The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, international, non-denominational agencies founded by His Highness the Aga Khan. The Network's organisations have individual mandates that range from the fields of health and education to culture, rural development and the promotion of private-sector enterprise. AKDN is dedicated to improving living conditions and opportunities for the poor, without regard to faith, origin or gender.
AKDN activities are concentrated in Mozambique's northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, where the rural population depends mostly on farming and fishing for survival.
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) supports three programmes in the province: the Coastal Rural Support Programme (CRSP(M), the Entrepreneur Development Initiative (EDI), and the Bridges to the Future (B2F) programme.
Duties
- Responsible for ensuring AKF has and executes a clear direction, sense of purpose and a well-defined proactive agenda that strives to continually create new opportunities, improve the organisation's human and financial capacity and positively influence the environment in Mozambique within the global development context.
- Lead the development of multi-year programming strategies, including methodology and resource needs
- Lead and promote the effective evolution of AKF's programmes in Mozambique, ensuring innovation in response to emerging circumstances and experiential learning
- Ensure effective learning systems, including monitoring and evaluation of programmes, projects and activities
- Prepare and submit for Board review and approval, annual programmatic and budget performance as well as future plans
- Ensure that approved operational plans and other Board directives are executed effectively and efficiently
- Recruit, lead, and manage a senior team for the AKF Mozambique office
- Ensure effective management and oversight of the regional office and field offices including all programming, operations, finances, and human resource
- Provide leadership on security analysis and response, minimizing risk to staff
- Provide strategic leadership to the team, ensuring high levels of conceptual clarity and motivation
- Ensure financial transparency and accountability as well as compliance with donor contracts and auditor recommendations
- Define an agenda and action plan for policy dialogue with the local governments and the international donor community, other development agencies, and civil society groups
- Lead resource mobilization efforts to support long-term
- Coordinate communications efforts to ensure appropriate awareness of the public and donor countries of the Foundation's goals, objectives, policies and activities
- Work very closely with AKF Head Office with respect to strategy, policies, plan, programmes and the conduct of the unit's work ' in order to ensure coherence with the Foundation's global objectives, activities and procedures
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with the AKDN Resident Representative Office and other AKDN agencies and affiliated institutions
Requisites
- Have at least 10 years of previous management experience with exposure to financial management, planning, human resource development and public relations
- A keen appreciation for the objectives and ethical underpinnings of AKF and a willingness and ability to learn quickly about a broad range of development issues in which AKF is involved
- Have a strong interest in the developing world and commitment and compassionate concern for development issues in East Africa, and inter-cultural sensitivity
- Ability to strategically conceptualise projects and programmes to meet the challenges of emerging and new requirements, and facilitate strategic thinking across AKDN
- Capable of dealing productively with and maintaining and cultivating excellent external interface relationships with the international and domestic funding agencies, Headquarters' staff, and the Board
- Ability to understand, remain vigilant in and handle financial and budget related matters
- The ability to motivate the professional staff and create initiatives for inducting new high calibre talent and groom it for the existing and new projects and portfolios
- Command the respect of the staff by virtue of expertise, openness, professional and holistic approach, meritocracy and impartiality in performance assessment, accessibility, and role-modeling
- Possess excellent communication and team working skills
- Knowledge of, and familiarity with, technology and modern communications is essential
- The post requires travel to remote and difficult project sites to understand, assess and oversee project design, implementation and results orientation
- Fluency in English and Portuguese, both written and oral, is a requirement