Plan International
Job Title: Global Director, Operations and Programmes
Requisition ID: 43649
The Organisation: Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.
We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.
Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.
We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.
Role Purpose: The Global Director, Operations and Programmes will lead in delivering and strengthening high quality operations and programmes and realisation of Plan International’s country facing programming and influencing activities and hold business units to account for achieving maximum and timely impact in accordance with our purpose, values and behaviour, global policies, and as directed by the Members Assembly and International Board.
These programmes include but are not limited to our programming and influencing work at country, regional, national, and global level and humanitarian response, often on a significant scale.
As a member of the Leadership Team, actively shape and champion the culture of collective responsibility of the overall strategic direction of Plan International Inc and consistently model Plan International’s values and behaviours, underpinned by our feminist leadership principles – as One Plan – Shared Values.
Dimensions of the Role
- Global – championing collective leadership across Plan International, Inc.as a member of the PII Leadership Team
- Strategic leadership for PII’s Global Operations and Programmes, collaborating globally across PII and its members
- Strong working relationship with Regional Directors for operational and programme management
- Scope and Accountability – significant global responsibility managing large budgets and investment portfolios, and leading large diverse teams
Key Accountabilities and Main Responsibilities
- Lead, coordinate and deliver operational and programme excellence, ensuring we remain agile and fit for purpose, achieve return on investment and demonstratable impact
- Deliver capability and capacity in humanitarian response, working together with membership and wider organization to make changes at scale and pace.
- Provide visionary leadership and management working closely with Regional Directors and with them operations and programmes in Plan International Inc. country offices,
- Ensure our leaders working close to the point of impact are aligned with our purpose, strategy and values-based leadership framework and working within strong lines of horizontal and vertical mutual accountability
- Ensure the programme operations maximize their impact and effectiveness to deliver Plan International’s purpose and drive forward Plan International’s ambition
- Ensure proactive stewardship and efficient utilization of available people and financial resources, by promoting and strengthening financial monitoring and reporting, championing new business processes to lower operating costs, and strengthening the skills, competencies, high performing and empowered people and teams and diversity of the workforce
- Support global, regional, and country teams to enhance strategic decision making and impact in programming, including strengthening systems, processes, and oversight structures
- Take a strong people and culture focus towards wider strategic resourcing and talent pipelines i.e. attract high calibre, develop, progress and retain a diversified and global workforce – promoting equity diversity and inclusion; focus on identification of high performers and talent and developing a clear succession plans for key roles at the global, regional and country levels and ensuring that staff across the all levels feel empowered and supported to deliver at their best, and feel pride in the work that they deliver
- Champion a continued strengthening of our gender transformative humanitarian ambition and our journey to address the impact of climate change and reduce our environmental footprint, all under-pinned by feminist principles
- Lead the global Policy and Practice and Girls and Youth Power and Action to engage and connect people and partners (inside and outside PII) in gender transformative policy and advocacy, programme models and knowledge assets and an engine for driving youth voice and engagement in all areas
- Lead and embed the new design of global function of Sponsorship to ensure it engages and connects people and partners (inside and outside PII) in providing a strengthened and refreshed world-class sponsorship experience for sponsored children and sponsors.
- Drive forward that sponsorship business model aligned to a more digital world and the Global Fundraising Strategy with clear priorities & goals, as business to the organisation to incorporate sponsorship and Plan’s commitments into their work as per organisational mandate.
- Continuously improve all elements of our operations (grants and sponsorship, security, supply chain and planning and performance) to ensure they demonstrate excellence in performance and deliver maximum value to all stakeholders including the girls we work with and for, National Organisations, and partners.
- Ensure all leaders and staff exercise our values and behaviours. Strengthen the line of decision making, delegation and information sharing from the CEO of PII through to Regional Hubs and Country Offices to achieve a strong culture of end-to-end accountability. Effectively address non-performance through decisive action.
- Champion support to programme Y.O.D.A for the global organisation ensuring your teams allocate the time and resources needed for its successful implementation
- Collaborate closely with National Organisations to ensure they have effective points of engagement on programme operations and country office performance and are reassured that we are supporting their accountability to donors and supporters.
- Lead in driving positive and high-performance culture changes across the organisation, consciously embracing and personifying the values-based leadership framework underpinned by feminist principles, holding self and others accountable for behaviours, drawing on strengths and reflecting on areas of self-development. Be intentionally aware of the impact and power, purposeful and visible about changing the organisational culture and our internal power dynamics and empower teams to live and participate in the culture as a group.
- Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures
Key Relationships
- CEO and PII’s Leadership Team
- Direct Reports
- External partners and stakeholders
- Country, Regional and National Directors
- PII Board, Programme Committee and other sub committees as required
Competencies, Expertise, Skills, and Knowledge Required
Expertise, Knowledge, and Skills
- University degree level or equivalent. Postgraduate degree preferred
- Substantive experience in increasingly challenging leadership and advisory functions at senior management and global level in an international organisation
- Cultural understanding and experience in operating in an INGO or other international organisation or with diverse populations, cultures, and social or economic contexts.
- Strong experience of delivering development and / or humanitarian programming at a senior level at country, regional and at a global/ HQ level.
- Experience of promoting operational delivery, performance and accountability best practice, strategies and plans including developing gender transformative policy and advocacy, programme models and knowledge assets – ideally in wide range of locations
Business Management Competencies
- Understanding Plan International in context: Understanding the organisation, how it operates, its priorities and changing context
- Delivering results : Planning and managing resources, projects and partnerships for the effective and efficient delivery of results
- Analysis, information and digital working: Obtaining and analysing information as the basis for decisions; monitoring and evaluation; using and promoting digital solutions
- Financial management: Managing funds effectively through budgeting, forecasting, reporting, monitoring and cost-effective procurement
- Risk management: Managing and mitigating business, legal, safety, security, reputational and project risks in line with Plan International’s standards
- Managing change: Integrating conscious change management and continuous improvement into work planning, processes and delivery
- Managing people and relationships: Working with others, managing people and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion
Values Based Leadership behaviours – Leading the organisation
- I contribute effectively to decision-making globally and across functions and work constructively with the wider Plan International federation, our governance structures, partners and stakeholders.
- I work closely with strategic leaders in Plan International Inc. to help them reflect, listen to them, support them as individuals, develop their potential and aid their co-operation with each other and with Plan International more broadly.
- I am clear sighted about both personal and organisational challenges and shortcomings, looking globally and across sectors to gain insight and find innovative approaches we might use.
- I take accountability for Plan International Inc. and our purpose, as a member of the senior leadership team. I look beyond Plan International’s interests at the root causes of inequality and how we can achieve the best progress and long term impact globally.
- I work with my peers to shape an ambitious and coherent strategy, aligned with our purpose and to ensure we can deploy the required resources, people, organisation, technology, culture and partners.
- I celebrate our successes, clearly communicating what we need to do to our staff at every level and across locations. I consciously shape our culture through my own attitudes and behaviour, how I learn and my personal attention to safeguarding and gender equality.
- I represent Plan International Inc. at national, regional and global levels with all key groups including politicians and the media, building relationships to increase our influence, make new opportunities and manage risks.
- * These behaviours are specifically aligned to feminist leadership principles.
Please follow this link for the full role profile; Global Director, Programmes & Operations
CLICK HERE to apply online
Closing Date: Friday 8th July
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.
We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.
We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.
Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.
A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.