Country Director – Africa programmes

The MENTOR Initiative is the world’s leading non-profit organisation dedicated to the control of malaria and other vector borne diseases in emergency settings, operating across countries in west, central, and eastern Africa and the Middle East. The organisation directly delivers large scale disease control interventions to the most vulnerable communities caught up in emergencies, and in parallel, also works to build the technical and operational capacity of local and international partners on the ground, to incorporate medium and long term disease control systems into their operations and country strategy.

The MENTOR Initiative seeks dynamic and highly motivated candidates with a strong interest in disease control to lead and develop some of its country programmes, partnering with a strong headquarters team.

The successful candidate will be trained in our systems and approaches, and will then take on the leadership of one of our country programmes in an emergency setting.

Specific responsibilities include, but not limited to, the following:

• Strategic planning and management of The MENTOR Initiative’s programs in the country;

• Promoting effective relations with national and international partners;

• Fundraising for existing and new activities and expansion of the disease control programmes portfolio;

• External relations with strategic partners such as government institutions, donor organisations, diplomatic embassies, NGOs, UN agencies and community based organizations and private sector partners;

• In-country personnel recruitment, development, training, and supervision;

• Ensuring the development and implementation of disease control programmes to meet the needs of the most vulnerable communities;

• Supervision of evidenced based operational research activities in addition to ensuring routine disease control monitoring and evaluation;

• Developing and stewarding annual and specific project budgets consistent with both the organization and donor requirements;

• Meeting financial and other reporting as required by donors and The MENTOR Initiative;

• Development and enforcement of field office administrative, security, operational and logistics policies;

• Country strategy development and own team capacity building.

Job requirements:

– At least five years ‘work experience managing programs related to International health issues in emergency or developing country settings. Previous experience as a Country Representative preferred

– A strong interest in innovative disease control at health systems and community level

– Solid assessment in proposal development, HR and financial management experience

– Relevant post-graduate degree or equivalent experience

– Familiar with international donor’s procedures

– Excellent communication, analytical, organizational, interpersonal and cross-cultural skills

– Good working capacity in both English and French and a third language (Spanish or Portuguese) will be a distinct advantage

– Creative, innovative and strategic thinker

– Strong interest in innovative disease control at health systems and community level