Senior Regional Manager, Africa
Global Communities

Job Info

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Overview

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community.

Global Communities is seeking a Senior Regional Manager, Africa to join the Sustainable Development Department, Office of Program Operations team. This position may be based at any Global Communities office.

The Senior Regional Manager, Africa plays a key role in ensuring operational effectiveness and program quality across projects and countries in the region. Under the leadership and direction of the Senior Director, the Senior Regional Manager works closely with Country Directors and Country Finance Directors to ensure effective country operations, effective management of resources, and mitigation of risks in line with Global Communities policies and procedures, and compliance with local regulatory and legal frameworks.
The Senior Regional Manager oversees and ensures the consistent implementation of systems, policies, and procedures to ensure operational excellence, effective program and financial management, and high-quality coordinated support from Headquarters (HQ) to project teams and field leadership in the region. S/he oversees and continuously improves the implementation of all cross-functional Project Support Teams in the region, in line with program management standards and best practices. S/he supervises, guides and supports regional Program Officers to ensure optimal, timely and consistent implementation of Program Support Teams that deliver value through improved coordination, communication, planning, performance and quality of programs. S/he plays a critical role in ensuring effective coordination between HQ and field, and across HQ functions including between the Regional Program Management Team (RPMT) and all teams within Global Operations and including Finance, People & Culture, Legal, Grants and Contracts, Global Security, and other support functions. The Senior Regional Manager supports the Senior Director to analyze programmatic, financial and operational trends in the region, proactively manage risks and issues, and facilitate timely decision making to enable field teams to achieve intended project scope, budget, schedule, and quality objectives.

The Senior Regional Manager's scope is regional. S/he directly supervises and develops the capacity of the Regional Program Management Team including Senior Program Officers and Program Officers for the region. Regardless of job location, the Senior Regional Manager's working hours will include the core business hours of 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST). S/he will provide direct program management support to projects as needed.

Responsibilities

1. Country Operations Support & Oversight

• Support and advise Country Directors to ensure effective and compliant country operations, effective management of resources, and mitigation of risks.
• Advise the Senior Director on effective managerial and support structures, gaps and issues at country and project level.
• Manage and coordinate the opening and closure of country offices in alignment with lobal Communities policies and procedures; work with Country Directors, Legal, Finance and P&C to ensure active country registration and compliance with local law and statutory requirements.
• Ensure country offices understand and comply with organizational policies and procedures in Finance, Global Operations, People & Culture, Grants and Contracts, Legal, and Global Security. Develop and ensure the implementation of appropriate monitoring, control and accountability mechanisms, in partnership with regional Officers and country leadership.
• Implement an operational risk management system across countries in the region; facilitate country risk management planning and review processes; work collaboratively with country leadership and all other HQ functions to identify, monitor, and mitigate financial, legal, staffing, procurement, and other operational risks in the region. Identify and/or escalate emergent risks, issues, and red flags to efficiently facilitate resolution and/or decision making.
• Under the direction of the Senior Director, manage and facilitate periodic, cross-functional operational risk management meetings with focus on finance, operations, procurement, HR, legal, security, IT and other operational areas at country and project level.
• Under the direction of the Senior Director, implement administrative procedures to support Global Communities localization agenda including local affiliate registration/incorporation, formalization of local boards and governing documents, affiliation agreements and service agreements, as appropriate and in close collaboration with field and HQ stakeholders and advisors and in compliance with local law.
• Monitor and manage the organization's legal, financial, contractual and governance relationships with local affiliates, ensuring administrative, governance, and contractual obligations are active and up to date.
• Ensure country offices have up-to-date safety and security plans that meet the standards of the Office of Global Security.
• Ensure country offices have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in alignment with Global Communities' organizational policy and standards.

2. Financial Management

• Review and ensure the timeliness and accuracy of internal annual budgeting and monthly forecasting exercises across projects and countries in the region.
• Monitor core operating budgets across countries in the region; identify needs and advocate for organizational resources to ensure business continuity, particularly during periods in between projects. Support program transition efforts, including senior staff turnover in the field, program closeouts, and hibernations.
• Support effective financial management of the regional portfolio; ensure regular financial reviews of countries and projects in the region; monitor budgets, spending and burn rates across countries and the region; identify and resolve or escalate issues and financial management challenges for resolution.

3. Program Management

• Ensure the implementation of systems, policies and procedures to support effective project management, implementation and support across the project life cycle and in alignment with the Program Management and Support System Foundations and Principles.
• Oversee and manage the implementation of all cross-functional Project Support Teams in the region; support and guide Officers to ensure optimal, timely & consistent coordination and high quality, integrated project support across their designated portfolios.
• Develop and monitor the efficiency of processes and evaluate the effectiveness of the Project Support Team as a cross-functional project support mechanism, communicate status, progress and issues to the Senior Director, and support continuous improvements to processes.
• Oversee and support the delivery of a wide range of management, technical, and operational support to projects to enable the achievement of scope, budget, time and program quality objectives. Provide direct program management support to projects as needed.
• Facilitate and support coordination and integration between HQ and field, across functions and management structures to enable efficient and coordinated support to country offices and project teams.
• Oversee and manage the implementation of effective systems to monitor program and budget execution, performance, quality, and results; to monitor award administration and ensure compliance with donor agreements, regulations, as well as policies, procedures and program management standards; deliver quality and timely donor deliverables; and ensure timely identification and resolution of all operational, programmatic and technical issues and challenges.
• Ensure effective coordination with the Technical team to ensure program technical quality and coordinated technical assistance to projects.
• Support Country Directors, COPs, and Program Officers to identify, monitor and mitigate or resolve project scope, cost, time or quality risks and issues, in consultation with the Senior Director and relevant stakeholders.
• Keep abreast of and support regular and proactive communication with donors, institutional funds and key partners in relation to award compliance and program and budget performance.
• In collaboration with the Senior Director, Operational Analytics and Support, develop, update, and improve operational policies, procedures and tools to improve consistency, efficiency and promote best practices in program management and support.

4. Business Development

• Identify and communicate emerging trends in international development in the region and business intelligence on opportunities, as appropriate.
• Collaborate with the Strategic Growth & Partnership team, specifically pricing, during the proposal stage to achieve full cost recovery, and ensure adequate resources in alignment with program implementation needs and country operational context.
• Identify and mobilize Regional Program Management Team members to participate in new business development activities, such as strategy development, capture planning, opportunity assessments and proposal development, as needed and in coordination with the Strategic Growth and Partnership Team and individual opportunity development / proposal teams.
• As needed, participate in and contribute to other resource mobilization efforts in the region, including the formulation of regional and country resource mobilization strategies, annual capture plans, and the development of individual opportunities and proposals.

5. Personnel & Team Management

• Supervise and effectively manage the performance of Senior Program Officers and Program Officers for the region. Provide regular support, guidance, feedback, coaching, mentoring and support their professional development.
• Guide staff to prioritize, coordinate, and distribute work based on available resources and changing demands across projects and countries.
• Lead the recruitment for Officers and Associates for the region and participate in hiring teams for country senior management positions including Country Directors and COPs in the region.
• Cover Senior Director and/or senior level field responsibilities or vacancies when needed and/or provide other surge support to field offices as required.
• Promote a culture of excellence, inclusion, learning, support, diversity, and innovation; and demonstrate Global Communities' culture and values of dignity, integrity, humility, connection and creativity across country offices and at HQ.

6. Other

• Regularly analyze program, financial and operations data within the region; produce internal reports for Senior Director to monitor performance, trends and generate insights on project, country operational and financial health to support management decision making.
• Support the Senior Director to operationalize and implement strategic organizational initiatives (such as localization).
• Coordinate with the other Senior Regional Managers to ensure standardization or practices across regional teams.
• Other duties as assigned.

POSITION SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Travel internationally and domestically up to 25 percent of time.
• Supervise Senior Program Officers and Program Officers for the region.
• Promote a culture of excellence, inclusion, learning, support, diversity and innovation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong and growing knowledge of the international development field, including public and private sector actors, and donor trends at both global and regional levels.
• High level of proficiency in USAID rules and regulations and their application.
• Demonstrated experience managing, mentoring, and developing capacity of professional staff in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong financial management and award/contract management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with a diverse, multi-cultural team across geographies, and involving matrix relationships with other functions and departments. Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate (written and verbal) clearly and effectively with diverse audiences, and ability to negotiate with, advocate with and secure buy-in from diverse stakeholders and decision makers. Excellent dispute resolution, facilitation and team building skills.
• Strong systems-thinker and ability to systematize and continuously improve processes.
• Excellent project management skills. Recognized project management certification (e.g. PMP, PMD Pro) a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to support complex field-based operations, including a strong working knowledge across management, finance, administration, procurement, logistics, HR, legal, and security functions.
• Demonstrated ability to develop financial, programmatic, and contractual trend analyses. Excellent analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to mobilize collaborative action and make sound decisions in situations of rapid change, ambiguity, incomplete information, and limited resources. Excellent judgement, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to utilize technology solutions to support effective program management and operations.
• Excellent organizational skills. Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment and meet conflicting deadlines with minimum supervision.
• Fluency in English (written and verbal) required; proficiency in a second language of business it the region (e.g. French) highly desirable.
• Advanced computer skills in a Windows based environment including the Microsoft Suite and a high level of comfort working with technology solutions.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree and a minimum of six years of related work experience or a minimum of ten years of related work experience.
• At least 4 years of experience at a senior or manager level in a program implementation, program management, grants management or operations role.
• At least 2 years of experience from an international assignment, with a preference in the region.
• Supervisory experience required.
• A passion for the mission and values of Global Communities.
• Must have U.S. work authorization.

Global Communities is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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