Country Director

The MENTOR Initiative (‘MENTOR’) is a humanitarian organisation specialising in disease control and improving access to healthcare in emergency settings currently across countries in Africa, the Middle East and South America. MENTOR is the leading organisation dedicated to the control of malaria and other vector-borne diseases in complex, challenging settings.

MENTOR delivers large scale disease control interventions working with remote and underserved communities affected by emergencies such as conflict and natural disasters. We also help build the technical and operational capacity of local and international partners to incorporate medium- and long-term disease control systems into their operations and country strategy.

We are now looking for an experienced and highly motivated Country Director with a strong interest in disease control to lead and develop a country programme, partnering with a strong UK-based team.

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

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

• Strategic planning and management of The MENTOR Initiative’s programmes in the country.
• Promoting effective relationships with national and international partners.
• Fundraising for existing and new activities and expansion of the disease control programmes portfolio.
• External relationships with strategic partners such as government institutions, donor organisations, diplomatic embassies, NGOs, UN agencies and community-based organisations 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 communities in the most vulnerable settings.
• 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 organisation 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 programmes related to international health issues in emergency or low- and middle-income country settings. Previous experience as a Country Representative preferred.
• Relevant post-graduate degree or equivalent experience.
• A strong interest in innovative disease control at health systems and community level.
• Familiar with NGO working environments and standard procedures.
• Proven experience with international donor’s procedures/project management/HR management/Finance and Logistics. Experience with UNICEF would be an advantage .
• Knowledge of monitoring, evaluation, and learning in the humanitarian sector is highly recommended.
• Excellent communication, analytical, organizational, interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
• Solid experience in proposal development.
• Experienced managing teams.
• Creative, innovative and strategic thinker.
• Good working capacity in English and fluency in Portuguese is essential.