Country Director - Bangladesh
Contract length: 1 year with the possibility of extension
Hours: full-time
Location: home-based until deployment becomes possible; Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Travel: travel within Bangladesh (up to 30% of the time when deployed)
Reporting to: Crisis Response Program Manager
Application deadline: 17 June 2020
We offer in addition to salary:
- an innovative work environment with a diverse and passionate team
- 20 days of annual leave and 10 days of floating holidays
Plus during deployment:
- location-specific hardship allowance
- accommodation
- a 3-month Rest & Recuperation cycle, including additional leave and travel
The role
The Country Director leads TWB’s Bangladesh program with support from the Country Management Team, which s/he empowers to perform collaboratively and efficiently. The Country Director is the primary champion of TWB’s organizational culture in Bangladesh, s/he nurtures a positive work environment of quality, innovation and drive to achieve. The Country Director provides strategic leadership and oversight of innovative program strategies, s/he has overall responsibility for corporate representation and partnership building, efficient and transparent fundraising, financial management and compliance, security management, advocacy and external communication in Bangladesh.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Country Director leads and oversees the shift of program focus to supporting effective risk communication and community engagement in the languages of at-risk communities.
Essential duties and responsibilities, other duties may be assigned
Team leadership
- Recruit, lead, empower and manage the high-performing team needed for the successful implementation of the country strategy
- Promote, model and take proactive steps to ensure a positive, innovative and supportive work environment
- Maintain close contact with other TWB Country Directors and with global teams to ensure the Bangladesh country team learns from and shares with others in the organization
- Actively promote understanding of TWB’s Code of Conduct and safeguarding and PSEA policies, and associated reporting procedures across the Bangladesh team, and uphold TWB’s values (below) in her/his and the team’s engagement with communities, partners and colleagues
Program delivery and grant management
- Lead and coordinate delivery and monitoring of program activities under current grant agreements, in line with international humanitarian and TWB standards
- Coordinate closely with the global COVID-19 response team and COVID activities in other TWB country programs to ensure cross-learning and adoption of good practices and successful tools at all levels
- Specifically, coordinate with TWB’s tech team and other country teams to promote the use of appropriate language technology to inform communication strategies and risk communication content on COVID-19 as an iterative learning and communication process
- Manage program budgets, evaluation and reporting in line with TWB and donor requirements, with support from finance and global crisis response colleagues, and maintain business continuity
- Liaise between partner organizations and TWB’s language services team to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality translation, editing, and terminology services
Resource mobilization and management
- Proactively seek and pursue opportunities to expand the depth and breadth of the program in response to need. This includes potential geographical expansion, including to neighboring countries
- Cultivate and strengthen relationships with existing and potential donors and act as their primary interlocutor
- Oversee the development and submission of funding proposals in order to ensure that country plans are sustainably resourced
- Complete TWB’s registration in Bangladesh
Representation and coordination
Represent TWB and build the organization’s profile in Bangladesh, ensuring professional and productive engagement with local, regional, and national authorities, donors, and humanitarian and development partners
Engage with humanitarian coordination and strategy development to ensure that issues relating to language and communication are taken on board by key decision makers and included in strategic documents such as Humanitarian Response Plans, country strategies and any related funding appeals
Media and advocacy
- Lead on political and humanitarian context and trend analysis for Bangladesh.
- Lead TWB’s advocacy and media efforts in the country in close cooperation with the global Senior Advocacy Officer and Communication Senior Officer to ensure that language issues are highlighted within the response in Bangladesh.
- Act as spokesperson in Bangladesh, as delegated by the Head of Fundraising and Communication/Executive Director and proactively and constructively engage with reputable journalists to promote coverage and understanding of language issues in the media
Design and implementation of country strategies and plans
- Ensure that country strategies and plans are developed and aligned with global TWB priorities and initiatives
- Lead on ensuring that TWB programs build an evidence base on the importance and impact of taking language into account in humanitarian programing in Bangladesh.
- Ensure that programs and projects meet their goals and targets on time and within budget
Legal, logistics, security, financial and human resource management
- Serve as the primary budget authority in Bangladesh, responsible for ensuring all costs charged to projects are allowable, reasonable and correctly allocated; accept fiduciary responsibility for all funds advanced for all TWB projects
- Ensure that TWB has adequate security measures in place approved by the Executive Director and that security guidance is understood and adhered to by all team members, including visitors
- In collaboration with TWB’s global finance and HR team, ensure financial, logistics and HR systems and procedures compliant with legal requirements are in place and adhered to
The role will evolve along with the overall program as projects and activities develop to reflect the changing language needs of the affected population and humanitarian community in Bangladesh.
Qualifications
The Country Director should be an innovative leader with a strong sense of initiative, an understanding of the humanitarian sector and management credentials. S/he should be enthusiastic about the importance of improving the quality and accountability of humanitarian action through language. The right candidate is an energetic team player and leader eager to take on the challenge of managing an innovative program in a difficult environment. S/he agrees with TWB´s core values and can work effectively in a diverse team in country and virtually with team members based throughout the world.
Requirements
- Relevant university degree required
- 8+ years of program design and management experience, including institutional donor grants and budget management
- 5+ years of international humanitarian aid experience
- Demonstrated understanding of AAP, communication and community engagement work
- 3+ years of experience as a Country Director, Program Director, or Chief of Party with a strong reputation for developing collaborative working relationships with local counterparts and relevant state actors and agencies, international organizations, and donors
- Demonstrated experience in mobilizing, organizing resources and establishing priorities
- Proven ability to manage staff and build cohesive, productive teams
- Excellent writing and presentation skills in English
- Knowledge of Bengali, Burmese or Rohingya a plus
- Language industry experience a plus
Essential aptitudes
- Strong diplomatic, negotiation, and leadership skills
- Active listening skills, and focus on solutions
- Strong ability to multitask, prioritize, and work independently with minimal supervision
- Attention to detail, thoroughness, accuracy, ability to meet deadlines under time pressure, and to work quickly and steadily in a focused manner
- Ability to deal with frequent changes, delays, interruptions, and unexpected events; flexibility and can-do attitude
- Demonstrated initiative, persistence, ability to problem solve, and enthusiasm for learning
- Good interpersonal skills; able to work well in a team-oriented, collaborative, cross-functional environment
- Ability to innovate to find creative solutions; willing to explore new technologies
- Resourcefulness, capacity to get more out of small budgets
Background
Following a series of attacks on police and military posts in northern Rakhine on 25 August 2017 by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and subsequent security operations by the Myanmar Military, an estimated 688,000 Rohingya women, men and children fled into Bangladesh. Most sought refuge in or around the border town of Cox’s Bazar. This is the largest mass refugee movement in the region in decades. An unknown additional number remain stranded, internally displaced or on the move in different parts of the three northern townships of Rakhine. This follows a similar pattern of events in 2016, when armed attacks on police personnel led to a major security crackdown which resulted in an estimated 87,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.
To best respond to the affected population’s information and communications needs, TWB is providing language support as part of a Common Service for Community Engagement and Accountability (CSEA project implemented in consortium with Internews and BBC Media Action. TWB is also supporting individual agencies with language expertise and services for activities that don’t fall within the scope of the CSEA project.
About Translators without Borders
Translators without Borders believes that everyone has the right to give and receive information in a language and format they understand. We work with nonprofit partners and a global community of language professionals to build local language translation capacity, and raise awareness of language barriers. Originally founded in 1993 in France (as Traducteurs sans Frontières), TWB translates millions of words of life-saving and life-changing information every year.
Core values
Translators without Borders employees and volunteers are people who believe passionately in the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. Translators without Borders’ mission and organizational spirit embody the core values established in its strategic framework:
Excellence: As the leading voice for communicating humanitarian information in the right language, Translators without Borders is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.
Integrity: Translators without Borders believes that every person, whether it is the people who we serve, our volunteers or our staff, has value, deserves respect and has inherent dignity.
Empowerment: Translators without Borders believes in using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.
Innovation: Translators without Borders recognizes and celebrates the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.
Sustainability: Translators without Borders recognizes that meeting our mission necessitates establishment and maintenance of a solid financial and organizational infrastructure.
Tolerance: Our staff and volunteers are highly knowledgeable and skilled; value each other, our partner and our recipients; create a supportive work environment; and, conduct themselves professionally at all times.
Translators without Borders is an equal-opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion, and encourages qualified candidates of all genders and from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.