Director of Support – Afghanistan (International)

Mission

Geneva Call is a neutral and impartial non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting respect for international humanitarian norms in armed conflict and other situations of violence. Geneva Call’s mission is to ensure that AGDAs respect International Humanitarian Law and basic humanitarian principles in the areas where they fight, or they control.
Geneva Call consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, and opinions. Geneva Call is an inclusive working environment for all its staff. Applications are particularly encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on the grounds of race, color, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Role

Geneva Call is seeking a highly qualified and experienced Director who will be leading the Support department in Afghanistan. Under the supervision of the Country Director and the technical supervision of functionals lead in HQ, the Head of Support is accountable for efficient management of all support functions: Finance, HR, IT, Donor Relations, Procurement, Administration, Logistics, Service (such as guards, drivers and cleaners). The position holder is accountable for compliance with local legislation and Geneva Call’s policies and procedures.

• Accountable for support services in-country: system, processes and standardization to ensure transparency, accountability and a robust system of internal control.
• Line management of the functional focal points in country.
• Communicates and coordinates between the field and HQ. First point of contact for the country director and the local senior management team for all matters linked to the support function.
• Networks with Heads of Support of other organizations in country.
• Minimum 30% field travel to provinces.

Duties and responsibilities

Key priorities

Finance

• Lead in the development of annual country and project budgets and donor financial reports and submit to Country Director (CD) for review and approval.
• Identify and report on financial trends, working collaboratively with the CD to produce options/scenarios/corrective action plans that ensure ongoing financial stability for the Country Program.
• Oversee all financial accounting matters, including maintenance of the general ledger, balance sheet, receipts, payments, and payroll requirements.
• Oversee the cash flow requirements of the program, liaising with Geneva Call HQ to facilitate cash transfers.
• Manage the effects of exchange rate fluctuations between local and contract currencies, highlighting upcoming issues early and identifying mitigating strategies.
• Oversee the financial management of partner delivery contracts.
• Lead on audit matters.
• Manage and review the monthly accounts closing process for the program, ensuring HQ deadlines are met.
• Lead on conducting monthly BVAs for all projects in collaboration with program team and flag under/overspent to CD.

Human Resousrces

• Resolves HR matters in coordination with HR team, promoting good management practices and the code of conduct.
• Ensures compliance with Geneva Call’s code of conduct and its policies. Participates in investigations.
• Develops and manages the country HR team, in collaboration with the HR Coordinator at HQ.
• Develops management capacity at country level.
• Responsible for performance management in-country: ensures managers set objectives and complete a mid-year and year-end review with their team members. Builds capacity of managers and ensures the process is followed.
• Manages and reviews the monthly leave tracking and payroll reporting cycle for national staff to ensure that any issues are flagged and followed up on a timely basis, and payroll deadlines are met.
• Develops, monitors and reviews the national HR framework to ensure compliancy with local legislation, based on legal advice.
• Responsible for duty of care in country, in close collaboration with the global focal point at HQ.
• Ensures completeness of the staff database on a monthly basis.
• Ensures a smooth joiner- and leavers process, in alignment with the global process.
• Participates to the monthly HR global connects.
• Implements new policies and processes, in collaboration with HQ.
• Engages in annual HR projects and priorities, in collaboration with HR function at HQ.

IT

• Assesses needs and manage the procurement of IT assets following the guidance of the Head of IT at HQ.
• Ensures the correct usage of the IT systems.

Donor Relations

• Ensures organizational policies, procedures, and practices align with donor requirements, including grant agreements, reporting standards, and regulatory guidelines.
• Oversee the preparation and submission of timely, accurate, and comprehensive donor financial reports, including financial statements.
• Facilitates donor audits and implement mechanisms to identify, assess, and mitigate risks related to donor compliance, safeguarding the organization’s credibility and funding continuity.
• Provides guidance and training to internal teams on donor compliance requirements, ensuring consistent adherence across departments and project cycles.

Procurement

• Ensures that procurement actions are carried out in line with policies and procedures, and donor requirements, maintaining the right levels of procurement, appropriate controls and accountability, ensuring best value for Geneva Call.
• Provides technical guidance to the program senior management.
• Develops and updates program procurement plans to ensure timely procurement.
• Manages the end-to-end procurement process, in line with GC procurement procedures and in collaboration with Procurement at HQ.

Safety & Security

• Ensures all staff have filled in the digital Proof of Life form.
• Supports Country Director and Safety & Security Coordinator with S&S budgeting.
• Supports the development of the Contingency Plan booklet, and its implementation.
• Ensure Compliance with Minimum Safety & Security Standards.

Administration & Logistics & Service

• Ensures visa and travel requests are supported on time.
• Ensures proper filing and completeness of all documents. Supports audits.
• Supervises and manages the service staff.

Duties

Compliance

• Works within the framework of Geneva Call’s core values, promoting ethical behaviour. Be an ambassador for the code of conduct and role model accountability.
• Ensures familiarity with and adhere to all Geneva Call policies and procedures.
• Undertakes the role in a manner appropriate to the cultural context and within the local legal framework.
• Understands and uphold the standards outlined in Geneva Call’s safeguarding framework, acting with due care and attention to safeguard the wellbeing of staff, consultants and partners and anyone else who works with or on behalf of Geneva Call. Reports concerns if they do arise.

Main qualifications

Education and experience

• Master’s degree in finance or business degree specialized in finance with a professional accounting qualification an, as well as experience in human resources.
• 10+ years of relevant work experience with increasing responsibilities in human rights and/or humanitarian organizations in a similar role.
• Experience in working and living in complex security environments, preferably in Asia.
• Experience of overseeing complex financial planning, monitoring, forecasting and reporting.
• Experience with Dynamics 365 Business Central is a plus.

Key requirements

• Leadership experience: minimum 2 years and a team of minimum 4 direct reports.
• Effective financial management skills including risk management.
• Experience in HR.
• Has lived and worked in-country is an advantage.
• Full professional proficiency in English, written and spoken; understanding of the local language is a plus.

Skills

• Strong communications skills (both written and verbal).
• Entrepreneurial mindset.
• Working standards reflect a high level of integrity, ethics, and confidentiality.
• Planning and delivering results.
• High sense of accountability.
• Knows how to prioritize.
• Capacity to handle competing demands and tight deadlines.
• Communicating with impact and respect.
• Building trustful relationships. Cultural sensitivity.
• Collaborating across departments, countries and with HQ.
• Coping with change and stress.
• Capacity to handle insecure environments.
• Willingness and ability to travel at short notice.

Performance management

The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the GC Performance Management p. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description
• The individual Work- and Professional Development Plan
• The Competency Framework

Conflict of interest

Any candidate affiliated to, or openly supporting, one or more interest groups opposed to the Foundation’s principles and values, or whose previous position could engender safety issues for co-workers at Appel de Genève / Geneva Call, will be excluded from this selection process.

Conditions

• Position: Director of support – Afghanistan
• Type of Contract: International – 12 months
• Activity rate: 100%, full-time position
• Work place: Kabul, Afghanistan
• Field Travel: approx. 30%
• Preferred start date: 1 February 2025

Application

No later than 12 January, 2025.

Important Note: Our HR team will meticulously evaluate your profile in line with the requirements of the post you have applied for. Since, we receive a good number of applications for all the positions Geneva Call advertises, it is not possible to communicate the results of our decisions with every candidate individually. Therefore, only the short-listed candidates will be contacted by the HR team to invite them for written test – and the steps afterwards if they qualify i.e., interview and other assessments as deemed appropriate.