Country Director

Internal Job Grade: B2
Reporting to: Regional Director or Regional Manager, as delegated
Staff reporting to this post: Country Management team (Deputy Country Director, Business Services Manager, HR Business Partner, Business Development and Funding Coordinator, Policy Lead)
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Total Workforce: Approximately 100 staff based within Lebanon based in three offices: Beirut (head office), Zahle, Bekaa, and Tripoli, North Lebanon
Annual Budget: Approximately $ 10million, will vary depending on humanitarian response.

About Oxfam:
Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. That means we tackle the inequality that keeps people poor. Together we save, protect and rebuild lives. When disaster strikes, we help people build better lives for themselves, and for others. We take on issues like land rights, climate change and discrimination against women. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can enjoy life free from poverty.

Job Purpose: 
The Country Director (CD) will provide strong leadership of the Lebanon country office and ensure team spirit, quality performance, in the true spirit of Oxfam’s Feminist Principles. The CD is expected to contribute and implement Oxfam’s Global Strategy, by providing vision and strategic direction to all of Oxfam’s work in the Country. This includes Oxfam’s humanitarian responses, long term development programme design and implementation, advocacy and policy and influencing. S/he will be directly responsible for the overall strategic planning, program development, ensuring high level of program quality and grant management, overseeing program support operations (Finance, HR, Operations) to maintain organizational, donor and legal compliance, and represent Oxfam for country-level external relations and interagency coordination. S/he will also manage both the growth and contraction of the country programme based on changes to the country programme’s portfolio, ensuring a strategic approach to change management.

It will be essential for the CD to work simultaneously at both strategic and operational levels. The CD must also ensure that all Oxfam policies and procedures with respect to HR, safety and security, code of conduct, safeguarding, and other relevant policies and procedures are in place, implemented and adhered to. The CD will continually assess, identify and address gaps and weaknesses so as to improve overall country programme performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Country Context:

Lebanon is currently undergoing a multi-faceted and unprecedented crisis at various interconnected and mutually reinforcing levels.
The ongoing economic and financial crisis is increasingly manifesting its effects and threatening the livelihoods and safety of people in country. By the end of 2020 it was estimated that more than 550,000 jobs were lost nationwide and an inflation rate of over 130% year-on-year in November 2020.

The impact of Syrian Crisis persist, with Lebanon continuing to host the largest number of refugees per capita in the world, with the majority having sought refuge in the most vulnerable areas, namely Bekaa and North Lebanon.

In a country where more than 70% of wealth is owned by less than 10% of its population, crises such as the COVID pandemic and the Beirut blast in 2020 have a disproportionate impact on the already extremely vulnerable exacerbating an already inflated wealth gap, debilitating economic struggles and widening social inequalities.

Oxfam has been operating in Lebanon since 1993 in different capacities. Most recently and since 2017, Oxfam has been responding to the various crises in Lebanon outlined above and according to its 5-year strategic plan. The key pillars of work for the country programme are: Saving Lives, Economic Justice, Active Citizenship and Good Governance. As will all of Oxfam’s interventions, policy, advocacy and influencing as well as gender are mainstreamed in every aspect of our work.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Accountability

• Accountable to the MENA Regional Director (or delegate) for leading the Lebanon country program to deliver quality, compliance in line with Oxfam’s policies and procedures.
• Accountable to the Country Governance Group (CGG) consisting of Oxfam affiliates supporting the country program) in line Oxfam’s terms or reference.

Strategy

• Responsible for leading the design and delivery of the Oxfam Country Strategy (OCS) for Lebanon in line with Oxfam’s Regioanl And Global strategies
• Provides strategic leadership and management of Oxfam’s programme in country including all development, advocacy, and humanitarian programming to maximise influence and impact.
• Proactively ensure effective ongoing direct communications and networking with donors, U.N. agencies, other NGOs (international and national) and government actors that produces actionable and timely business intelligence to ensure Oxfam’s competitiveness.
• In collaboration with relevant regional and country staff, lead and ensure funding proposals are of the highest quality and closely aligned with donor requirements

People Management

• Directly line manage the Country Management Team and manage the work in the country which will include: staff, budgets, funding and programme, ensuring that managers in country are in accordance with Oxfam’s policies and procedures, including but not limited to the Code of Conduct, Performance Management, Security, Health and Safety and local legislation.
• Create and supports an environment which results in effective coordination, partnerships, influence, knowledge sharing, staff development and innovation
• Ensure effective engagement in and roll out of all key policies related to Code of Conduct, PSEA, safeguarding, security, etc, and ensure staff, partners and beneficiaries are oriented on reporting misconduct mechanisms.
• Ensure adherence to the self-care policy and focus on supporting the well-being of all staff through a multi-faceted approach (ie, respecting HR policies and guidelines, monitoring staff workload appropriateness and devising plans to mitigate high risk areas, supporting staff leaves, leading by example, being transparent with staff regarding contract status, etc.).

Public Engagement

• Take the lead in representing Oxfam and the country programme nationally and globally. Build influential relationships and develops networks for effective change, both internally and externally.
• Establish and maintaining professional and effective engagement with all external stakeholders including the Government of Lebanon at the national and governorate levels, donors, NGO sector, partners and supporters

Programme and Delivery

• Ensure that programme compliance and quality targets are met through high effective implementation and reporting.
• Along with the DCD and other programme staff, maintain close relationships with partners in country to ensure the development and delivery of high quality programmes.
• Ensures overall leadership of disaster preparedness, mitigation and management including humanitarian response activities, foster consultation and collaboration promoting Local Humanitarian Leadership
• Contribute to and maximise use of the nowledge networks to share strategic thinking and learning more widely as well as within the Country Team to ensure that programming builds on learning and is evidence based, innovative and agile to respond to opportunities for change.
• Lead the development of effective and innovative strategies to seek out and maintain a solid funding base.

Safety and Security

• Ensure that Oxfam’s programmes are delivered in a manner that provides safety and security for all Oxfam staff, assets and information in Lebanon
• Have overall accountability for security, including development of and ensuring adherence to security procedures, monitoring of the safety situation, analysing and provision of recommendations
• Ensure safe programming - Oxfam’s staff, partners and the people in communities with whom we work are safe and protected from harm, exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Management and Leadership

Essential:

• Proven track record of leading and motivating multi-disciplinary, geographically remote teams and operations across a number of locations
• Significant senior leadership and management experience in the development and delivery of high-quality development programming, influencing and humanitarian strategy, with and through partners or directly, in one or more challenging locations.
• Experience of managing complex change processes and relationships involving a wide range of both internal and external multi-cultural stakeholders across a variety of disciplines and geographical areas

Desirable:

• A high degree of self-awareness and an understanding of how to drive and support excellent team performance and individual development in line with Oxfam’s values and policies.

Representation and Communication
Essential:

• Proven track record of success in representing an organization with partners, government agencies, private sector organizations, media and donors at senior level: nationally and globally.
• Demonstrable ability to convey complex messages in an appropriate manner to broad and diverse audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to motivate, influence and negotiate (see below for language requirements)
• Proven track record of success in advocacy and influencing

Desirable:

• Demonstrable experience of working with the media and an ability to represent the organisation in the media if required.

Finance and Funding
Essential:

• Significant experience of optimising funds and effectively contract management from diverse institutions, both local and international.
• High level financial and asset management skills to steer and efficiently manage the operational budget of $8 million to $10 million across a number of locations.

Risk and Duty of Care
Essential:

• Experience of managing security, risk and legal compliance within an INGO context.
• Proven track record of making sound judgements in uncertain and pressurised situations.
• Demonstrable experience of effectively anticipating and managing risks that could threaten the organisations reputation, operational viability and security.

Desirable:

• Experience of meeting agreed standards in disaster preparedness, mitigation and management including humanitarian response activities

Strategic Thinking

Essential:

• Ability to development and contribute to high-level analysis of factors driving poverty, marginalization and vulnerability in developing country contexts.
• The ability to ‘think politically’ understanding motivations, pressures, power dynamics and challenges faced by colleagues, partners, decision makers and other actors; and the ability to generate effective strategies to influence them.

Desirable:
Proven analytical skills, with the ability to:

• Take and manage calculated risks based on evidence-based assumptions.
• Think strategically, to maximise adaptability and agility
• Encourage forward thinking, new ideas and learning from experience beyond the country program context while acting within a global framework
• Good level of IT literacy and an understanding of how new developments in technology can positively contribute to the aims of an INGO.

Key Attributes

• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender/gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible.
• Fluent in written and spoken English. Working proficiency in Arabic is highly desirable.

Organizational Values

• All our work is led by our core values: Empowerment, Accountability, Inclusiveness, Courage, Solidarity and Equality.

Other

• Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles.
• Ability to travel away from home, in the region and to remote programmatic sites within the country and periodic travel aboard for global meetings for 8 – 12 weeks per annum.