Regional Director for Asia

Starting date: January 2021

Location: Prague, PIN headquarter office

Duration: 12 months with the possibility of extension to open contract

The Regional Director (RD) supervises country programmes in the region and represents Relief and Development Department (RDD) at a regional level. The RD defines the strategic direction, follows global trends and ensures relevance and an added value of People in Need’s (PIN) presence in the region. The RD provides methodological and strategic support in terms of programming as well as overall management. The RD is responsible for the existence of adequate and effective managerial structures and tools enabling the country programmes to deliver quality outputs and outcomes. The RD ensures that risk management is fully integrated into programme design and operations.

The RD regularly visits all country programmes in the region and participates in strategic discussions, and consults and gives advice in programme development phase. The RD is the main counterpart of the Country Director (CD) in strategic decisions, ensuring the consistency of PIN’s presence in Asian countries and compliance with the RDD strategy.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership, Representation & External Relations

• follows global trends and innovations in the region and gives PIN’s country programmes long-term strategic direction, guidance and support in order to fit into the broader regional context;
• ensures continuity, relevance and added value of PIN’s presence and programmes;
• promotes knowledge sharing within the region and innovative programming; oversees crosscutting programme-related issues within the region;
• actively networks with relevant stakeholders, donors and partners;
• identifies new funding opportunities and initiates regional projects;
• together with Country Directors, represents the country programmes towards Czech embassies and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs; supports advocacy efforts;
• represents programmes within the region in the media and approves press releases.

Human Resources & Capacity Development

• is a leader of the HQ regional team, ensures efficient communication, the division of labour and a smooth cooperation with HQ support departments;
• carries out the line management of Country directors (CDs) and Desk officers (Dos), including provisions of support, guidance, regular feedback and the identification of personal development needs;
• together with the CD, identifies HR’s needs of individual country programmes and makes final decisions regarding the recruitment of new expatriate staff
• formulates or approves terms of references (ToRs) for all key positions in country programmes;
• ensures country-specific induction trainings of expatriate staff take place;

Quality & Risk Management (Operational/Programmatic/Financial/Safety&Security)

• ensures standard and adequate control mechanisms are in place (approval of contracts, payments, tenders, projects etc.);
• together with CDs and DOs identifies gaps and suggests appropriate solutions;
• approves contracts and payments according to defined thresholds;
• approves project proposals and ensures they are in line with the country and the RDD strategy; risks are acceptable and capacity to implement is sufficient;
• supervises that feedback mechanisms and monitoring and evaluations processes, are in place and their outputs and recommendations are reflected;
• in cooperation with the Knowledge and learning (K&L) department, approves ToRs for external consultants and evaluators;
• oversees the quality of project reports;
• actively engages in major troubleshooting within individual programmes;
• oversees the economy of the country programmes and approves operational budgets;
• RD is responsible for a clear definition of the security set up for each; decides any acceptable risks in relation with the urgency of programmes;
• actively participates in Incident Management Team (IMT) or Crisis Management Team (CMT;
• closely follows the development of overall security situation.

And fulfils any other tasks as required.

Preferred qualifications:

• 10+ experience in senior management roles
• Solid experience with project cycle management, team management including remote management
• At least 3-5 year experience from an international assignment
• Specific regional experience is strongly welcome
• Master Degree in Development or related field
• Excellent knowledge of the donor environment
• Proven experience with project proposal development (international donors, preferably with Czech donors)
• Excellent spoken and written English
• Excellent communication, organization and social skills
• Willingness to travel to the region

PIN offers:

• Background and professionalism of the largest Czech non-governmental organization
• Salary in the range of 50-55 000 CZK gross/month, based on PIN salary scale
• 25 days of annual leave
• Sick days
• Home office upon agreement
• Multisport card
• Child day care for employees’ children (kindergarten in the building of our Prague office)
• PIN supports professional and personal development
• Interesting and creative work with international reach
• Friendly colleagues with similar values
• Open and informal organizational culture
• Possibility to participate in interesting events we organize (e.g. One World international film festival)