Deputy Country Director and Head of Programs, Kenya Freelance

About the Role

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Deputy Country Director and Head of Programs, Kenya to provide leadership and coordination for critical project needs, programmatic support to field work across all departments. You will also support the Country Director in fulfilling the vision and mission of the organization in relation to our Business Plan. This role will be offered on a 2 years’ fixed term contract basis, subject to availability of funding. You will be based in GAIN’s Kenya office in Nairobi, Kenya.

Reporting to the Country Director (CD), the Deputy Country Director (DCD) will work with the country teams to provide proactive management support, coordinated guidance, and quality technical assistance. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring a cross-leadership relationship with country and headquarters teams, maintaining a dynamic, open, and collaborative team environment and also in supporting the Country Director in fulfilling the vision and mission of the organization in relation to its Business Plan. In the absence of the Country Director, the DCD will serve as the principal point of contact for procedural and substantive matters that affect the GAIN Kenya office.

As part of the GAIN Kenya Senior Management Team, the postholder will collaborate with other senior leaders to ensure organizational efficiency and effectiveness is achieved at strategic level.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Working closely with the Country Director, supporting the implementation of the Business Plan and maximizing impact to transforming local food systems for better nutrition
• Supporting the CD in the building of a strong sourcing network and long-term pipeline of programme investments and impact grants
• Leading the program team to conceptualize and operationalize impactful interventions to improve nutrition outcomes in Kenya, including providing leadership in design and implementation
• Leading and providing management support to the implementation of all projects and ensuring effective and successful delivery of the project milestones and results, ensuring an appropriate programme or project management framework in line with GAIN’s Project Management Process
• Leading in the development of all project proposals within the framework of the country Business Plan and global initiatives
• Supporting in establishing, maintaining, and improving active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, donors and partner agencies, the UN system, and local and international NGOs
• Working with the Head of Policy and advocacy and the Head of Operations to coordinate the programmes portfolios’ financial execution and reporting
• Coaching, guiding and mentoring leaders within programme team and the department so that they are effective as leaders and managers in managing their teams
• Ensuring the recruitment, management and development of high performing team in line with the demands of the programmatic strategy

About You

The ideal candidate will have substantial management experience (some of which must have been in a senior leadership position) in leading international/economic development projects in multi-cultural environments working with and through governments, the private sector, civil society, and other partnerships. You will have strong experience in donor reporting, designing, setting up and coordinating, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment systems and processes.

The postholder will have experience in building effective personal networks at a senior level, showing track record on successful fundraising with statutory, private and corporate donors. Also, you will have strong people management and leadership experience within a multicultural environment.

The postholder will have demonstrated in‐depth understanding of program issues and policy work at organizational, national and international levels and understanding of key trends in international and humanitarian development. Also, you will have broad understanding of the nutrition-food systems nexus, public health and community development.

The postholder should possess excellent management and leadership skills as well as excellent communication skills in presenting clear and structured argument and work under a multicultural team. You will be fluent in written and spoken English and proficiency in Kiswahili is highly desirable. In addition, you should be highly flexible and willing and able to travel in Country and overseas as and when required.

A Master’ degree preferably in Nutrition, Food Science/Technology, Agriculture, Public Health, Development or related field. Candidates with a formal project management qualification is desirable.

About our Offer

The starting salary on offer for this role is from KES 7,529,868 – KES 8,615,664 per annum (gross salary), depending on experience. Candidates that can demonstrate exceptional skills or competencies might be eligible to negotiate a higher salary than advertised.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance.

We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Our Working Culture and Environment

We provide a flexible working environment that includes a combination of home and office working opportunities through our global hybrid working policy. This encourages our staff to have a healthy work-life balance and increases staff motivation, enriches employee wellbeing, and improves performance and productivity.

All of our positions are based in one or more of GAIN’s designated offices as stated on our job advertisements. Successful candidates will be based in one of GAIN’s country offices and must have the existing right to live and work within a reasonably commutable distance of the relevant city / cities in which the role is advertised. Please note, that GAIN does not sponsor working visas and relocations.

GAIN reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment for candidates who are considered to ineligible under the above conditions during or after the recruitment process.

Applicants must be currently based and have the existing right to live and work in the Nairobi, Kenya region to be eligible to apply for this position.

This advert closes on 28th January 2025. Early applications are encouraged. GAIN reserves the right to close this advert early should we receive suitable candidates ahead of the closing date.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is committed to equality of opportunity and creating an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. We are keen to reflect the diversity of our society at every level within our organisation and therefore welcome applications from talented and committed people from all backgrounds, representing the diverse societies we operate in.

To apply, please click on the following link:

Deputy Country Director and Head of Programs, Kenya | GAIN

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