Header

Search for Common Ground , West Africa Director

The Organisation Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organisation that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organisations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 400 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 28 offices in 22 countries, including in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Africa.

Programme In West Africa, SFCG has five vibrant country programs namely Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Liberia has been active since 1997, Sierra Leone since 2000, Guinea since 2003 and CIV since 2005 and Nigeria since 2009. Operating with a regional strategy, each national program generates its own strategy contextualized to national issues and contributes also to the achievement of the West Africa strategy through its actions. The five progammes learn from each other, interact on a regular basis together and work on regional issues. West Africa has had several regional projects working on cross border issues in the Mano River Union for the most part.

In 2010, SFCG began work in the Sahel. Beginning in Chad since 2010 SFCG has been funded by the EC for a project with a local partner in the media sector. Other work began in Niger in 2011 in a new partnership project with IRD with a second phase funding by USAID of a youth oriented project to counteract violent extremism. SFCG is also adding activities in Burkina Faso.

SFCG intends to look at work in the Northwest of Nigeria bringing our tools to bear where appropriate as well to the developing conflicts that are taking place in this region.

Summary of Position The Regional Director – West Africa is based in the region, and is responsible for all aspects of SFCG programming in the West Africa region including the Sahel. This position will lead on SFCG’s programmes in West Africa (currently inclusive of Sierra Leone, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Nigeria, and Liberia and three countries in the Sahel), as well as regional interactions between them. The Director will have as primary responsibility for developing a comprehensive regional strategy as well as the management of that strategy and fundraising of our country programmes, in conjunction with Country Directors. The Regional Director plays a key role in the continuing development of our work, through the sharing of best practices and lessons learned with others working in the field of conflict transformation, and to wider audiences, and by developing new and current programmatic activities in the region to ensure that we continue to fulfill our mission. A central component of the Director’s job is teambuilding, and maintaining diversity while projecting our image as a non-biased organization and fundraising, ensuring the survival of SFCG’s approach over time to honour our long term commitment to each country where we work.

The Regional Director will report to the Africa Director. In addition, s/he works closely with the Executive Vice President and Vice President International Development, based in Washington DC. The Regional Director will work with the Africa Support team.

Work Environment Search for Common Ground has a great work environment with a mission of peace-building in the world. Search is a stimulating and richly rewarding organisation to work for - full of hard-working, friendly, bright, enthusiastic, and passionate people dedicated to the work they do. There are many opportunities for team-building and involvement in staff events. The organisation has won numerous awards.

Responsibilities • Setting programme and project priorities, plans, and long-term strategy, and managing their implementation within the overall vision and goals of the organisation; • Supervising 6 country directors. • Working with and managing a diverse staff leadership cohort in as well as other future programs; • Serving as SFCG’s representative in the West Africa region and in The Sahel; • Overseeing the strategies of all the country programs and elaborating new projects and activities, particularly those that expand work beyond media approaches; • Developing new projects and maintaining continuity between new and existing projects; • Fundraising in collaboration with the Vice President for International Development, with the Country Directors and the Africa Team; • Work with the Finance Department and its Africa Team counterpart for the purpose of budget tracking; • Developing and maintaining relationships with international trainers, partner organizations, other NGOS, donors, clients, key government officials, etc.; • Maintaining regular reporting to the Africa Director and to senior management when required; • Developing regional programs and the projects related to it; • Ensuring good fiscal management from Country Directors or managers of the 5 country programmes; • Managing partnership or regional programmes such as the Ethiopia Food for the Hungry relationship or the regional project such as Trading for Peace • Keeping in touch with the international conflict resolution field to ensure that the program’s work remains innovative and professional; • Being directly engaged in the continuing development of the organization, its mission and its staff, through the sharing of experience and knowledge, particularly contributing to its “Best Practices and Lessons Learned” tool; and • Complete all other tasks as required.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

Qualifications • Master’s degree in conflict resolution, international relations, international development or related field; • Minimum of 10 years of program management experience at a senior level, and involvement with the community and a multiplicity of stakeholders; • Significant experience in project management and delegation of responsibilities; • Extensive experience in capacity-building; • Experience with budgeting, proposal writing, and grants management; • Successful track record of fundraising; • Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and in West Africa with long-term overseas experience; • Ability to assess conflict situations and arrive at applied solutions; • Successful senior-level track record in supervising, designing, and managing programs and projects; • Extensive experience in proposal writing with a solid understanding of donor regulations and compliance; • Experience working collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders, local government officials, and international donors; • Willingness to travel on a regular basis and live in a challenging context; • Demonstrated ability to effectively to work with a diverse team, with attention to mentorship and professional development of staff; • Excellent written and oral communications skills; • Ability to read, construct, understand budgets and financial information; and • Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Salary: Salary is commensurate with education and experience, with excellent benefits

How to apply:

Please send a cover letter and current resume to employment@sfcg.org or fax to (202) 572-6287 with the subject heading: West Africa Director. Please be sure to include minimum salary requirements (or current salary), projected start date, and to mention where you found this posting. We are looking to fill this position with the right candidate. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please. Please see our web site www.sfcg.org for full details of our work