East Africa Director (Kigali) job position. Deadline 9 July 2021

Please find the full Job Description and application form under this link: 

https://recruiterflow.com/edge/jobs/72

We are hiring an East Africa Director to lead our organization!

About Global Grassroots:

We believe grassroots women know best what their communities need but have the fewest resources to create change. Yet, the most enduring ripple effects occur when local women put their own ideas into action. Global Grassroots is a charitable organization that provides the personal and professional tools and resources for high-potential, underserved women - especially violence survivors - to develop their own solutions to community challenges.

We have developed a unique, holistic methodology that blends mindfulness and social entrepreneurship. Our two flagship programs use a social incubator approach and include trauma-healing techniques, personal leadership skills, social venture planning tools, and seed funding.

Our Academy for Conscious Change’s Women’s Water Leadership Initiative supports local teams of Rwandan women who wish to address clean water access and its effects on women and girls. Our Young Women’s Academy is a seven-month program for high-performing secondary school graduates from throughout East Africa, during which they design and launch a social impact project in their local community before entering university.

Global Grassroots was founded in the US in 2004 and established its first programs in Rwanda in 2006. To date, we have trained 700+ change agents who have initiated nearly 200 ventures that have reached 200,000 people.

We recently completed a deep internal review of our values and the impact of 12-years of programs, which affirmed our commitment to mindful, local leadership in all aspects of our operations. As such, we have committed to transitioning our headquarters from the US to Rwanda, establishing a new African women-led board, and identifying a new executive who will direct all aspects of our programs, operations, and decision-making. Global Grassroots is considered a cutting-edge model blending mindfulness, social entrepreneurship and trauma-healing for radical transformation in grassroots women’s lives and their communities. This is an exciting time where we aim to solidify our knowledge, strengthen our operations, and prepare for influencing our sectors more broadly.

Read more at: www.globalgrassroots.org

About the Role

We are looking for an inspired, compassionate, and experienced executive to lead and manage the organization in East Africa. This comes at a time, where after 17 years, our Founder and President is preparing to step out of active organizational leadership to focus on thought leadership. As the East Africa Director, you will directly oversee and have overarching accountability for all programs, strategy, operations, finance, administration, and our monitoring, evaluation & learning, driving the next chapter of Global Grassroots’ impact in the region as a conscious change organization for women and their communities.

Your Responsibilities will Include:

Strategic, Programmatic and Organizational Leadership:

In collaboration with the US and Rwandan boards and founder, provide strategic leadership and spearhead the organizational design, culture, and structure in service of our mission and values.

 Drive the creation and implementation of a five-year strategic plan for deepening Global Grassroots’ impact in our sectors (WASH, women’s empowerment, youth social entrepreneurship).

Build the systems and plans necessary to make the vision and goals come to life. Oversee all programs and operations across the organization (including financial management, human resources, information management, admin, compliance with legal needs, policies and protocols, monitoring and evaluation, and others). Strengthen organizational controls and communications to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

  Oversee program planning (e.g. for partnership and funding opportunities) in collaboration with the team and Director of Development.

Advance the organization’s impact and track record through intentional and sustainable programmatic adaptations and growth, and oversee a participatory evaluation process. Work with our MEL and program team to ensure lessons learned from the field through our participatory learning approach are integrated into future programs and communications.

Talent and Team Management:

 Honour and lead our culture as a mindful, learning organization dedicated to the leadership of grassroots women. In so doing, cultivate a positive work environment of wellbeing and learning, where staff are empowered, engaged, resilient, and find meaning in their work.

Develop the team’s professional capacity to deliver on our growing mandate effectively through coaching, supervision, professional development, and a strong goal setting and performance evaluation process. (Currently a team of seven in Rwanda and Uganda)

Complete our process of a US to Africa HQ transition: Work closely with our boards and US team on the remaining design questions and legal/administrative needs related to the US-Africa relationship and operations and the new local, Rwandan NGO.

Anticipate and manage staffing needs and refine personnel policies and procedures as needed in service of our vision and goals.

Financial Management and Oversight:

Oversee all Africa spending and ensure financial sustainability while effectively meeting programmatic and organizational goals. This includes carrying out adequate planning, financial analysis, regular cash flow projections and decision-making on spending.

Lead the development of organizational and program budgets with input from the program team, track progress and adjust to ensure optimal spending based on available funding.

Deliver monthly financial reports to the board and as needed for funder reporting requirements in cooperation with the Director of Development and Finance staff.

Grow our funding base by identifying and cultivating new networks within East Africa in collaboration with the boards and Director of Development.

Championship & External Relations:

 Ensure good relations, collaboration, and visibility with key stakeholders in Africa. Serve as the chief spokesperson for our work, vision, and values, incl. representing at key meetings and convenings.

Explore external partnerships for expanding our influence and impact in collaboration with the boards and founder.

Facilitate meaningful site visits and other engagements with existing and potential donors.

 Contribute to the development of our annual report and other communication materials in collaboration with our program staff and Director of Development.

Oversee and coordinate program and MEL staff in the mindful and participatory creation of content for use and refining by our Director of Development for use in grant reports and social media posts.

Support our internal knowledge and external thought leadership by collaborating with the founder, MEL, and program staff to co-design educational engagements, research endeavors, and wisdom products presenting our insights and impact.

 Who We Are Looking For:

 You are passionate about participatory or community-driven development. You believe deeply in the power, ideas, and agency of grassroots women, understand the systemic barriers they face, and you fight and advocate for grassroots-level, women-led change. You have lived your passion and beliefs in your past professional experiences preferably in the fields of women’s empowerment, gender equity, gender-based violence, clean water access, trauma-healing, mindfulness, and/or social entrepreneurship.

You have strong organizational management experience with past senior leadership roles in the NGO sector where you were part of overseeing an entire organization including programs and operations.

You are energized by and have a track record in successfully executing on a bold strategic vision, including building the required systems, overseeing project / program management, inspiring effective teams, and driving impact.

You have strong financial management skills for a medium-sized organization, and can make sensible programmatic decisions based on the changing availability of funding that balances the need to achieve goals and impact with caution for long-term sustainability.

You have the capacity to manage a holistic and complex community development model and achieve transformative results.

You are a mindful and humble leader. You strive to be self-aware, taking a collaborative and learning approach to your work. You have some experience with personal growth work or contemplative practice, and understand the value of inner work for outer change.

 You ensure an inclusive environment, and listen first, respecting the unique contributions of all team members. You inspire your teammates to stretch themselves, to challenge their assumptions and to constantly improve.

You know how to build on and strengthen an organizational culture and drive values and mindsets in the workforce, with demonstrated effectiveness in shaping an organization. You know how to develop employees' capacity and lead high-performing teams and handle a wide range of staff situations and decisions effectively. You find the balance between collaboration and executive decision-making, and communicating effectively around such decisions.

You have strong people and relationship-building skills, and know how to foster trust, collaboration and shared ownership inside and outside the organization.

You are comfortable in varying social and professional settings, alternating between interacting with rural community members and high-level stakeholder engagements.

You have previous involvement or alternatively strong desire to succeed in a global context (i.e., managing a virtual team, coordinating and partnering with local and global boards, collaborating with ease across different countries and cultures, communicating effectively with Western funders)

 You are responsive, meet deadlines, and have exquisite attention to detail. You hold people accountable with grace and compassion.

 Previous fundraising experience and relevant networks are an added advantage. Alternatively you should be interested to develop fundraising skills over time.

 Any experience you may have working through organizational change and transition will enhance your capacity and comfort with leading change, including: identifying achievable goals during uncertainty, remaining flexible as needs shift and opportunities emerge, and knowing how to align people to new goals and realities.

Understanding Rwandan communities, culture and background, as well as familiarity with effective NGO-government collaboration is valuable.

You have excellent written, oral communications, and presentations skills (in person and remote), including in English. Proficiency in Kinyarwanda is a plus.

 You will fit well with our Global Grassroots culture and family if you:

 Have the highest integrity: You value transparency, ensure accountability in all aspects of your life, and are committed to operate in alignment with core values.

 Are deeply compassionate: You exercise empathy and treat all people with respect and dignity. You give people the benefit of the doubt and encourage them to be the best version of themselves. You combine the urgency of getting things done while honoring the complexities of different work styles, locations, and needs.

 Are adaptable/agile: You are calm and curious in challenging and complex situations, and are a critical thinker that can adapt to change, inspiring others around a common cause.

  Are innovative: You see solutions, not challenges and are creatively resourceful in taking informed risk and learning from mistakes.

 Wear multiple hats and get things done: You are efficient, organized and use your time effectively. You are able to see problems from different perspectives and can balance competing demands. You are flexible in responding to occasional heavy, peak workloads, but also know how to manage stress and ensure your own wellbeing to protect from burn-out.

 Value working in a close-knit team: You value the importance of collaboration, honor the unique insight of all stakeholders, and know how to optimize the effectiveness of a diverse group while guarding its wellbeing.

Why Work with Us?

Make a meaningful difference in the lives of underserved women, while demonstrating to the rest of the world their innate capacity as change leaders.

  Play a transformative leadership role in an organization at an inflection point in shifting from its Western founding orientation to an Africa-led institution.

 Influence community development as we take our cutting-edge model to global influence.

 Join a committed team that cares deeply about each other’s wellbeing. We have a robust wellness policy, utilize mindfulness and stress reduction practices, and support opportunities for professional development. Global Grassroots offers a flexible work environment, a wellbeing and health insurance stipend, and generous leave.

 Other information

Anticipated start date is July 2021. The Director will be based in our main office in Kigali, Rwanda. Due to the nature of work, additional hours may be required and the timing of work may need to accommodate a wide range of time zones.

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

Global Grassroots is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against otherwise qualified applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender orientation or expression, marital status or veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic under applicable federal law.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

While Rwandan candidates and candidates with strong experience in Rwanda are preferred, East African candidates are encouraged to apply, considering the East African scope of the role and organization. With any questions, please reach out at the email address below.

How to apply

 Read this guide with tips on our selection process: http://bit.ly/CandidatesGuide

If you are interested in the role and have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to globalgrassroots@edgeperformance.co.ke

Apply by filling out the application survey under this link: http://bit.ly/JoinGlobalGrassroots

You will be asked to upload your CV as part of the application form. Make sure it is tailored towards the role, no longer than 3 pages and in PDF format.

The recruitment is carried out in collaboration with edge. All communication regarding this role will come only from email addresses in the domains @edgeperformance.co.ke and @globalgrassroots.org

The deadline: 9th July 2021