East Africa Regional Director at WaterAid Job Ref. RW/WA/3101/2420

Job description

East Africa Regional Director

Contract type: Permanent, Full Time

Location: The role can be based in any East African WaterAid Country Programme, for example; Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda or Kenya- subject to right-to-work eligibility in the respective countries.

Salary: Excellent benefits with equivalent competitive salary.
Salaries and benefits for different countries will vary in line with the location of the successful candidate and depending on experience. See further details below:

• Tanzania: TZS 219,260,882 – TZS 274,076,102 per annum depending on experience with excellent benefits.
• Uganda: UGX 334,275,398 – UGX 423,328,592 per annum depending on experience with excellent benefits
• Ethiopia: USD 89,709 – USD 112,137 per annum depending on experience with excellent benefits
• Rwanda: RWF 91,516,271 – RWF 133,286,861 per annum depending on experience with excellent benefits
• Kenya: KES 13,627,404 – KES 18,105,509 per annum depending on experience with excellent benefits

About WaterAid:
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation.

Since we started in 1981, we’ve remained resolutely focused on tackling these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Without sustainable and safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), no one can live a full and healthy life. These should be part of daily life for everyone everywhere – but they are not. In 2022 2.2 billion still lacked safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion people still lacked safely managed sanitation with 787 million of them living in Africa. Around the world, 800 children die every day from diarrhoeal diseases caused by lack of sustainable and safe WASH. In the face of climate change, communities will rely on more resilient WASH services.

As the Regional Director for East Africa, you will play an instrumental role in the delivery of our ambitious Global Strategy 2022-2032. Working alongside communities and partner organizations including government, civil society, and the private sector to catalyze the changes needed to improve access to sustainable and safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for the poorest and most marginalized people. The Regional Director’s leadership will be key to accelerating progress on WASH across the four countries where WaterAid works and extending our influence in the East Africa region

The Regional Director provides leadership to the East Africa region and contributes to the global leadership of WaterAid. This is achieved by providing strategic direction and guidance to the region’s work, empowering, and developing staff and influencing key stakeholders to maximise the impact that improvement to safe water, sanitation and hygiene can make to the poorest and most excluded people. This leadership is undertaken in line with WaterAid’s values, guiding principles and global strategy.

About the Team:

The International Programmes Department is made up of four regions: West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and South Asia; and three support teams: Programme Support and Knowledge team, the Programme Funding and Partnerships Team and the Programme Operations Team; the International Programmes Department delivers our work effectively across Africa and South Asia focusing on quality programming; accountability and effectiveness; research, learning and documentation.

The Regional Team provides strategic leadership and effective management of country programmes. Additionally, they work to enable Country Programmes enhance their performance and impact by obtaining and accessing relevant skills, expertise, funding, and strategic partnerships. ​ Most regional teams are virtual, with members based within country programmes and a small regional office in Senegal for West Africa, and Pretoria for Southern Africa.

The Programme Support and Knowledge (PSK) Team leads and supports organisation-wide programme learning and knowledge management, collating and disseminating programme knowledge and facilitating knowledge exchange and normative guidance. The team provides technical advisory expertise and fosters and supports internal and external programme and technical partnerships and networks.

The Programme Operations Team supports effective management through ensuring IPD Teams have access to robust high quality management policies, systems, process, tools and capabilities that work to support the delivery of programmes, enable the effective management of risk, and ensure strong financial planning and management​.

The Programme Funding and Partnerships Team support WaterAid to secure and manage sustainable restricted funding from institutional donors to deliver our programme ambitions.
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The International Programmes Department also works closely with the Global Safeguarding Team and security expert within WaterAid’s People Team.

About the Role:

In this role you’ll:

Strategic Leadership for Country Programmes and Region ​

• Accelerate the momentum of delivering transformative and influential programmes across the East Africa region in line with WaterAid global, regional, and country strategies.
• Lead East Africa teams to deliver the shifts and ambition within their new country strategies.
• Be effective and influential in the region and elevate the importance of WASH in the agendas of the key stakeholders.
• Lead donor awareness and strategy-led donor engagement to generate income growth in line with the regional growth ambition and plans.
• Contribute to the development of a strong WASH sector especially within the region and with relevant global agencies, institutions, and platforms. Ensuring WaterAid’s vision, mission, values, and aims are communicated in a positive and compelling way.
• Lead on the development of strategic collaboration and relationships at national, regional, and continental level to influence policies and practices of others and learn from their experiences.

Effective Management of Country Programmes and Region

• Build, lead and manage high performing and diverse teams by creating an environment that enables staff to maximise their potential. Be an empowering leader and nurture staff wellbeing and safety. Foster a culture of openness, ability to speak up and accountability to all stakeholders.
• Ensure the successful delivery of multiyear plans through setting realistic targets, monitoring progress and budgets, providing assurance in terms of quality of programme delivery, capacity development, effective learning and knowledge management and programme monitoring and evaluation.
• Effectively coach and support direct reports in areas such as people development, country programme, advocacy, funding strategies and multiyear plans, budgeting, planning and reporting processes.
• Provide the direction and prioritisation of resources within the regional team to effectively support the country programmes.
• Promote the effective use of resources and good financial management through effective and robust monitoring and reporting mechanisms; support country programmes to proactively identify and secure funding opportunities.
• Lead East Africa teams in line with the organisational principles and values
• Promote a culture of learning and listening that strives for improved practice between country programmes, within the regions and across WaterAid.

Strategic contribution to wider organisation leadership

• Contribute fully as a member of the departmental Senior Management Team and global leadership team to support organisational effectiveness and development; engage at the global level on various strategic, thematic, and learning priorities as appropriate
• Represent country programme perspectives to the wider organisation and communicating strategic and operational issues of the region to the wider organisation.
• Facilitate and promote effective communication between and among WaterAid’s members, regional team, and country programmes.
• Develop thorough understanding of the external environment in which WaterAid operates, identify opportunities, and manage risk including ensuring appropriate health and safety and security procedures are in place.

About You

• Degree, professional qualification in a relevant subject (i.e., development studies, social sciences, community health / health education or civil engineering) or equivalent experience.
• Substantial track record of successfully working at a senior level across different contexts with strategic leadership and management responsibilities in international development
• In-depth understanding of the East Africa context (social, political, policy and institutional environment)
• Proven track record of building and leading high performing, diverse and virtual teams, skilled in cross cultural management.
• Current experience of development policy and practice with key stakeholders in the region (i.e., governments, donors, regional and continental bodies and networks).
• Track record of policy influencing at regional and/or continental levels
• Strong experience of working with and strengthening networks at regional and/or continental levels
• Proven experience of donor engagement, strategy driven income growth, financial management and fundraising skills
• Ability to develop organisational strategies and translate this into plans and budgets

Desirable

• Post-graduate degree in Development Studies, social sciences or management
• Experience of working for an international NGO
• Experience in and understanding of WASH sector will be a strong advantage
• Understanding of implementing projects through partner organisations
• Specific experience in one of WaterAid’s key thematic areas – Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, Urban, Sanitation, Human Rights, Gender and Equality, Water Resource Management.
• Experience of institutional strengthening within NGO or government environment

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Ability to plan own work, set priorities and complete them under pressure or when faced with competing demands
• Excellent communication skills with spoken and written language fluency in English
• A strong commitment to improve lives of the most marginalized through targeted development work
• Empowering leadership style, with the ability to get the best out of people, build trust, inclusion and work collaboratively within and across teams
• Delivery focused, holding self and others to account.
• Able to take appropriate decisions when due, confronting and resolving difficult situations where needed
• Committed to continuous personal development, with the ability to coach others and maximise their potential
• High competency in working digitally for word-processing, spreadsheet packages and communication.
• Other language prevalent in the region

How to Apply:

To see the full job pack, please click ‘Apply’. Please apply by submitting your CV and a cover letter into one document in either Word Document or PDF format. To apply for this position, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in any of the respective WaterAid East Africa Member countries or Kenya.

Please answer the following questions when submitting your cover letter using no more than 2 sides of A4.

• What excites you most about joining WaterAid?
• What is the depth and breadth of your expertise working at a senior level across different contexts with strategic leadership and management responsibilities in international development?

Our Commitment

Our People Promise:
We will work with passion and focus to ensure safe and sustainable water, toilets and hygiene are available to everyone, everywhere. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have. We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to put the wellbeing of our people first, to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.

Equal opportunities:
We are an equal opportunity, disability-confident employer and are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions and ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, national or social origin, health status, and economic or social situation.

Safeguarding:
We are also committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously.

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