Conduct and assessing staff capacity to provide or recommend relevant training or coaching as needed.
• Daily management of the Djibouti office, including ensuring compliant financial operations and budgeting, administration, human resources, logistics, procurement and security in line with DRC and donor regulations.
• Represent DRC publicly at the site level, including in coordination fora with other agencies, and for providing the direct link in communications between DRC’s Djibouti field office and the Addis Ababa office. As a general guideline, the Area Manager will represent DRC with stakeholders who are based in-country, and while the Country Director will manage relationships with stakeholders who are based outside of Djibouti, unless he/she delegates this relationship to the Area Manager.

Finance and Administration:

• Provide daily management of the field office’s finance team.
• Oversee and regularly update a comprehensive master budget of all of DRC’s operations in Djibouti.
• Assume responsibility as primary budget holder of all projects and lead in the development of new budgets and spending plans.
• Collaborate regularly with the Addis Ababa based finance team to monitor spending and ensure the timely utilization of all grants, including ensuring regular monthly budget and proposal follow ups are conducted in Djibouti and feedback shared with the Country Office.
• Ensure all Finance staff are fully compliant with operating in DRC’s cloud-based ERP accounting and project management software by conducting regular spot checks of the financial postings.
• Ensure full compliance with DRC and donor financial guidelines and policies.

Human Resources:

• Manage the Djibouti-based team and support respectful and positive working relationships which allow for the effective implementation of all activities. This is to be achieved through leadership, team building, day-to-day support, capacity-building and strong, generalist knowledge in all of DRC’s core sectors, including protection, migration and infrastructure.
• Lead site-level recruitment processes and ensure that relevant staffing structures are in place and are reflective of appropriate gender balance.
• Promote professional development by identifying training and capacity building opportunities and ensure staff are well versed in core protection concepts, DRC’s code of conduct, accountability, respectful dialogue with the refugee population, and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
• Collaborate with the Addis Ababa human resources department to ensure staff evaluations are conducted on a regular basis and are uploaded onto DRC’s cloud-based ERP HR software.
• Ensure all HR staff files are archived according to DRC’s operations handbook.
• Ensure training in DRC’s cloud-based ERP system is provided to all staff upon induction (roles-based training) and that all user setup in Microsoft O365 is completed prior to onboarding process and induction.

Logistics and Procurement:

• Collaborate with the Supply Chain Manager and Addis Ababa based logistics and procurement team to develop and maintain procurement plans.
• Ensure supply chain processes are in place and fully compliant with DRC and donor policies and standards.
• Collaborate with the Supply Chain Manager to ensure field-based records are well managed, fulfill DRC and donor requirements, and are always uploaded into DRC’s cloud-based ERP system and available for use in donor reports.
• Monitor budget lines to ensure spending is in line with project timelines and implementation schedules.
• Ensure all procurement requests are submitted using DRC’s ERP supply chain system and approvals are done in accordance with DRC’s budget holder policy.
• Ensure monthly follow up of procurement plans in coordination with the budget follow up process to inform any adjustments in spending as required in advance of project closure.
• Enforce DRC’s East Africa and Great Lakes procurement lead times and DRC’s warehousing/distribution policies accordingly.

Programming and Technical Support:

• Provide oversight of all programming in Djibouti in compliance with core protection principles and best practices, and DRC and donor regulations, while upholding rigorous project cycle management standards.
• Design and support in conducting needs assessments to inform program design as well as identify risks and vulnerabilities, including those related to gender, age and diversity.
• Develop concrete initiatives to respond to needs of displaced communities as well as specific strategies which build upon existing assets within the population.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of programming through active and ongoing participation in and contribution to strategic planning meetings and development of strategic documents.
• Work with the SMT to define a vision for the Djibouti office, identify opportunities, and liaise with donors and partners.
• Work with the Head of Programs and finance team to contribute to new program development, including both narratives and budgets, by coordinating and compiling inputs from other technical and support staff.
• Ensure the timely and quality delivery of all organizational and project reports and staff contributions to organizational monitoring and evaluation requirements to ensure project quality, relevance and accountability to DRC’s beneficiary populations.
• Support staff to integrate protection and migration concerns and awareness into other sectors as relevant.

Safety and Security:

• Assume responsibility for staff safety in the area of operation.
• Ensure all relevant information regarding safety, security and the context is collected, updated and shared in a regular and timely manner.
• Collaborate with the Addis Ababa based Security Coordinator and Senior Management Team to make decisions and manage security incidents at a local level.

 

About You

In order to be succesful in this role we expect you to possess the following:

 

Qualifications:

 

• Master’s degree in law, social sciences, international development, or other relevant field.
• Minimum of 6 to 8 years of work experience within the field of law or protection, particularly within the field of humanitarian response and refugee protection, with experience working for an international NGO, UN agency or relevant ministry or local authority.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a senior project management position.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English and French.
• Knowledge of Office software packages and experience using data analysis tools.

Languages:

• Excellent verbal and written English.
• Excellent verbal and written French.
• Knowledge of Djiboutian National languages an added advantage.

 

 In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’s five core competencies:

 

Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.

Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.

Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.

Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.

Demonstrating integrity: You act in line with our vision and values.

 

We offer

Contract:           Six months’contract. Salary and other conditions are offered in accordance with DRC’s Terms of Employment.  This position is under   employment Band M.E for international staff.
Availability:       December 2019
Duty station:      The position will be based in Djibouti Ville, Djibouti.  This is a non-family duty station.

 

Application process

Only motivated applications that address the stipulated duties and meet the required qualifications, sent together with a CV, will be considered.

DRC only accepts applications sent via our online-application form on www.drc.dk under Vacancies. Please remember to upload both a letter of application and your CV and do not attach any written recommendations.

Please submit your application and CV in English  here no later than 1 November, 2019.