Intersos Humanitarian Organisation Vacancy for a Head of Mission in Abuja


Intersos Humanitarian Organisation is an independent non-profit humanitarian organization committed to assist the victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, and respect for
diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable and unprotected people.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:


Job Title: Head of Mission (HoM)

Location: Abuja (with frequent missions in Maiduguri and any others operational bases)
Reporting to: Regional Director
Duration of contract: 1 year
Starting Date: ASAP

General Context of the Mission

Intersos is operational in Nigeria since September 2015 to contribute to the humanitarian response to the Boko Haram crisis. Our intervention, through a coordination office in Abuja and a field base in Maiduguri (Borno State), aims at supporting IDPs and other affected people by enhancing food security status, ensuring better shelter conditions and ameliorating the coordination of humanitarian actors. Given all the humanitarian needs still to be addressed, Intersos is willing to further develop its presence and activities, by identifying news interventions (concerning both the above mentioned sectors and new ones) and playing an even more active role within the humanitarian coordination.

Tasks and Responsibilities

  • The Head of Mission (HoM) legally and officially represents the Organization in Nigeria and acts in accordance with specific directions from and supervision of the Regional Director.
The HoM manages and coordinates the operations and human resources in the country and is responsible to:
  • Establish and maintain collaborative relations with Local Authorities and Institutions, Donors, International Agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders.
  • Follow up, guarantee and monitor government recognition procedures for the organization in compliance with the host country formalities.
  • Continuously assess, analyze and evaluate the impact of the country operations, also through periodic visits to the areas of intervention.
  • Define the mission financial plan, ensuring self-sufficiency and consistency of expenses, and assume responsibility for the mission funds management, including bank accounts.
  • Coordinate, guide and supervise the mission staff, and evaluate their performance.
  • Proactively participate in relevant coordination meetings.
  • Define country priorities based on context and needs analyses; monitor donor intervention strategies in the country; design, promote and elaborate new interventions.
  • Supervise, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the country operations - and all related administrative, financial, human resources, logistics and security aspects - ensuring timely and quality assistance delivery, as well as cost efficiency and accountability, in compliance with INTERSOS and donors guidelines, regulations and procedures.
Required Profile/Experience
  • Advanced university degree. A first level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  • Strong experience in project design, monitoring and evaluation, and data collection and analysis is required.
  • Experience in humanitarian assistance, e-voucher and nutrition is desirable.
  • Proven experience in management of large staff teams.
  • Proficient knowledge of English is required.
  • At least 5 years of professional work experience as Head of Mission or other management/ coordination positions in humanitarian/development contexts.
  • Knowledge of UN system (UNHCR; OCHA; UNICEF; WFP) ECHO and other majors donors.
Technical Competencies:
  • Ability to set high standards for quality of work
  • Excellent communication skills, both oral and written
  • Mastery of IT tools (MS Office package, internet, e-mail, etc.)
  • Ability to analyze and integrate information from a wide range of sources
  • Ability to administrate funds, logistics and human resources
Behavioral Competencies:
  • Strong organizational and problem-solving skills with analytic approach
  • Ability to achieve results effectively, considering the need for speed, scale and quality
  • Ability to integrate and work well within multi-ethnic and multicultural teams
  • Ability to develop and maintain collaborative relationships
  • Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to establish effective working relations with staff, beneficiaries and other stakeholders;
  • Ability to take initiative and work autonomously
  • Ability to work in a volatile and difficult security context, including hardship field locations;

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their Curriculum Vitae, motivation letter and 2 references to: [email protected] specifying in the subject "HoM Nigeria"

Note: Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the first interview.

Application Deadline  18th July, 2016.