Norwegian People's Aid: Country Director, Somalia

Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) has been involved in humanitarian mine action since 1992 and is one of the leading humanitarian demining organisations worldwide. NPA works closely with national authorities and other stakeholders on resolving the challenges faced by the local communities caused by landmines and other explosive weapons. In 2017, NPA will have over 20 Mine Action Programmes in the Balkans, Southern Africa, The Horn of Africa, Central Asia, South East Asia, and The Middle East.

We are looking for an experienced manager to take on the position as Country Director (CD) in Somalia. We are looking for someone with background in humanitarian disarmament, preferably with Horn of Africa experience. In addition to CD, this position functions as Programme Manager for NPA Humanitarian Disarmament programme in Somalia. The CD will be responsible for a staff of 80 employees. The main office is located in Mogadishu, and the programme has support offices in Nairobi and a field office in Las Anod, as well as expanding field operations.

Duties and responsibilities:

The Country Director is to lead NPA Somalia. General duties and responsibilities for the Country Director will include:

• Lead the management team and ensure that the team works within NPA's principles and core values
• Ensure that relevant strategies, policies and routines are in place and adhered to
• Maintain quality management of all aspects of programme activities
• Define and implement the organizational framework, including chain of command, job descriptions, quality assurance, productivity measures and coordination mechanisms
• Responsibility for management, tasking and supervision of all expatriate and locally employed staff
• Responsibility for recruitment, contract renewals, evaluations and development plans
• Ensure good working relations with national authorities, donors, international and local organizations
• Responsible for donor relationships, including priorities and areas of interest
• Overall responsibility for the security of programme staff and programme assets
• Extensive understanding of the country context
• In cooperation with and supported by the whole country management team and the administration/logistics staff:  
  • Ensure that financial and administrative procedures support programme activities in line with NPA HO guidelines
  • Ensure budget control and that donor budgets are prepared for approval by NPA Head Office
  • Ensure that NPA has good logistical systems including property and asset control
  • Ensure that NPA's HR policy, code of conduct and national laws are followed
  • Ensure that findings in audit reports are corrected and lessons learned distributed

Programmatic responsibilities will be to develop NPA activities to have a strong impact on elimination of land mines, cluster munitions and remnants of war. Specific duties will include:

• Developing and maintaining a proper programme document hierarchy
• Coordinate closely with all relevant stakeholders in the mine action sector, as well as local and national authorities and the UN
• Responsible for resource mobilization for the NPA Humanitarian Disarmament programme in Somalia, including to develop donor strategies for fundraising
• Motivate for synergy and further cross-utilization of resources between the NPA projects within the region and globally
• Ensure that NPA is registered and establish NPA as a Humanitarian Disarmament organization in Somalia, including establishing accredited Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs), MOU's and registration with relevant authorities
• Ensure all activities are in accordance with overall plans, Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) and International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) and/or national standards
• Initiate and develop a realistic and comprehensive project proposal on Conflict Preparedness and Protection (CPP) with a donor strategy and implementation plan, including coordination with relevant stakeholders

 Required qualifications:

• Relevant higher education or equivalent qualifications (result focused mine action NGO or commercial EOD work, overseas relief and development programmes or military qualifications with international deployments).
• Documented leadership skills from challenging and high risk environments, preferably from Horn of Africa
• Experience in crisis management
• Experience in security management
• Experience from upper level management in a complex international organization.
• Experience with implementing strategies, plans and achieving objectives in large organizations
• Previous working relations or experience of liaison and networking with UN, national authorities, military forces, partner organizations and donors.
• Experience from capacity building projects
• Written and verbal proficiency in English
• Education and/ or experience in logistics, finance, human resources and information management
• Experience in fund raising and donor relations  

Personal skills:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to meet deadlines and work calmly under pressure and limited supervision
• Ability to work in and adapt to difficult and complex cultures and conditions
• Good communication-, networking- and interpersonal skills

Position number: 144/17

Place of service: Mogadishu, Somalia

Starting date: As soon as possible 

Closing date for applications: October 11th 2017

In general:

We emphasize the importance of strong health, cross-cultural communication skills, creativity and the ability to work under pressure and difficult conditions. One of NPA's overall objectives is to promote gender equality in our organization, and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

NPA offers:

Interesting and challenging work, free accommodation, transport and insurance schemes for expatriates. R&R rotation system. A one-year contract with possibility for renewal. For more information about NPA, please see NPA's website at www.npaid.org / www.folkehjelp.no