OVERALL DESCRIPTION
The GOAL Country Director is responsible for the planning, management and appropriate development/expansion of GOAL’s work in country. The CD is responsible for ensuring that GOAL’s work contributes effectively and efficiently towards meeting the short, medium and long term needs of the poorest of the poor, within the framework of GOAL’s organisational and regional objectives, in a co-ordinated manner and in accordance with GOAL’s guidelines and principles.
RESPONSIBILITIES
PROJECT
The Country Director is responsible for ensuring that all programme activities are implemented, monitored and evaluated in a timely manner, to ensure that they are appropriate, necessary, cost effective, targeted, sustainable and in keeping with GOAL’s mission and philosophy.
Duties
The Country Director must ensure that GOAL programmes meet the highest national and international standards, and comply with Codes of Conduct and agreements to which GOAL is a signatory
The Country Director must provide ongoing review and development of overall country strategy, and of individual programme objectives. They must undertake, with the programme management team, continuous review, monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness, impact and direction of each programme.
The Country Director must make it a priority to identify new projects/programmes in country.
The Country Director must assist with all preparation of project/ programme proposals.
The Country Director must ensure that all project/programme proposals and reports are submitted to GOAL Dublin and approved prior to submission to donors. In addition, they must ensure that all country/project agreements to be signed with Government / Donors must to be sent first to the GOAL Dublin office for approval before signing.
The Country Director must ensure that all project/programme proposal renewals/ extensions are submitted to GOAL Dublin at least two months in advance of the expiry of the existing project timeframe.
The Country Director must ensure that there are regular effective communications within the country programme and with GOAL Dublin. This includes the completion of comprehensive and informative monthly progress reports to be submitted to GOAL Dublin by 15th of each month as per the Country Director’s Field Guide.
The Country Director must facilitate and participate in sharing information and the development of a bank of knowledge which can be shared by all GOAL fields.
The Country Director must ensure that GOAL complies with all the relevant legal requirements of the country.
The Country Director must maintain a list of all relevant contact persons in country, including donors, other NGOs, UN agencies etc. Information should include name; position; organisation; address; email; phone; fax etc., and this should be updated on a six monthly basis and submitted to GOAL Dublin office.
DONORS
The Country Director is the principal point of contact with the in-country donors
Duties
To be familiar with all of the donors present in-country. Liaise with donors regularly, have on hand an up to date copy of donor guidelines and be familiar with their policies.
It is the responsibility of the Country Director to secure project/programme funding from donors in-country where possible.
Liaise with donors regarding all matters related to projects and programmes, this includes visits to GOAL project sites etc.
The Country Director has overall responsibility for all aspects of financial and programme management. Using information obtained from the monthly management report and programme managers reports monitor programme trends in order to predict the course of the programme. The Country Director has responsibility to inform Head Office of budgetary overspends or underspends as they affect programmes and plan appropriate interventions.
The Country Director has overall responsibility for narrative and financial reporting to donors. It is the Country Director’s responsibility to ensure that all reports are presented in a professional manner in the format and timeframe requested by the donor requests. All donor reports must be presented to GOAL head office at least two weeks prior to the due date. No donor reports should be presented to the donor without first having been approved by head office. A delay in submitting project reports can result in cash transfers to the field being delayed.
Supply GOAL Dublin with a list (detailing contact name, address, phone, fax, email etc., and position of contact person.) of all donors in country. This list should be updated on a three monthly basis.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
The Country Director has ultimate accountability for all financial matters in the field and must review and approve the monthly management accounts.
Duties
To ensure adherence to the financial guidelines as per the GOAL Dublin Financial Manual.
To ensure that comprehensive and timely reports are produced in accordance with schedules agreed by GOAL HQ. (e.g. monthly management accounts and donor status reports to be submitted by 15th of every month).
To ensure that GOAL personnel do not borrow or lend money on behalf of the organisation.
To ensure that the annual budget and financial plan for the year ahead is submitted to GOAL Dublin by 30th September every year.
To ensure that donor financial reports are submitted in accordance with specific donor requirements.
To ensure the implementation of control procedures regarding the use of GOAL phone/fax/satellite phone facilities for personal use.
PERSONNEL
As Country Director you are responsible for the health and welfare of your team of staff including expatriate and local personnel and are empowered to use all available resources to promote their development in line with GOAL policy.
Duties
To ensure that the policies and guidelines as laid down in the GOAL Personnel Manual are adhered to by all.
To be accountable for the overall security of expatriate personnel, this includes being fully informed regarding staff movement within country, and ensuring that all staff are familiar with security measures.
All expatriate staff contract extension / termination / promotion must have prior approval from GOAL Dublin.
The Country Director must ensure that the policy relating to the usage of vehicles and (satellite) phones for personal communication are adhered to at all times.
The Country Director, with programme staff, is to ensure that all staff responsibilities are defined and understood. This includes the provision of clearly defined job descriptions and up to date contracts. GOAL Dublin must be provided with all copies of job descriptions / contracts and contract extensions related to expatriate staff.
The Country Director has overall responsibility for the preparation and implementation of in country personnel policies in line with overall GOAL and government policy. The Country Director must ensure that all local staff contracts must:
a) Respect local labour laws.
b) Be consistent with GOAL policy.
The Country Director must ensure that all incidents/warnings etc. relating to personnel are clearly documented, and signed by the relevant parties.
The Country Director must ensure that there are procedures in place to support and encourage appropriate personal and professional development of staff within the context of the organisation’s objectives.
It is the Country Directors responsibility to provide support and supervision to all staff where necessary. This includes the provision of training for staff in tasks such as project proposal preparation; report writing etc. The Country Director must ensure that all training opportunities available in country are availed of and implement a national and international staff training policy.
The Country Director has the mandate to recommend repatriation of any international staff member in line with the GOAL personnel policy.
The Country Director must ensure that ongoing informal review/evaluation of staff performance, and formal written evaluation of each of the international staff is prepared on a six monthly basis, and sent to GOAL Dublin in confidence.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/LOGISTICS
It is the responsibility of the Country Director to ensure that all available and appropriate resources are accessible in their country of assignment.
Duties
To ensure that the policies and guidelines as laid down in the GOAL Logistics Manual are adhered to by all.
To ensure that the reporting requirements outlined in the GOAL Logistics Manual are fulfilled in a timely fashion.
Assess all resource requirements as necessary to ensure that they are appropriate, effective and efficient.
Ensure that there are appropriate systems in place for the effective utilisation and management of finance, personnel, supplies, transport, capital assets etc.
REPRESENTATION
The Country Director has the responsibility and mandate to represent GOAL within their country of assignment.
Duties
Ensure that there is appropriate liaison and negotiation with the relevant Government partners, regional and local authorities; donors; local agencies etc. at all levels of project implementation.
The Country Director has sole responsibility for dealing with the media/press in country. All (political) statements to be issued, and/or policy positions, must be approved by GOAL Dublin.
KNOWLEDGE
All Country Directors must be fully informed regarding the political, security and humanitarian conditions within their country of assignment.
Duties
It is the responsibility of the Country Director to be fully informed regarding the humanitarian and relief and development perspective in their country of operation.
Appropriate information should be collected, collated, analysed and forwarded to the GOAL Dublin office on a regular basis.
MEDIA/PR/VISIBILITY
Media and PR coverage for GOAL in a developing country is the responsibility of the Country Director. The Country Director must seek out and present GOAL to any international media personnel in country, and ensure coverage of GOAL activities.
Duties
The Country Director must also ensure that all of the GOAL team are well briefed on the official GOAL position in relation to various issues.
It is imperative that the Country Director has an up to date listing of all of the relevant media contacts as prepared by GOAL Dublin.
The Country Director is also responsible for ensuring that the visibility of GOAL is promoted appropriately at field level.
This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. |
