Country director – OPTI

Country: Occupied PalestinianTerritoriesand Israel (OPT/I)

Duty station:Jerusalem

Ngo:Oxfam Italy

Department:Cooperation to Development and Humanitarian Aid

Position: Country Director

Starting date: from February 2012 with possible hand over mission in January 2012.

Duration: 12 months (renewable)

Salary: minimum 3,000.00 Euro - maximum 3,600.00 Euro, (gross per month), according to candidate’s previous experience

Deadline for submission:11thDecember2011

Interested candidates should send their CV, the details of 3 people who will serve as professionalreferences, letter of motivation, all in English, before 11th December2011 . Please specify in the reference:“OPT Country Directo_name_surname”

DESCRIPTION

Oxfam Italy is an independent NGOestablished in Italy (Arezzo) at the beginning of the ‘70s and now working in several countries. Oxfam Italyis born from the experience of Ucodep, an Italian NGO for over 30 years committed in the struggle against poverty and injustice. Oxfam Italy is the Italian observer member within the Oxfam International Confederation, the fourth international coalition in the world specialized in humanitarian aid and development programs.

OUR VALUES

Economic justice, access to the basic services, citizenship and governability, humanitarian aid are the axes that guide Oxfam Italy’s intervention, coherently with the values of justice, human dignity, democracy, solidarity, engagement and simplicity.

IN OPT/I

Oxfam Italy works in the OccupiedPalestinianTerritories since 1994-1996 with interventions primarily directed in the social and agricultural sectors. OIT built its programs taking into consideration the rights of Palestinian to self determination and to live in a just and durable peace together with Israel, through the following axes: 1) Enhancing the resilience of the Palestinian Communities (with rural communities, youth and working on the Palestinian identity and heritage); 2) Creating space for dialogue and interaction on common Israeli/Palestinian interests (technical and socio-cultural-economic exchange).

Starting from 2001 Oxfam Italy has included inits actions on also the implementation of emergency operations in support of the people affected by the construction of the Israeli separation wall, by Israeli occupation and by the conflict in general, both in urban and rural areas. Oxfam Italy has gained in the last 6 yers a solid experience in the field of food security in particular in the livestock sector.Other kinds of interventions, such as:

-Childhood and young people, with special attention to the theme of rights promotion and protection, psycho-social interventions, professional training to orphans and minors;

-Water;

-Decentralized cooperation among Tuscan, Israeli and Palestinian municipalities;

-Social and health interventions.

WITHIN THE CONFEDERATION OF OXFAM INTERNATIONAL

Within Oxfam’s Single Management Structure (SMS) process, Oxfam affiliates working in OPT/I have developed a Joint Country Analysis and Strategy (JCAS) which was approved by the Oxfam Middle East and Maghreb Program Governance Group (MEMAG PGG) in October 2010. The JCAS will guide Oxfam’s work in OPT/I and provide the basis for defining programming, and the operating model for Oxfam which is most efficient and effective in realizing the defined program objectives. Oxfam Italy is member together with Oxfam Novib,Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam in Belgium, and Oxfam Quebec of the Country Leadership Team (CLT). Oxfam Novib has been designated as Managing Affiliate for the OccupiedPalestinianTerritory and Israel (OPT/I).

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Represent Oxfam Italyin the country,maintain and build relevant relationships and develop networks with the major governmental institutions, local authorities and other actors that play a key- role within the projects’ intervention areas;
  • Coordinate with the other Oxfam affiliates in relation to relevant government authorities and members of the international (donor) community
  • Consolidate Oxfam Italy’s role in the country by providing strategic leadershipin its specific sectors of intervention in coordination with the Head of Office in Italy and the other Oxfam affiliates by defining:

-the expected results linked to Oxfam Italy’s work in the country and the main steps to reach them;

-the link between the expected results and the strategic inputs (thematic and geographic ones) provided by the headquarters;

-the human, economic, instrumental resources required to reach the expected results and to implement the activities and the related strategy;

-the main partners and allies.

  • Elaborate an operational plan in line with the country strategy that must highlight:

-the main activities to be implemented in the reference period;

-the link between the activities and the expected results;

-the human, economic and instrumental resources management to implement the activities, reach the expected results and identify how to obtain the resources not yet available;

-the deadlines and methodologies to ensure adequate supervision and reporting to the headquarters.

  • Local and Expatriate staff management: training, terms of reference elaboration, supervision, evaluation, development of the local staff and in particular of the project managers and of the country administrator, in cooperation with the Department Quality and People and the responsible for internal training;
  • Participateto sectoral coordination meetings organized by international and local agencies;
  • Ensure the coordination among between Oxfam Italy and the local Partners;
  • Contribute to the overall management and monitoring of the activities in the country, in line with the requirements of the donors and of the headquarters;
  • Represent Oxfam Italy at Middle East level;
  • Ensure that the role of Oxfam Italy is well implemented within the Single Management Structure isimplemented successfully;
  • Work within the Country Leadership Team to ensure that minimum standards are met in the country – for programme, programme management, HR, finance, security, health and safety etc.;
  • Identify funding sources, including the co-financing to the projects, and negotiate funding opportunities to support the strategy implementation, in coordination with the Country Leadership Team and in line with the Country Funding Strategy;
  • Within the CLT, ensure the fulfillment of roles and responsibilities by the Humanitarian lead and other affiliates in accordance with the Oxfam Humanitarian Dossier
  • Ensure sign off of all Oxfam OPT/I advocacy and media products in accordance with the agreed Oxfam sign off procedure for OPT/I.

QUALIFICATIONS NAD BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

  • At least seven years working experience, out of which five in projects programming and management;
  • Substantial experience working in the Middle East and in particular in the OccupiedPalestinianTerritory and Israel. Solid understanding of the history and key issues in relation to the Israeli Palestinian conflict;
  • Experience with advocacy and policy development;
  • Strong experience in representing an organization with partners, government agencies, private sector organizations, and donors at senior level: locally, regionally and globally;
  • Good report writing skills and excellent written and verbal communication skills;
  • Fluency in English Language. Knowledge of Italian, Arabic and/or Hebrew is an asset;
  • Proactive aptitude in terms of planning and coordination with different bodies, institutions and Reference Points;
  • Target oriented and problem solving aptitude;
  • Strong leadership skills;
  • Experience in team building, conflict resolution, ensuring participation, promoting mutual respect and active listening. Strong facilitation and negotiating skills.
  • Diplomatic and confidentiality skills;
  • An active commitment to promoting gender equity and the interests of marginalized people in all aspects of an organization’s work;
  • Experience in leading and motivating multi disciplinary, geographically remote teams; a high degree of self awareness and an understanding of how to drive and support excellent team performance and individual development
  • Strong understanding and substantial experience of managing security and risk within an INGO context;
  • Very good administrative skills;
  • Advanced IT skills;
  • Willing and able to travel frequently in the OccupiedPalestinianTerritory and Israel.

SELECTION CRITERIA

CVs will be pre-selected according to their coherence with the required profile. Candidates might be called forinterviews and selection tests starting from the first day immediately after the deadline for the submission of CVs. Interview in Florence or Arezzo, Italy. Travel costs on account of candidate. For candidate who are not in Italythe interview will first be done through Skype.

Only those pre-selected for an interview will be contacted.

Note: for more information about the organization, please consult our webpage:

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