Head of Mission - Guinea-Bissau

ROLE PURPOSE

Plan International is a rights-based development and humanitarian organisation with the purpose to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

Plan International engages people and partners to:

• Empower children, young people and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion and vulnerability;
• Drive change in practice and policy at local, national and global levels through our reach, experience and knowledge of the realities children face;
• Work with children and communities to prepare for and respond to crises and to overcome adversity;
• Support the safe and successful progression of children from birth to adulthood.

  Plan is independent of government and has no political or religious affiliation. Plan has been building powerful partnerships for children for 80 years and is now active in more than 70 countries.

  Plan International started operations in Guinea-Bissau in 1995 and has since established two Programme Units (PUs) in Bafatá and Gabú (Eastern part of the country). Since August 2016, Plan International has been implementing a maternal and child health programme covering Bafatá and Tombali, which means experience working outside affiliated areas/communities. The main focus of operations since 1995 has been to work alongside children, youth and their communities to address the structural and root causes of poverty, inequality and exclusion. Plan International Guinea-Bissau works at community level and National level to develop inclusive participatory, child friendly interventions and policies to ensure long term change by promoting the rights of children and especially girls to Education, Health, Protection and building Resilience for sustainable livelihoods.

  📚 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗡 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯! 🌍🤝 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗡 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝗡𝗛𝗖𝗥, 𝗪𝗙𝗣, 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗙, 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗦𝗦, 𝗨𝗡𝗙𝗣𝗔, 𝗜𝗢𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀! 🌐

  ⚠️ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰: 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐖!

  The goal of Plan International Guinea-Bissau’s Country Strategy 2023 – 2028 is to ensure social justice for vulnerable girls and youth through inclusive and participative education enabling them to make informed decisions in a secure and thriving environment to drive positive impact in Guinea-Bissau

  Dimensions of the Role

  • Leadership, management and development of Guinea-Bissau team in full compliance with local law and Plan policies and standards.
  • Lead the implementation of the Country Strategy, and the Annual Planning and Budgeting exercise.
  • Ensuring high quality programme work is delivered with the maximum involvement of children as actors (see Plan CCCD approach).
  • Accurate and timely disbursement of the agreed Country Office Budget including all donor commitments.
  • Growing and managing a grant portfolio so that funds can be raised in a timely manner for key project responses.
  • Ensuring readiness to emergencies is built into all programme planning, and lead emergency response interventions when needed.
  • Representation of Plan, its work and its values to the authorities and key decision-makers
  • Maintain good working relationships with Government authorities ensuring the compliance with laws and regulations whilst achieving Plan´s strategic priority goals.
  • As a member of the Regional Leadership Team, the Country Director of Guinea-Bissau is expected to contribute to the overall learning and strategic direction within the region.

    Accountabilities

    1. Plan’s work in Guinea-Bissau will be delivered by a motivated and efficient team, skilled in their area of expertise and compliant with the expectation plan has of all staff:

    • Creation and management of high-performance teams delivering excellent technical work, using child-centred and gender-transformative approaches in line with Global and Country Strategies.
    • Management of individuals across the team to ensure full development of potential through induction, performance management and compliance in all core policy areas, including Gender and Child protection.
    • Staff numbers and structures will be designed and kept at a level that is efficient and cost effective.
    • Work environments will be managed to reduce risk from health and safety and security hazards.
    • Generate solutions for identifying competent staff to deliver country objectives.
      1. Plan’s work will be guided by accurate and timely work-plans and budgets that can be used to create impact and efficiency:
         • Deliver an accurate and timely Annual Plan and Budget
         • Develop work-plans from Country Strategy documents and on the basis of ongoing environment analysis
         • Creation of accurate phased budgets for all programs and projects.
         • Efficient and fully compliant financial management in the allocation/budgeting, disbursement and accounting for all resources.

           3. Plan’s work will be relevant to the needs of the most vulnerable children and particularly girls, in Guinea-Bissau:

           • Country Strategy is being used regularly as yardstick and guiding document to achieve the agreed strategic objectives.
           • Emergency preparedness analysis ensures Plan is ready to respond to predictable emergency conditions.
           • Effective and swift emergency response programs and interventions are launched in time of need.
           • The location of programme work is regularly reviewed to ensure that existing sponsorship communities receive regular benefits as per the Sponsorship Commitments and new communities are reached when appropriate.
           • The programme is registered with the relevant authorities and compliant with local law and MoUs exist with concerned ministries giving due recognition to Plan and its work in Guinea-Bissau.
           • Country leadership and staff are well aware of the country security situation and protocols and Standard Operating Procedures are developed and implemented giving due consideration to security and safety of staff and visitors.
           • The Child-Centred Community Development approach is intrinsic to all programme work.
           • The Country Office meets performance against organisations management standards at all times including Audits and Risk management.

             4. Plan’s work will be well funded and the portfolio continues growing:

             • Representation to donor agencies locally and thorough tracking of potential funding sources will result in timely knowledge of funding opportunities in a planned manner
             • Exploitation of funding opportunities and proposal development in partnership with Plan’s member organizations and in line with agreed strategy.