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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Country Director, Operations Manager, and Watsan/Hygiene Project Coordinator for Afghanistan

Position Title: Country Director

Location : Afghanistan. An equal amount of time between Badakhshan and Takhar offices, with frequent stays in Kabul.

Length of contract: 12 months, with possibility to renew. The first three months are a trial period.

Responsible to: Desk Officer, Brussels

Line Management of: Operation Manager, Finance and Administration Director

Background

Mission East, founded in Denmark in 1991, is an international humanitarian organisation, carrying out relief and development programmes in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Mission East has worked in northern Afghanistan since 2001 implementing a variety of infrastructure rehabilitation, water/sanitation and hygiene education, and livelihood development projects. The organization has been working in Badakhshan Province since 2003.

More information on Mission East can be found at: www.miseast. org.

Overall responsibility:

To oversee all aspects of Mission East's work in Afghanistan, with key roles of government, donor and NGO liaison; staff management; country finance control; new project development; strategy; and security management.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Strategic Leadership
*Update and maintain Mission East Afghanistan country strategy, identifying trends and developments, new areas of project involvement, and new donors to support strategic direction.
*Oversee needs assessments and project evaluations.

Liaison
*Maintain regular contact with other NGOs, donors, and governmental officials, including participating in coordination forums.
*Ensure that Mission East's programs conform with governmental strategies and Afghan law.

Security Management
*To be responsible for the safety and security of all national and international staff.
*Oversee security and Health/Safety management system in Afghanistan.
*Lead security planning and field security management.
*Oversee awareness and implementation of Mission East policy and procedures through field staff, including regular risk assessments.
*Represent Mission East at appropriate security coordination meetings.

Project/Program Management and Development
*Assume overall responsibility for success of Mission East projects and programs.
*Oversee needs assessments for new projects.
*Oversee monitoring and evaluation of projects, recommending modifications and new activities.
*Visit project sites on a regular basis and engage in community liaison.
*To seek in-country funding for projects.

Staff Management
*Line management of key staff (Operations Manager, Finance and Administration Director), including staff development
*Active involvement in staff appraisal.
*Participate in determination of ongoing/future staff requirements and recruitment processes.
*Oversee training and development of national and international
staff, in coordination with managers.

Reporting
*Hold responsibility for internal reporting and communications.
*Report to donors and external partners as appropriate, including narratives, budgets, work plans.

Support to Project/Programme Management
*In case of absence of the Operations Manager, the Country Director will assume direct coordination and management of program and project staff.
Selection Criteria Qualifications required
*Education should be of degree level or higher, preferably in the
social sciences or development.

Experience required
*Substantial previous overseas experience in an international relief or development setting, preferably with a non-governmental organisation. This must include significant field experience
including management of national and international staff, project implementation, and budget management.
*Demonstrated experience in donor liaison, preparation and successful funding of large relief and development projects, including budgets, logframes, and work plans.
*Demonstrated experience with security management in an insecure environment.
*Demonstrated experience in assessing the needs of poor rural communities and appropriate ways of addressing them.
*Experience in Afghanistan or South Asia is an advantage.

Necessary Competencies
*Personnel management skills. An ability to delegate, follow-up and supervise as well as support.
*Fluency in spoken and written English.
*Excellent computer skills in Word and Excel. Experience with Outlook.
*Agreement with Mission East Organisational Values.

Application procedure

* To apply for this position, please visit http://www.miseast. org/apply where you will be able to complete an application form. Please ensure that all sections are fully answered as candidates will be initially screened using data submitted on the online form.
* Interviews will be on a rolling basis therefore there is no closing
date for this position.

*********

Position Title: Operations Manager

Location / department: Afghanistan, Takhar Province, with equal amount of time spent in Badakshan Province, and with frequent visits to Kabul.

Length of contract: 12 months, with option to renew. The first three months are a trial period.

Responsible to: Country Director

Line Management of: Province Program Managers, Logistics Coordinator and Program Management staff.

Background

Mission East, founded in Denmark in 1991, is an international humanitarian organisation, carrying out relief and development programmes in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Mission East has worked in northern Afghanistan since 2001 implementing a variety of infrastructure rehabilitation, water/sanitation and hygiene education, and livelihood development projects. The organization has been working in Badakhshan Province since 2003.

More information on Mission East can be found at: www.miseast. org.

Overall responsibility
To contribute to the management of Mission East programs in Afghanistan, with a key role in coordination between different project locations and ensuring coherence of strategic approach and quality of project delivery in all locations.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Operational Management
*Oversee and support province program managers, including assisting in monitoring the progress of projects, with frequent visits to project offices and communities.
*Oversee compliance with all relevant standards across all project locations – this includes ensuring conformity with relevant donor requirements, Mission East internal regulations and humanitarian/ development good practice standards.
*Facilitate review, development and implementation of intervention
strategy.
*Support identification of new projects in keeping with strategy. Assist in preparation of assessments and funding proposals.

Staff Management
*Line management of key staff (Provincial Programme Managers, Logistics Coordinator) , including staff development
*Participate in determination of ongoing / future staff requirements and recruitment processes as required

Coordination and Representation
*Coordinate operations with Province Managers and Project
Coordinators.
*Represent Mission East in external forums per agreement with the
Country Director.
*Maintain regular contact with other INGOs and government officials
and participate in coordination forums as required.
*Work closely with local and national level authorities to ensure
that Mission East's programmes conform with governmental strategies
and Afghan law.

Security and HSE
*Participate in security planning and security management for field
locations
*Oversee awareness and implementation of Mission East policy and
procedures in security and HSE in all locations, including regular
risk assessment

Reporting
*In coordination with Province Managers, support the Country Director in internal reporting and communications, as well as with reports to donors and external partners as appropriate.

Support to Country Director
*This is a senior in-country management position. The Operations Manager may be required to act as deputy in case of absence of Country Director.
*Similarly, in case of absence of provincial program manager, the Operations Manager may be temporarily required to take a more active role in direct management of program and project staff in one particular location.

Selection Criteria

Qualifications required
*A solid background related to the management of international relief and development projects.
*Education should be to at least degree level, preferably in a social sciences related discipline or international development.
*Understanding of donor guidelines and regulations
*Demonstrable drafting/reporting skills (in good written English)
*Understanding of basic accounting and bookkeeping

Experience required
*At least three years of senior-level program management in an expatriate setting in a relief/development context. Project monitoring and quality control skills.
*Demonstrated experience in preparing excellent proposals and budgets, budget management, preparing work plans, training staff, and monitoring /evaluation of projects.
*Personnel management skills. Ability to delegate, follow up, and supervise as well as support.
*Experience in security planning and management.
*The candidate will have demonstrated a good understanding of the needs of poor rural and urban communities and of appropriate ways of tackling these needs.

Necessary Competencies
*Well developed interpersonal and team skills, problem solving ability
*The ability to present concise reports, sometimes at short notice
*Ability to manage and motivate staff members
*Excellent written and spoken English
*Proactive and self-motivated; a confident decision-maker
*Proficiency with MS Word and Excel. Ability to design and use MS
Access databases is advantageous.
*Experience analyzing and using numerical data for decision making.
*Sympathy to Mission East's Organisational Values.

Application procedure
* To apply for this position, please visit http://www.miseast. org/apply where you will be able to complete an application form. Please ensure that all sections are fully answered as candidates will be initially screened using data submitted on the online form.
* Interviews will be on a rolling basis therefore there is no closing
date for this post.

*******

Position Title: Watsan/Hygiene Project Coordinator

Location: Takhar Province, Afghanistan

Length of contract 12 months (with a possibility of extension)

Responsible to: Provincial Programme Coordinator, Receive Reports from: Water and Sanitation Engineer, Health Manager

Background

Mission East, founded in Denmark in 1991, is an international humanitarian organisation, working in Eastern Europe and Asia. The organisation' s activities in Afghanistan presently focus on reconstruction, construction and public health. Mission East currently Employs 70 full-time staff including eight international experts. Mission East has four country offices in Kabul, Taloqan, Faizabad and Baharak.

More information on Mission East and its work in Afghanistan can be
found at: www.miseast. org.

Overall responsibility: To provide technical supervision, manage and coordinate public hygiene projects of Mission East Afghanistan. Implement public hygiene water and sanitation projects in accordance with technical designs. Take part in new project assessments in Northeast and potentially others areas of Afghanistan.

Key tasks and responsibilities

A. WATSAN and Hygiene Education Projects
• Perform technical preparation, and implementation of public hygiene
education, water and sanitation project activities.
• Carry out all construction works within SPHERE standards, i.e. use
of standard hand pumps, hand dug wells and water supply systems,
latrines design and siting, training contents etc.
• Ensure that the programme is implemented in a consultative,
participative and gender sensitive way.
• Assess community needs and priorities, and in a participatory way
design and develop new public health projects (water, hygiene and
sanitation) proposals that are technically sound, feasible and
appropriate.
• Ensure that budgetary and programmatic aspects of current and
future projects are compliant with Mission East and donor guidelines.
Manage project budgets within the limit as set up Mission East
financial guidelines.
• Carry out effective monitoring of the projects activities, quality
achievements and shortfalls as well as beneficiaries feedbacks.

B. Co-ordination
• Work in close collaboration with Mission East's infrastructure project to ensure that all interventions are appropriate to and compatible with community needs and designed to ease the burden and protect the health of the most vulnerable people.

C. Staff Management
• Determine human resource needs necessary to implement effectively all humanitarian interventions. When necessary and in line with Mission East policies; recruit and induct new project staff before taking new responsibilities.
• Provide technical training and supervision of designated staff under a workable and accountable management structure
• Provide supervision of worksites and directly line manage all field based national health trainers, water and sanitation engineering staff.
• Build and/or strengthen the capacity of national health trainers, water and sanitation staff in public health approach and response systems, internal and external procedures and protocols, Mission East guidelines, SPHERE standards, etc.
• Training of public hygiene and watsan teams in safety considerations and overseeing implementation of safety procedures.
• Enact a monitoring system to ensure precise information on staff activity on each site, project progress, quality and quantity of materials used, quality of work.
• Ensure designated staff abide by the Mission East Security
Guidelines and Codes of Conduct

D. Reporting
• Facilitate and support baseline, mid-term and end line surveys as planned.
• Write progress reports as required by the Provincial Programme Manager.
• Assist in the evaluation of projects.

Selection Criteria

Key skills/ characteristics required:
• A suitable qualification in any discipline relating to Public Health, Water and Sanitation Engineering, or Civil Engineering is the necessary educational background. Experience could substitute for a formal qualification, but not vice versa.
• Three years' practical water and sanitation experience in relief contexts. The post holder should have a good understanding of the needs of poor rural and urban communities and of appropriate ways of tackling them.
• Knowledge of Red Cross Code of Conduct, People in Aid Personnel Guidelines, SPHERE minimum standards and other standard international aid guidelines as required.
• The ability to present concise reports, sometimes at short notice, reflecting the problems and possible solutions for particular situations
• Diplomacy, tact and administrative skills in order to work with people at managerial and, on occasion, senior government levels.
• Well developed interpersonal and team skills and proven ability to be flexible in demanding situations.
• Good written and spoken English.

Secondary skills required:
• Proactive and self-motivated; a confident decision-maker.
• Ability to perform under pressure and solve unforeseen problems.
• Proficiency with MS Word and Excel. Ability to design and use MS
Access databases is advantageous.
• Strong analytical skills.

Application Procedure
Interviews will be on a rolling basis therefore there is no closing date for this post.
• Please ensure that all sections are fully answered as candidates will be initially screened using data submitted on the online form. To apply for this position, please go to http://www.miseast. org/apply

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