Country Manager

About the Role

​The Country Manager is responsible for the development of the Ghana company‘s strategic direction and budgets, in alignment with the company's regional and organizational goals, contextualised for Ghana. The five-year country plan will be supported by the sub-Saharan Africa Regional team comprising of the Regional Director, Regional Finance Director, Regional Medical Officer, Regional Technical Leads and local and international volunteers and partners.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy and Vision

• Formulate and plan, in consultation with key stakeholders, a clear vision of present and future program goals and strategies which can be clearly communicated to team members, local beneficiaries, international partners, governmental counterparts, and donors.

• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve program and organizational objectives.

• Evaluate program priorities within the country and participate in regional prioritization.

• Explore, evaluate, and present new country and project funding opportunities that leverage impact and integrate initiatives and activities.

• Support and direct related fund-raising activities with both institutional and private donors.

• Maintain an overview of the national context with a view to the strategic development of the project both in the current identified sites and the potential of future program extension and expansion.

Project Management

• Develop and support the rolling out of a program implementation strategy that is appropriate to the country's context and strategy.

• Manage a comprehensive activity plan, including resource needs analysis, covering the time frame.

• Oversee the overall design of the program ensuring objectives are met within the required time frame and budget. Where necessary, ensure preventative and corrective action is taken.

• Support program implementation as needed, including developing assessments, baselines, budgets, monitoring & evaluation systems, field visits to verify data, and internal & external reporting.

• Volunteer management will be an essential part of this role – managing Ghanaian volunteers and their credentialing process, managing the Global Volunteer Management System to ensure up to date and recruiting and developing new volunteers in various disciplines as required.

Financial Management - Fiscal, Compliance Management and Accountability

• Working with the Finance Manager and Regional Finance Director, fiscal management of Ghana company’s budget will be a key part of this role.

• Plan and construct the program and operational budget in alignment with the budget process and deadlines.

• Coordinate overall country budget; manage budget and cash flow within approved spending levels to ensure a steady and adequate supply of funds for program activities.

• Oversee budget management of sub-grantees/sub-contractors if any.

• Ensure that restricted funding is spent according to donor proposals and regulations with relevant reporting.

• Build and maintain operational structures that ensure proper segregation of duties between finance, administration and logistics and fully support field programs.

Team Management

• Recruit, manage and motivate an informed, skilled, and efficient team with an emphasis on excellence and achievement; encourage a team culture of learning, creativity, and innovation, incorporating staff development strategies and performance management systems into the team building process.

• Proactively manage workforce planning consistent with policies, including job descriptions for staff, onboarding and orientation, professional development plans, HR evaluations and staff policy manual in alignment with global HR.

• Establish leadership and professional credibility with the team, inspiring and implementing an organizational culture of accountability, responsibility, and quality of services.

Volunteer Management

• Working with the sub-Saharan volunteer management team and local volunteer manager, ensure volunteer recruitment and stewardship is maintained at the highest standard.

• Support volunteer engagement for the implementation of Ghana programs and international opportunities within the company's footprint.

• Support visiting international volunteers when they attend National programs.

Support to the Board of Directors

• Management of quarterly board meetings with quorum of board in attendance.

• Provision of relevant finance, operational and programmatic documents on a quarterly basis in the form of board papers.

• Provide board briefings on annual budget approval from the firm and quarterly position in alignment with annual approved budget.

• Ensure full and accurate minutes are taken at board meetings and signed off by the Board Chair.

• Support any other requests made by the board to ensure that the Ghana team is managed with good practice and with due diligence.

Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Ensure the program is based upon sound principles of design and utilizes the company and donor required monitoring and evaluation systems.

Represent

• Represent the Ghana team as required with national and international donors, partners, media, and participate in local community activities and as appropriate.

• Maintain effective and positive internal contacts with the company's regional and headquarters officers and staff, and external contacts with the national and local government officials, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor agency officials, vendors, media, and the public.

Security

• Manage safety and security of the entire the Ghana team and assets according to best practices, operating standards, and field realities.

• Liaise with security officials of the local government and other humanitarian, relief and development stakeholders concerning crucial events, periods of increased risk, incident reporting, and security policy changes.

Requirements

Experience (education/work):

• Advanced University Degree in Public Health, Health Science, Business Administration, Project Management, Information Science, or other relevant fields.

• At least 10 years of experience with increasing responsibility in management positions, preferably within international non-profit organizations.

• Working experience with high level government officials, internal and external stakeholders, and partners.

• Demonstrable management of workforce and HR requirements.

• Track record of working with charity and society organization and its compliance.

Competencies:

• Strong Leadership skills with previous experience leading diverse teams.

• Strong administrative and project management skills.

• Strong fiscal skills being able to demonstrate ability to plan, manage, and execute budgets.

• Strong demonstrable implementation skills specifically with programs.

• Understanding of the Ghana healthcare environment and the challenges posed within the system.

• Highly organized and self-motivated.

• Oral, written, and presentation language skills are required in English.

• Able to work diplomatically in a global team-based environment that includes board members, medical professionals, and volunteers.

• Able to accept newly assigned projects or duties as they become necessitated.