Area Manager at Danish Refugee Council

About the job

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Management

• Enable an effective team through result-oriented management systems, providing leadership, on-job capacity building and designing staff development strategies.
• Provide direct management of senior program, support and security staff; provide oversight and management of the entire team in Turkana County.
• Ensure programs are developed, implemented and evaluated within clear monitoring frameworks with a focus on programme quality and in adherence to   DRC and donor regulations and the core humanitarian principles.
• Provide on-site support through frequent visits to project sites and conduct briefing with the team on key findings and agree on actions
• Ensure that the learning from the DRC programmes in Kakuma,  Kalobeyei,  Lodwar & other parts of Turkana County are shared and disseminated accordingly.
• Frequent consultations with sectors lead to determine key issues in Turkana County and obtain common positions around these issues

Security

• Proactively ensure that the team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of DRC Policies
• Ensure team members are following security and contingency plans as outlined by safety department in DRC
• Focal point person for pandemics e.g COVID 19 (DRC, MOH Turkana and UNHCR)
• Ensure a safe and secure environment for DRC staff, beneficiaries and assets through: operationalizing DRCs security procedures, providing safety and security analysis, recommendations and follow-ups.
• Organize for regular staff training on the use of DRC safety and security systems/procedures.
• Closely work with DRC Safety and Security team – to collaborate on operational plans such that they are grounded in sound analysis and backed by appropriate feasible mitigation measures.

Support Services

• Ensure that the Support Services Processes in Finance, IT, Supply Chain, HR & Admin are cost effective, efficient and responsive to the growing needs of the programme in the North Rift (Kakuma and Kalobeyei, Lodwar & its environs).
• Keenly ensure that the Support Services Processes/systems in the North Rift are compliant to DRC, donor and national policies, rules, regulations and systems;
• Ensure a diverse and professional workforce through efficient, effective and transparent recruitment, evaluation and disciplinary processes.
• Ensure procurement is carried-out in a fair, transparent, effective and well documented manner.
• Supervising all financial reporting and financial procedures, including the monthly schedule for financial reporting, donor reporting and audits, cash flow and liquidity management plus ensure Master Budget is regularly updated and discussed with Country office
• Ensure that DRC Dynamics (ERP) system is fully used in the area office used in managing Supply Chain, Finance, HR and Grant Management.
• Ensure smooth flows of daily administrative, program support and operations work of the team
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.

Program

• Ensure that program designs are responsive to the community and donor identified needs and that resources of the targeted population, are well coordinated with those of other aid actors address lessons learned (from DRC and other actors) and steered towards ensuring accountability to the people to whom the services/inputs are indented to serve.

External relations

• Establishes and maintains open and productive dialogue with the County Government, relevant line ministries, community leaders, power brokers and relevant aid agencies, private businesses and donors.
• Attends and contributes to discussions, workshops, working groups and other forums where operations and other issues that may impact operations or the people DRC serves are discussed.
• Host external delegations and dignitaries on work related field visits in the North Rift (Kakuma & Kalobeyei refugee camps as well Lodwar and other field operation areas in Turkana County.
• Consistently demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and compose, even under difficult circumstances.
• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders in the area of operations 
• Proactively participate in relevant informal and formal coordination meetings with County, National government, District County Commissioner, RAS and donors based in the field.
• Ensure full participation of DRC in Working groups meeting and represent DRC in Interagnecy meeting in Kakuma and Lodwar level. The AM is also expected to attend Protection working group as a passive participant and later discuss with SGBV and CP team leaders on key discussion points which require action from DRC.

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to possess the following:

Required

• A recognized University degree in relevant field (Emergency, economic recovery, protection, peace building.
• Minimum 5-years relevant experience; with at least 4-years’ experience managing large-scale multi-sector programming
• Proven experience in strategic development and program design & writing, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Practical and extensive financial, HR and administration management experience with extensive knowledge of budget development/management and finance documentation, tracking and archiving; understanding of HR and administration principles and ethics.
• Result-oriented management experience of a large, diverse and dynamic team, and a commitment to good leadership.
• Must have a proven ability to foster teamwork and commitment to on-job training/support.
• Practical and proven skills in negotiation and conflict resolution with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Experience in security and safety management in highly dynamic security environments
• Analytical and problem-solving skills and an ability to work independently and as a team.
• Experience in a refugee setting and a good knowledge of refugee issues.
• Proven excellent communication skills and fluency in written and spoken English essential. Excellent report writing skills is a must.