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WaterAid - West Africa

Country Director – Transboundary

Role Objectives

Within WaterAid, the Transboundary programme is relatively new, covering two countries with shared histories—the only programme that combines two countries. Launched in 2010 as WaterAid’s first operation in a post-conflict area, it is now set to become a full-scale country programme. With both countries part of the Mano River Union there is scope to influence Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea and even help with peace-building.

You will be setting up the mechanisms, systems and ways of working to move the programme to this new stage. The increase in scope and accountability will mean changes in the organization and a management team will need to be built over time to reflect this.

The increase in scope will require a corresponding increase in funding and you will need to search out those new opportunities. Gradual growth is expected from April 2017, whilst keeping existing programmes secure. This growth will require new approaches and not simply doing what has been done before. Rather than undertaking advocacy and service delivery separately, the aim would be to package work to make it interesting to bodies such as the Gates and Hilton Foundations.

This marks a genuine transformation in approach, with WaterAid aiming to empower people to take the lead on getting government to deliver their rights to water and sanitation.

About you

You are likely to be a national, either of Sierra Leone or Liberia. You are able to take on a change programme and provide clear direction so that transformation can be delivered against clear milestones. Politically-savvy, a strategist, a change-leader and negotiator, you know how to establish relationships internally and externally, building confidence in partners at the same time as changing the way WaterAid works with those partners.

You understand the importance of motivating people and getting them engaged to deliver results. At the same time your focus remains on the people that WaterAid serves.

Essentials

We expect you to be able to demonstrate that you are:

  • an inspirational leader: able to create trust, help people understand how they can contribute and be proud of what they are doing;
  • strategic: can design and implement a strategy;
  • innovative: able to reimagine programmes and develop new approaches;
  • a relationship builder: able to build confidence in external and external partners, while changing ways of working;
  • a fund-raiser: able to seek out and deliver new sources of funds.

Location

Liberia or Sierra Leone