Colombia: Country Director - Colombia

Position: Country Director (CD), Colombia

Transform the lives of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities and be at the forefront of social change.

About YOU: A driven and passionate mid- career professional hoping to manage an inspiring, dynamic team of leading human rights workers. Collaborative, hard-working, and visionary, the CD will have exceptional leadership skills and the ability to grow an office and take HAI’s successful programming to the next level. This person has experience living and working in hardship countries. The ideal CD has strong English writing skills, speaks Spanish, and has management experience in diverse and challenging environments.

Organization Summary: Heartland Alliance International is a leading non-profit organization in the provision of trauma-informed mental health services for Colombian victims of armed conflict and forced displacement. The Colombia program approaches its work through three pillars: access to justice, access to mental health care, and advocacy. The Country Director of HAI’s Colombia programs is responsible for management, implementation, and oversight of a range of programming throughout Colombia. Current program areas include mental health services for survivors of torture, trauma, forced displacement, and gender-based violence.

Position Summary: This position is based in Bogota, Colombia and provides supervision of and support to all Colombia projects and offices (Cali, Buenaventura, and Quibdo). It serves as the senior representative of HAI in the country and leads the offices in strategic planning, creative program development efforts, and effective project implementation. The incumbent will grow HAI’s presence in Colombia with the strategic vision, expertise and passion necessary to execute an ambitious work plan and solidify HAI’s reputation as the United States’ largest service-based human rights organization and an innovative leader in social justice programming globally. The position requires national and international travel (30%+).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

This is not an exhaustive list of duties. The need for flexibility is required and the incumbent is expected to carry out any other related duties that are within the employee’s skills and capabilities whenever reasonably instructed.

Program Development and Senior Leadership (65%)

• Collaborate with Chicago-based senior management to develop a long-term country strategy to guide and inform future program development initiatives
• Lead implementation of HAI’s strategic plan in Colombia
• In-country lead for preparation of project proposals for external donors, conceptualizing and developing new project concepts, in close collaboration with Chicago-based staff
• Promote the work of HAI and provide HAI program briefings to donors and other stakeholders as needed
• Identify, evaluate, and cultivate new partnership opportunities with other international and local non-profits by regularly participating in local and regional coordination meetings
• Maintain close and positive collaboration with major donors and partners in the area of operation
• Represent HAI to local authorities, donor representatives, international organizations, and NGOs in the area of operation
• Work closely with Chicago-based staff regarding service issues, strategic planning, new opportunities, management issues, program successes, and security and safety concerns
• Oversee the design and implementation of research processes that are built into HAI’s mental health service provision interventions in Colombia
• Monitor and communicate changes in the external operating environment, especially in regard to government and donor policy changes and security in the region

· Negotiate and/or approve contracts and agreements with suppliers, distributors, federal and state agencies, and other organizational entities in accordance with HAI signing authority policies

• Oversee staff supervision and support training opportunities for Colombia office staff, including, applying all related security measures for their safety in adherence with HAI’s training and staff supervision principles and security policies
• In collaboration with HQ Human Resources department and Colombia office Director of Administration, develop and ensure compliance with human resources best practices, including the approval of local human resource policies and procedures; recruitment, selection, and on-boarding of in-country international or national staff
• Serve as HAI’s legal representative in Colombia

Project Supervision and Coordination (35%)

• Supervise implementation of projects to ensure that activities are implemented in accordance with agreed strategies, principles, implementation and M&E plans, and donor requirements
• Conduct frequent site visits and makes site assessments to ensure project goals are progressing and to strengthen and encourage staff as needed
• Ensure all monthly, quarterly and bi-annual updates/reports are prepared and submitted, in accordance with donor & central office requirements
• Provide project planning documents and recommendations to central office as requested.
• Oversee compliance with all relevant external and internal standards and associated reporting across all projects
• Direct, plan, and implement policies, objectives, and activities of the organization to ensure continuing operations and to increase productivity
• Cultivate a positive, inclusive, and creative work environment by fostering a mission-driven learning environment

Supervisory Responsibilities: Manages and directly supervises staff, subaward recipients, and volunteers in Colombia including, but not limited to, Director of Finance and Administration, Deputy Country Director, and Clinical Director.

Qualifications: Demonstrated passion for human rights work and eagerness to fill a senior leadership position that has the opportunity to design human rights programming; build the capacity of local staff and partners; and secure the sustainability of HAI’s resources for years to come. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skillset, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Education and Experience: Master's degree (M.A.) or equivalent and at least five years of relevant senior leadership experience preferred; or, eight to 10 years related experience and/or training; a Bachelor’s degree with eight years of senior leadership experience may be considered.;
• Past experience must demonstrate: commitment to advancing human rights; living in challenging, insecure environments;
• budget development and financial management;
• success in identifying funding opportunities and preparing successful proposals to international donors;
• working in partnership with NGOs and other civil society organizations and networks
• Language Skills: Superb written and spoken English and Spanish
• Preferred Qualifications: Previous technical experience with one or more of the following program areas strongly preferred: mental health,
• forced migration and displacement; gender justice; access to justice; and LGBT rights. Previous work experience in the region or in comparable environment preferred

Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual must demonstrate the following competencies.

• External Representation- Effectively designates a portion of time to external representation. Prioritizes donor communications and maintains positive relationships with donors. Regularly develops partnerships and relationships with external organizations as relevant to position. Actively seeks out opportunities to present, network, or engage externally to represent HAI.
• Leadership- Leads by example and serves as a model for others. Creates an environment where people feel valued. Humble demeanor. See problems as opportunities and provides solutions through inspiring and empowering others. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of others to improve performance. Takes responsibility for oneself or one’s employee’s performance. Provides constructive feedback and develops team members. Integrity to do the right thing even when it’s difficult or not popular.
• Decision Making- Models and trains staff in decision making. Even in the most difficult situations, recognizes problems or opportunities and determines whether action is needed, assesses risks, takes charge of and ensures integration of feedback from a group when it is necessary to facilitate a decision, and makes decisions in a timely manner under ambiguous circumstances and when there exists considerable risk.
• Change Management - Initiates the change process and energizes it on an ongoing basis through facilitating groups or teams to problem-solve and think creatively to develop and implement new approaches or systems. Helps employees to develop a clear understanding of what they will need to do differently, as a result of changes in the organization. Implements or supports various change management activities (e.g., communications, education, team development, coaching). Establishes structures and processes to plan and manage the orderly implementation of change. Able to identify when change is needed and focus on why changes are beneficial or necessary to successfully implement change.
• Forward and Strategic - Leads strategic planning processes and unites team members to achieve goals within the strategic plan. Demonstrates long-term thinking, planning and decision-making to help the organization achieve its goals. Ability to generate unique insights to improve HAI's competitive advantage through clear understanding of HAI’s strengths and weaknesses compared to peers and competitors and knowledge of trends within the field. Able to engage, encourage collaboration, and effectively elicit a variety of perspectives on critical and complex issues to maximize engagement of all levels of staff in the strategic and other planning processes.
• Professionalism- Understands how they are perceived by others. Takes actions calculated to have a positive effect on others. Able to coach managers with vague concerns or complaints about a team member’s lack of professionalism, to clearly identify and articulate how the individual is not meeting expectations, as well as advise how to address that concern.
• Reliability- Shows commitment/ dedication and accountability not only in one’s work, projects, and goals, Takes responsibility for own mistakes; does not blame others.
• Teamwork and collaboration - Promotes and generates cooperation among one’s peers in leadership to achieve a collective outcome; fosters the development of a common vision and fully participates in creating a unified leadership team that get results. Able to leverage relationships across offices or HA partner companies to broaden managers’ knowledge and understanding of internal resources for collaboration and who the members of the team are.
• Integrity and Authenticity -Skilled at building trust, sincerely soliciting input with clear understanding of how input will be used, able to create and maintain a culture that enables staff to learn and grow from mistakes, and challenges others who are not acting with integrity. Maintains confidentiality regardless of pressure from others, admits mistakes and takes stands based on principles and values in spite of the potential for negative consequences.
• Cultural Humility and Interpersonal Awareness - Consistently open and approachable when resolving highly sensitive and complex issues; including with parties holding opposing viewpoints. Treats staff at all levels of the organization in accord with the 4R’s. Able to appropriately challenge others who are not demonstrating cultural humility.
• Resilience and Stress Tolerance - Able to not only recognize and mitigate personal stressors, but is skilled at coaching middle managers on how to anticipate increased stress in teams and implement systems to minimize the impact, and able to recognize and respond to changes in individual employee's stress levels.
• Service Orientation - Able to recognize need for assistance or guidance without being asked, able to guide managers or team leaders on reprioritization and/or short and long term strategies to address staffing or other resource needs. Recommends or makes connections between staff across departments and/or countries to foster knowledge sharing.
• Written Communication - Uses an appropriate, grammatically correct business writing style. Tailors written communications to effectively reach an audience. Able to make persuasive and compelling arguments.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to be based in Bogota and to make frequent trips to Cali and program sites.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds for purposes of carrying in-kind gifts that need to be lifted, stored or delivered for the program. Also to carry a laptop computer, materials for presentations, and documents.

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Work full-time in areas that might be considered unstable, insecure, and dangerous

Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief.

Please follow the link below to Heartland Alliance Career Center:

http://chk.tbe.taleo.net/chk01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=HEARTLANDALLIANCE&cws=1&rid=3637