International Cocoa Initiative Accepts Job Applications

Company Profile

Established in 2002, ICI is a humanitarian foundation that promotes partnership among the chocolate and cocoa industry, cocoa-producing governments, civil society and NGOs to support the elimination of child labour in cocoa-growing communities. Our head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and we have operations in Ghana and Ivory Coast with National Offices in Accra and Abidjan.

ICI has developed a Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) that allows industry partners to manage responsibly the risk of child labour in their cocoa supply chain. In line with the Ghana Child Labor Monitoring System (GCLMS), the system is based on the presence of Community Facilitators (CF) within cocoa-growing communities who raise awareness on the issue of child labour; identify cases and implement remediation activities. (www.cocoainitiative.org

Job Description

Director of Programme and Country Operations
(Based in ICI’s Abidjan or Accra office)

The International Cocoa Initiative, a leading multi-stakeholder organization promoting responsible business conduct and children’s rights in the cocoa sector, is looking for an outstanding Director of Programme and Country Operations based in West Africa. The Director of Programme and Country Operations supports the International Cocoa Initiative in the development and implementation of ICI’s programmes and strategy.

Under the supervision of the Executive Director, and in close relationship with other members of ICI’s Senior Management Team, the Director of Programme and Country Operations (DO) will be responsible for developing ICI’s project and programme portfolio, overseeing ICI’s transversal teams in charge of programmes and learning, the geographical country teams in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, as well as reinforcing alignment and operational efficiency across ICI’s teams in in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Switzerland.

In cooperation with the Director of Policy and Partnerships based in Geneva, the Director of Programme and Country Operations will also be responsible for building and nurturing catalytic partnerships with members and partners in West and Central Africa, as well as strengthening coordination and alignment with stakeholders on child labour and forced labour in the cocoa sector, engaging and influencing relevant policymakers.

S/he will take primary responsibility for the programmatic dimensions of ICI’s three Strategic Objectives as per the ICI annual or bi-annual Action Plans, will contribute meaningfully to ICI’s advocacy, resource mobilisation work (for the organisation and more broadly for the sector), membership and partnership development, and will support the Executive Director in fulfilling the agreed-upon organisational objectives.

Main tasks and responsibilities

The programme, partnership, and strategy development

• Lead the development of ICI’s global programmatic strategy and oversee ICI’s country strategies, ensuring strategic coherence, evidence building, and lesson-learning towards improved effectiveness, efficiency, and impact.
• Lead and support the development of new strategic partnerships and collaboration mechanisms as well as coordination efforts at local, national, regional and international levels with members, partners, donors, and policymakers from international organisations, NGOs, private sector, local and national authorities, and farmers/producers’ organisations.
• Oversee and support ICI’s fundraising efforts, notably through the development of grant applications, and the feeding of operational evidence (results, impact etc.) into ICI’s stakeholder engagement, including with potential donors.
• Support ICI’ Executive Director and Country Directors in key aspects of ICI’s relationship with ICI members and partners in West and Central Africa, supporting membership expansion efforts and institutional partnership building.
• Contribute to the engagement of ICI in West and Central Africa, beyond Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana

Programme management

• With the support of the programme team (in Geneva and in West Africa), lead the development, implementation, evaluation, and revision of ICI’s programme strategic objectives.
• Oversee the development by the programme team (in Geneva and in West Africa) of terms of reference, proposals and reports for projects and programmes, in line with the programme strategy.
• Oversee and support the programme team in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ICI’s country strategies, programmes, and projects.

Knowledge management

• Oversee and support the identification, documentation and dissemination of specific innovations, tools and approaches that contribute to good practice and offer essential learning opportunities.
• Support lesson learning and knowledge sharing internally and externally
• Support ICI’s dissemination of existing research, identify potential new research needs and oversee ICI’s research activities.
• Promote good practices and provide technical assistance to different sustainability initiatives to facilitate coordination, coherence, and quality.

Advocacy, Communications, Fundraising and Stakeholders Relations

• Lead ICI’s policy and advocacy work in West and Central Africa and oversee ICI’s policy and advocacy work by the country teams at the national level.
• Support ICI’s global influencing, communications, and stakeholder relations efforts, particularly by ensuring that operational, programmatic and policy perspectives are sufficiently and accurately represented in ICI’s public affairs and information materials, and lead and oversee ICI’s influencing at regional and national levels.
• Work closely with the ICI’s Programme, Knowledge & Learning, Policy & Partnerships and Communications Teams as well as with ICI’s Country Offices to define, support and deliver ICI’s policy engagement and advocacy objectives in West and Central Africa.
• Support the dissemination of relevant technical knowledge, research, tools and data to drive the scale-up of evidence-based good practices and appropriate policies across various target audiences in West and Central Africa.
• Promote common tools, shared principles and aligned approaches across different sustainability initiatives to facilitate coordination, coherence, quality and accountability.
• Represent ICI on programme and policy matters, serving as a credible and confident spokesperson for the foundation and its strategic ambitions.

Financial management:

• Prepare, and manage relevant, dedicated budget lines according to ICI’s financial procedures and within the approved budget.

Team management:

• Ensure the supervision of the Head of Programme based in Geneva and ICI’s Country Directors for Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and co-supervision of ICI’s Head of Knowledge and Learning.
• Ensure close coordination within ICI’s programme team (Secretariat’s programme staff and National Programme Coordinators), in all locations together with the Head of Programme, the Country Directors and the National Programme Coordinators.
• Ensure close coordination between ICI’s learning team (Secretariat’s learning staff and national learning staff) in all locations together with the Head of Knowledge and Learning and the Country Directors and the Regional M&E Coordinator
• Ensure close coordination between the Programme and Learning Teams, as well as more broadly a greater integration across departments and across country offices and the Geneva Secretariat

Support to the Executive Director

• Backstop ICI’s Executive Director in his various organizational management and external representation functions, as required.

Required Skills or Experience

• Excellent written and spoken communication skills with an ability to turn complex subject matter into clear, accessible and compelling language.
• Fluent or native speaker in either English or French, in addition to a strong level of spoken and written proficiency in the other language.
• Strong political judgement and strategic analysis, with a proven track record in programme management and development, external relations, partnership and business development, advocacy and/or policy engagement.
• At least 15 years of experience in international development, or sustainability, with at least 7 years at senior management level.
• Experience and familiarity with the global cocoa industry and policy engagement with governments in West Africa
• Leadership, management and team-playing competencies, with an ability to inspire and motivate others.
• Confidence, charisma and strong public-speaking / influencing skills.
• Ability to learn fast, including about complex technical subject matters, to identify opportunities and to adapt.
• Ability to embrace change and lead transformation processes.
• Ability to work from Abidjan or Accra