Haiti: Head of Mission - Haiti

WORK CONTEXT

Haiti is a fragile and vulnerable State because of a sum of factors such as historical national political instability and corruption, natural disasters and geopolitical isolation.

In the last eight years, after the earthquake, sudden climatic shocks (droughts, tropical storms and hurricanes) forced the population to live in extremely vulnerable conditions.

The poverty headcount ratio at a national level is 58.5% and the majority of population lives in malnutrition (53%).

Currently the country is going through a strong economic and political crisis that generates tensions and demonstrations throughout the country, aggravating the conditions of poverty in which the majority of the population is affected.

Cesvi started its humanitarian actions in Haiti in 2009, with the general objective to reduce vulnerabilities in rural and marginalized areas, through multi-donors and multi-sector intervention on education, protection, food security and livelihoods.

Currently actions are concentrated in two areas of Haiti: Port-au-Prince (PAP) and Grand Anse.

The project portfolio consists in 3 mains projects in Grand Anse:

1. In consortium with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas Haiti-Jérémie, “Pestel and Corail resilience” project contributes to the reduction of food and nutrition insecurity of the vulnerable subjects in the affected area and to improve through structural actions the population’s resilience towards these chronic problems.

In order to achieve the objective CRS, Cesvi and Caritas Haiti-Jérémie work on three interrelated factors:

• * the farmers ability to manage natural resources and to produce in a lasting and resilient way in order to generate a balanced diet and to increase their incomes
  • strengthening the inputs and seeds supply system and the facilitation of access to finance services and markets
  • the ability of the authorities and the other key actors to support and implement the construction of resilience on a regional, national and local level, through structural organization

• The Echo Project is an immediate response to food needs of vulnerable families, not only during the gap period between the winter and spring agricultural season, but also before the identified hunger gap, in order to prevent the worsening of their vulnerability.

• The project of economic empowerment of women aims to involve them in agricultural production and/or processing and strengthening their capacity to cope with climate change. It is financed by UN Women through Cocoa and agro-silver activities.

In Port au Prince, Cesvi works with a local partner in supporting the House of Smile project, a special initiative dedicated to children and families for their wellbeing and education.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Organization’s representative office is in Port-au-Prince, a strategic gateway to donors and institutions. In Les Cayes Cesvi has the field office.

The Head of Mission will be based in the Capital and will be required to plan periodic missions in Les Cayes and Grand Anse to supervise and monitor programme development and project staff.

The Head of Mission will be broadly responsible for the following tasks:

• Coordination and overall supervision of Haiti Country’s programmes and procedures, based on overall supervision of on-going projects , Monitoring objectives and activities, in respect of an efficient use of resources and Coordination to guarantee on-going and new projects activities and implementation, including procedure and reporting;
• Management of Cesvi offices, goods, documentation and procurement including means and good and supervision of procurement procedures We also request the monitoring of field operational offices, in accordance with Program/Project Managers and Administrators, support their organization and ensure their full operation; Supervising administration and application of Cesvi internal procedures for the Country is also an is issue to be implemented and supervised;
• Human Resources management, in particular Supervision and management of expatriate staff, in coordination with the Desk Officer, and supervision on all local human resources about contract. We also request to ensure that Cesvi HR policies, terms and conditions are applied. We encourage organization and supervision of capacity building and development of national staff, in collaboration with Head of Program and Project/Programme Managers;
• Implementation of Safeguarding policies – Adult at risk/Child Safeguarding/PSEA which means: Ensuring that Safeguarding measures are implemented within his area of responsibility, Ensuring that safeguarding measures are in place and staff, associates and other key stakeholders are made aware of and supported in implementing these measures;
• Lead in the definition and development of the Haiti Program strategy through Contribution to the definition of a Country Strategy Paper in collaboration with the Desk Officer and identification of the main intervention sectors, areas and needs in the Country in coordination with the Desk Officer and in collaboration with the Head of Programme/Project/Programme Managers;
• Coordination and representation with stakeholders, in particular management and coordination of relations with local and international partners, including Alliance 2015;
• Writing and submitting new proposals, donors acquisition in particular develop new project proposals in the country referring to Cesvi’s sector of specialization and in strict cooperation with the country team through assessments realized both at the national level or in close countries if necessary and requested by HQ;
• Act in accordance with national legislation;
• Security Management with focus on Guaranteeing the respect of Cesvi Security Plan and other rules and regulations on security, in close collaboration with the Security Manager/Security Advisor;
• Strengthen and promote Cesvi image in the Country.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in NGO environment in management, administration and implementation of (agricultural development projects/emergency projects/ nutrition/ environment / cash transfer..)
• Extensive experience of working within a senior management role within a complex country programme in emergency response or in a fragile state
• Experience of managing multi-donor and multi-site programmes
• Knowledge of effective financial and budgetary planning and control, review and evaluation
• Knowledge of main Donors (ECHO,EU-DEVCO, Italian MFA, UN, other International Funding Agencies)
• Excellent project writing skills: ability to produce timely project proposals and high quality narrative reports
• Ability to develop policies, plans and strategies for implementation
• Solid capacity in managing a variety of internal and external relationships, especially with partners and donors
• Able to work in harsh conditions
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills
• Strong communication and diplomatic skills
• Self-motivated, able to take initiative, resilient and able to work independently
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work cooperatively
• High level of IT skills (Office package)
• Fluency in French and English (written and spoken)

DESIDERABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Prior working experience in Haiti and the Caribbean
• Interest and knowledge of protection interventions
• Capacity in networking and build effective partnerships with local stakeholders
• Strategic thinking and innovation
• Familiarity with WASH, Agriculture, Shelter, Nutrition and Protection interventions and sectorial clusters

SAFEGUARDING

Cesvi has a zero tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a child or a vulnerable adult by any of our staff, representatives or partners.

Cesvi commitment to being a safe organization begins with the staff recruitment process which includes meticulous checks, such as criminal records checks or check disclosure of previous convictions, to ensure children and vulnerable people are safeguarded and abuse is prevented. Safeguarding checks are part of the selection process performance.

Unfortunately, due to the high number of applications we receive we are unable to provide feedback if unsuccessful at applicant stage. Only short-listed candidates will be updated on the status of their application.

https://www.cesvi.eu/jobs/head-of-mission-haiti-2/