Ethiopia: Country Director

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters, and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

The Opportunity: 

Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic state with over 80 different ethnic groups and a population of about 116.5 million inhabitants, making it the 2nd most populous country in Africa after Nigeria. Located in the horn of Africa, the country shares boarders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the ast and northeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. It is geographically positioned between highly fragile states in the Horn of Africa. It hosts second largest refugee population in Africa and has been facing recurrent droughts and ethnic conflicts, which has increased vulnerabilities and heightened the need for humanitarian assistance and protection. Despite the domestic conflict, on the international stage Ethiopia is pivotal in maintaining peace and security in the region.

Plan International started operations in Ethiopia in 1971, left in 1974 and resumed in October 1994, helping vulnerable children, young people, and their families to break the cycle of poverty and vulnerability through numerous programmatic interventions including early childhood care and improving learning outcomes; increasing socio-economic empowerment and upskilling vulnerable youth; protection of children and young people from violence; supporting communities to be prepared for emergencies and transforming mindsets among men and boys to achieve gender equality. Plan Ethiopia’s country office is located in Addis Ababa.

We work closely with central and regional governments and other humanitarian and development actors in the regions of Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Benishangul Gomez, Somali, Oromia, SNNPR, Tigray and in Addis Ababa. The country programme currently employs approximately 881 staff with a Country Leadership Team of 6 members.

The country programme implements a viable portfolio of approximately €40-50 million/annum. This includes sponsorship and grants from both bilateral and multilateral donors.

The current country strategy is scheduled to end in June 2024 and the new country director will lead the country team in developing a new strategy that meets the country’s development ambitions and humanitarian needs in alignment with global strategy.

Do you have what it takes?

The Country Director will lead Plan International Ethiopia to ensure:

• Our development and humanitarian programmes are well funded and growing and our work is recognised locally and internationally and remains relevant to the needs of girls and vulnerable children in Ethiopia.
• Our team is motivated, skilled, and relevant and our organisation is effective and efficient, compliant with the policies, standards and expectations of PII. This includes effective and up to date risk management relevant to a complex operating environment.
• Our work is guided by effective operations, strong financial management of budgets and performance of work plans to create a positive change for children, youth, and their communities.
• Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in our programmes.
• Our organisation is fully represented and visible in UN and government coordination systems including clusters, Humanitarian country teams and in the field.

As a Country Director, you will have a strong background in business development including with UN donors and good programming and influencing experience to sustain the growth dynamics of the programme and advance public policy in favour of girls.

You will have high level of representation and diplomacy skills, along with wide experience in humanitarian response, disaster risk reduction, climate change programming and the nexus approach.

You will drive Plan International’s programme and influencing work, setting overall direction, leading a high performing team, ensuring accountability for meeting demanding targets and maintaining alignment with the global strategy.

You will be a values-based and feminist leader, deeply comfortable with leading transformative change within the organisation, but also have a demonstrable commitment to gender equality and represent Plan International to the highest levels of government, UN, donors, civil society, the media, and international media.

You will understand and drive efforts to deliver positive change for girls through advocating, campaigning, and communicating at a national level. Equally, you will ensure the country-operating model is fit for purpose, we have the right funding mix to achieve our ambition, key business processes are in place and organisational values are embedded in everything we do.

You will lead by example in ensuring gender equality is evident in everything we do from staffing to programming and influencing, to ways of working. You will work with your team to bring about the right culture that ensures we are champions for girls and gender equality.

As a member of Middle East, East and Southern Africa Regional Leadership Team, you will have shared accountability, with Country Directors, Regional Director and Directors of Sub regions, to contribute to the overall learning and strategic direction of Plan International in the region with a total budget of approximately €170 million and a staff complement of over 2800 people.

There are 100 million reasons to join Plan International – will you be one of them?

How to Apply: 

To apply and for more information regarding this role please click this link: https://jobs.plan-international.org/job-invite/47240/

Type of Role: 5-year Fixed term contract

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Reports to: DSR Middle East and Northeast Africa Director

Salary: Competitive salary and package available

Closing Date: 3rd August

Anticipated interview dates: 17th and 18th August

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.