Role Description

Application deadline: May 20, 2024

The country director is responsible for managing and developing HOPE Zimbabwe in accordance with the mission and vision of HOPE International. This principally includes managing the HOPE partnership with the church denominations and community organizations to ensure a sustainable, high impact savings group ministry (SGM), expanding the SGM with other organizations, assisting with the management of complementary services, emphasizing the Spiritual Integration and Christian Witness elements in all our programs, and to host HOPE Zimbabwe visitors and promote HOPE programs to gain their support.

• Location: Harare, Zimbabwe

• Level: Senior Professional

• Type: Full-time

• Department: Savings Group Programs

• Reports to: Regional Director – Southern Africa

• Position supervises: Administration & Finance Manager & Operations Manager

Responsibilities

• Promote and contribute to the fulfillment of HOPE International’s mission and vision.
• Relationship Management
• Oversee and proactively manage the relationship between HOPE and the Church Partners (CP) to ensure the longevity and continued growth of the program. This should be done in conjunction with the existing team within HOPE International (CSU) and the CP.
• Provide programmatic support to program staff through high level oversight as well as hands-on training, motivation, guidance, and logistics support.
• Maintain regular communications with CP legal/spiritual representatives to ensure that they engage and support the ministry appropriately and serve as liaison between HOPE Zimbabwe and their church denomination.
• Cultivate & nurture relationships with other like-minded Christ-centered organizations towards the pursuit of HOPE International’s mission in the country.
• Spiritual Integration and Christian Witness
• Develop and implement a spiritual integration plan for the SGM in Zimbabwe (including in frontier communities) that contains clear goals and metrics against which to measure progress toward goals.
• Ensure the establishment of weekly devotions and prayer among staff of HOPE Zimbabwe to maintain a focus on the program’s Christ-centered mission and vision and to promote spiritual growth among staff, volunteers, group members and other associated parties.
• Ensure a healthy spiritual balance within your family, work, and church life through the adoption of Biblical, personal, spiritual disciplines.
• Planning
• Update the strategic plan, and the growth metrics of the SGM in Zimbabwe in line with the HOPE International global strategy and the SG ministry departmental priorities.
• Set appropriate performance and social metrics and targets for achievement for church partners. Provide correction, guidance, and support when program participants stray from the approved methodology.
• Establish and implement a strategy for sourcing the appropriate resources (people, financial, etc.) needed to achieve the goals outlined within the program’s plan. This should include the creation of a resource plan and program budget to be submitted to HOPE International during its annual budgeting process.
• Staff Management
• Provide coaching for the staff as it relates to their professional and personal goals.
• Lead monthly staff meetings to review plans and assess achievements as appropriate.
• Ensure staff develop annual performance goals and conduct staff performance review on an annual basis.
• Ensure that HOPE Zimbabwe staff adhere to the HR and Finance Manual as they exercise their responsibilities.
• Monitor the effectiveness of interaction of the HOPE staff with church partner staff and volunteers in achieving the goals of the SG ministry.
• Financial Management
• Enforce the system (or adapt the current system) for tracking expenses related to HOPE Zimbabwe and the church partners’ activities.
• Submit requests for funding to HOPE International in a timely manner with appropriate back-up to ensure resources are made available at the appropriate time.
• Ensure the achievement of programmatic goals and objectives while remaining within the budget set out for HOPE Zimbabwe and the church partners.
• Ensure church partners adhere to the HOPE-approved Church Partner Financial Guidelines (CPFG) and implement corrective action as needed.
• Reporting
• Support the CP by assisting them in the continued development and implementation of set reporting processes and formats for SGM activities.
• Assist the staff in implementing reporting protocols in the required timeframes and appropriate channels, and ensure the feedback in reports is used to improve the Zimbabwe SG program.
• Ensure that HOPE International and the CP reporting deadlines are met for the various field level reports.
• Provide reports as needed for donors, auditors, and other parties.
• Meet regularly with the HI Regional Director to review status of progress toward goals and to address issues.
• Systems, Assets and Risk Management
• Maintain systems and standard operating processes and procedures for the operational management of HOPE Zimbabwe which ensure that risk for the organization is minimized.
• Ensure systems are in place or are developed to review, expose, report and eliminate areas of risk within the organization.
• Ensure that HOPE Zimbabwe’s assets are utilized responsibly, kept secure and effectively maintained from time to time.
• Design contingency plans that facilitate the continuity of operations in coping with external challenges.
• Governance
• Maintain HOPE Zimbabwe as an independent entity, recognized and registered under the appropriate laws of Zimbabwe.
• Sustain the appropriate board/governing body to oversee and participate in the operations of HOPE Zimbabwe.
• Assist the HI Regional Director in representing HI with any other local activities in support of the SGM as required.
• Ensure steering meetings are consistently held with church partner denominational Principals to discuss the high-level strategies for growing and sustaining a robust SGM in Zimbabwe.
• HOPE International Network Representative
• Represent HOPE’s various interests and potential partnerships within Zimbabwe by proactively developing relationships with like-minded Christ-centered organizations and pursuing existing relationships that may result in mutually beneficial partnerships.
• Show hospitality to all visitors from HOPE International or related parties that wish to visit the program and witness its operations. This includes the timely establishment and creation of appropriate itineraries, overseeing all necessary on the ground logistics, and accurately representing HOPE International and its mission through communication with visitors.
• Attend HOPE International’s Directors’ retreat to facilitate lateral learning and relationship building among the programs within HOPE’s network.

Qualifications

• Personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ and a passionate commitment to HOPE’s mission of Christ-centered microenterprise development and promotion of the savings group ministry, as well as conservation agriculture.

• Experience in microfinance programs or banking, SG programs or savings-led microfinance strongly preferred. Experience in managing or supporting regenerative agriculture programs will be an added advantage.

• Demonstrated experience at the senior leadership level in international development work; A minimum of 7 years of experience in international development work.

• A degree in finance, accounting, business administration, international development, theology, or similar field of study.

• Skilled leader, with excellent understanding of cross-cultural communications, workplace relationships, church relations, and the ability to relate to and effectively motivate staff.

• Fluent in English and one of the major, predominant local languages in Zimbabwe.

• Excellent written, verbal and computer-based communication skills.

• Passionate to help people that have been brought low by poverty or other circumstances to regain hope, dignity, and the ability to support themselves and their families.

• Highly flexible and creative in coping with stressful and frustrating situations; able to live, manage and work in rural or remote context with limited resources.

• Assertive self-starter with demonstrated ability to work independently and in collaboration with a team.

• Experience working with the church at national and/or regional levels (e.g., denominations) strongly preferred.

• Willingness to travel to remote areas for field visits as needed.

Additional information