Executive Director at Rafiki wa Maendeleo Trust

Job description

About The Role

After 16 years of active leadership, our Founder and Executive Director is transitioning to the Board of Trustees.

We are looking for an energetic and experienced Executive Director to lead and manage the organization to reach new and bold heights. You will spearhead partnership management, fundraising, strategy development and board engagement. The Executive Director directly oversees Programs, Operations, Finance, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning (MEAL), and the Rarieda Training and Resource Center (RTRC).

Under your lead, RWMT and RTRC will become an even stronger role model in terms of community development, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and effective organizational management in Western Kenya and beyond.

Your Responsibilities Will Include

• Fundraising and External Representation (40%)
  • Together with the board, develop the brand and market strategy and lead external positioning of RWMT and RTRC as a development organization and TVET with a social enterprise approach.
  • Continuously market, communicate and share the RWMT and RTRC visions, missions, values and impact to all stakeholders.
  • Lead overall fundraising for the organization, ensuring we have the financial means to deliver our goals. Lead the team in the proposal writing process and engage existing and new donors to secure funding.
  • Oversee reporting to all donors with the aim to manage, nurture and grow the relationships. Ensure high levels of professionalism,quality and integrity in all documents going to external parties.
  • Scope, identify and build new partnerships that align with the organization's goals and needs across the private, philanthropic and public sector, first in Kenya and later globally. Leverage board members in strategic ways.
• Organizational Leadership - Oversee all functions and create synergies that drive the organization forward (30%)
  • In collaboration with board and management team, spearhead the organizational design, culture and structure in service of the goals and strategies and in line with our values.
  • Promote unity, drive and a strong performance culture across the organization. An environment where people collaborate, take decisions keeping in mind the big picture and own their work. Lead the team tosucceed!
  • Cultivate a positive work environment where staff are happy and enjoy coming to work each day.
  • Champion a solid talent management strategy, and learning and development mindset and activities across the organization.
  • Lead and develop the management team and enable them to drive the organization's results through their teams.
  • Liaise with Operations and Finance, ensuring they serve the organization’s demands, promoting operational excellence and fiscal prudence.
  • Inspire and drive a strong quality focus through culture building and processes (such as industry or ISO certifications)
• Lead Program Design, Strategy and Expansion (30%)
  • Ensure that our programs address community needs in an empowering way, align with key trends and opportunities in the development sector and donor interests.
  • Drive creation and implementation of overall strategy for RMWT as a role model NGO and RTRC as a role model TVET when it comes to programmatic, MEAL, evidence-based training and operational excellence.
  • Engage with the M&E team to draw key insights about our activities and feed into the overall Theory of Change. Promote outcomes and evidence-based thinking for our partners, staff teams and external stakeholders.
  • Support the TVET development of RTRC into a strong entity with regional impact and brand.
  • Enable the organization to replicateand bring to scale successful aspects of our models, through advocacy, training, partnerships.

Who We Are Looking For

• You have a vision for community development, based on a strong understanding of rural issues and trends in the development space.
• You have held various senior leadership roles in the non-profit and impact space, with excellent understanding of realities, players, trends and standards.
• You have at least 10-15 years of overall work experience, preferably some of that in rural areas with disadvantaged communities.
• Track record in fundraising and resource mobilization. Strong ability to engage donors. An existing network of partners and donors is desired.
• You have strong people and relationship building skills. You know how to enable collaboration. Others describe you as approachable, compassionate and fair. You build deep, trusted and open relationships with team members, colleagues and board members.
• You have strong leadership and senior management skills with at least 5 years of experience managing large teams and multiple departments.
• You know how to build organizational culture and drive values and mind-sets in the workforce with impressive past results in growing and shaping an organization.
• You have designed and implemented institutional capacity development programs with clear achievements.
• You have good overall understanding of Financial Management in a medium sized organization and are comfortable making the final call on budgets, spending, reports etc.
• You are a critical thinker with strong decision making ability, especially in challenging and complex situations
• You are a stickler for quality and detail, whether in documents or service delivery.
• You have excellent written, verbal communication and presentation skills, both in person and via video calls.
• In difficult situations you stand strong, remain calm and don't get pulled in different directions by stakeholder interest.
• Experience with income-generating activities, value chains and social enterprise is preferred
• Ability to relate to our international and multi-cultural family of development partners. An ear for languages and multi-lingual skills ideal.
• You are excited about rural living yet flexible and willing to travel and engage with donors and partners as required.

You Have The Right Fit With Our Culture If

• You are compassionate and deeply care about children, youth and rural development.
• You value transparency and encourage accountability in all aspects of your life.
• You pride yourself on being flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances.
• You are humble and comfortable in varying social and professional settings, alternating between interacting with rural community members, and high-level stakeholder meetings with institutional representatives.
• You value being part of a team that aims to set new industry standards.

Why work with us?

• While our work with communities is very challenging, it is also very rewarding - you see lives changing before your eyes!
• You will be part of growing our impact with some exciting networks and partnerships that we have built over the past 15 years.
• We are on the journey to becoming a role model development organization and will in the process support many other CBOs and NGOs.
• We are a committed team and we care about each other.
• You will be living and working in a beautiful, rural, calm and clean environment, with fresh air and close to Lake Victoria.

Other information

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

The ED will be based in our main office in a rural village in Rarieda, Siaya County with occasional travel to Nairobi and possibly abroad as required. We are about 20 km from the nearest town (Bondo) where some of our team members live.

Due to the nature of work additional hours may be required. At times, program activities extend into the weekend and may require your participation.

We are looking for candidates who are ready to commit for 5+ years. The candidate will undergo a six-month probationary period and a one-year transition plan with the current ED. We will agree on performance and learning objectives.