Country Director - Lebanon

1. Scope

Responsibility

Country

Department

Lebanon Country Office

Reporting to

Desk Director

Direct reports

Lebanon SMT and Program Team

Budget responsibility

~$5 million USD

Relationship management

Relief International Support Team, Lebanon country teams, and all relevant external stakeholders in Lebanon (donors, interagency coordination groups, government authorities, media, etc)

2. Context

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers work in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of three organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, and Relief International-UK, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

3. Job Profile

The Country Director for Lebanon will be responsible for successfully leading and adapting Relief International’s Lebanon country mission through/into the new realities of the country programs and external context.

Relief International has been operational in Lebanon since 2006, implementing programming focused on Health and nutrition, Education and Livelihoods programs through both direct implementation and with partners. With the fluid situation in the Country, Relief International is in the process of scaling up programming in the country. With support from Relief International Global Support Team and collaboration with key country staff, the Country Director will spearhead the scale-up, ensuring high quality implementation of existing programming and strategically growing the mission with new donors.

The Country Director is responsible for the Lebanon mission overall, including high-level representation, fundraising and program development, strategic planning, risk and access management, program quality, administrative processes, security, and all other aspects vital to ensure the health of the mission.

You have a dynamic approach that enable tackling both macro/ strategic and micro/ detail-oriented issues simultaneously and have proven strong communication and negotiation skills in order to work effectively with internal actors at all levels of the organization and external actors including but not limited to donors, government institutions, U.N. agencies, partners and other key stakeholders.

4. Key Responsibilities

Strategic visioning and resource mobilization

• Articulate and execute a strategic vision of the Lebanon mission.
• The Country Director will build on RI’s long-standing presence in Lebanon and translate it into actionable programs for excellence in the evolving context of Lebanon. This involves considering the needs and capacities of the communities RI serves, the capabilities RI has and needs to develop, and the resources required for execution.
• Develop alliances with Partners, external donors, key stakeholders to ensure adequate funding and sustainable impact.

Quality Program Operational Delivery

• Identify and resolve complex technical, operational and organizational problems
• Oversee project implementation, including allocation of resources and timely spending in accordance, ensuring that appropriate controls are maintained at all levels, by working with country SMT.
• Impact the organization's results by ensuring the funding of projects, quality and on time operational services delivery and developing policies and plans.
• Develop and lead relevant country specific objectives driven by highly complex local context, and guided by organizational objectives
• Ensure overall audit compliance, financial transparency through supervision and direction of financial and administrative staff.
• Leadership in ensuring effective and proactive relationships in a large and complex context externally regionally and globally with donors, partners, communities

External Representation

• Effectively liaise with donor governments and other lead agency representatives, as well as counterparts within partner and other key stakeholder organizations.
• Prioritize relationship building to secure new and existing donor funding.
• Build strong relationship with government authorities at central and governorate levels, across all relevant ministries.
• Ensure regular engagement at all relevant Clusters and interagency coordination mechanisms
• Maintain a suitable image for Relief International and protect Relief International’s interest and assets.

Risk and Security Management

• Serve as overall responsible for safety and security of staff in country office, and drive culture of security management linked to duty of care and acceptance approaches.
• Ensure security plans are in place and regularly updated in accordance with Relief International regulations and processes.
• Hold staff accountable for adhering to security requirements and guidance at all times.
• Consult regularly with global Security Team as needed to ensure effective security management and appropriate information sharing.
• Drive risk management through ensuring security considerations are addressed during all areas of implementation and planning.

Team Leadership

• Provide leadership and management of national and expatriate staff. Ensure timely and quality staff performance management of directly managed staff, making sure all country team follows best practices in this regard.
• In partnership with HR team, ensure that the recruitment, performance management, benefit entitlements and termination of national staff are accordance with national laws and Relief International policies; building a culture of transparency and equity among the team.
• Model a culture where all staff across the different layers of the country mission are held accountable for their performance.
• Build a positive work culture that fosters commitment to the mission, drives high performance, and ensures a healthy work environment that prioritizes duty of care to staff including but not limited to security and mitigating risks of excessive stress and burnout in the workplace.

Behavior and Conduct

• Ensure the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies
• Be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members
• Ensure own actions and the actions of the teams' members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
• Report any concerns and ensure a well-functioning Incident Management Team at country level.

5. Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

• Progressive proven country leadership experience in the implementation of small-medium scale multi-sector programming in complex settings
• Degree in a relevant field or commensurate work experience
• Persuasive interpersonal, communication, public speaking, writing and strategic planning skills
• Excellent project management skills to ensure on time delivery of programs and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail
• Experience implementing/ overseeing program implementation of USAID, ECHO and UN grants
• Experience in fundraising with institutional and private donors
• A leader who brings coaching and mentoring skills in team management (structure, conflict, performance management and communication)
• Passion and agility to managing complex and changing environments
• Languages: English

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience in Lebanon
• Sector experience in Health, and any experience in Protection, WASH and/or Livelihoods sectors also a plus
• Experience working in the early recovery and/or development space
• Advocacy and media engagement experience
• Language - Arabic

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability