Director of Programs

International Justice Mission is a dynamic, highly professional organisation, ambitious to achieve their vision.  They are the global leader in protecting people in poverty from violence and they are working with governments to bring protection to half a billion vulnerable people by 2030.

Their global teams of lawyers, social workers, investigators, communications and community engagement professionals partner with governments and local authorities in 12 countries to help identify and rescue survivors of violence and exploitation, and ensure they receive the support and assistance they require, whilst also working with law enforcement and prosecutors to tackle impunity by making sure laws are enforced.  They have spent more than 20 years on the front lines, fighting some of the worst forms of violence: slavery, police abuse of power, child sexual assault and intimate partner violence.  To date they have supported local duty bearers to rescue over 50,000 people from slavery and violent oppression and seen local justice systems where they are working begin to proactively rescue and support survivors and hold perpetrators to account.

Job Brief

The Director of Programs is a key role in the IJM Uganda senior management team, reporting to the Country Director.  The role is responsible for delivering the programmatic goals of the Uganda national program, which is focused on addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), with plans to expand the role across 2-3 additional East African countries over the next 2 years.   This includes legislative and policy reform, strengthening of essential justice service provision, empowerment and protection of survivors of violence, holding perpetrators to account, community mobilization and research and learning to contribute to Ugandan and global knowledge on what works to combat VAWG.

The Director will ensure the quality of all deliverables and will keep the structure and design of the program under continual review.  The Director will adapt and develop the program in line with research and monitoring data so that its impact is continually improved.  The Director will oversee and coordinate IJM Uganda’s partnerships with international donors, duty bearers in Uganda, national and local government and civil society.   In particular, the Director will lead a multi-disciplinary programs team based in Kampala, Fort Portal and Gulu consisting of subject matter experts focused on direct service delivery; program management, monitoring and evaluation; and partnerships, including training and mentoring of government duty bearers and equipping civil society partners to implement IJM’s model in support of national and local government.

The role is based in Kampala, but will provide support nationally, including travelling to each of IJM’s current  locations (Kampala, Fort Portal and Gulu) and working alongside the programs team in its activities in 20 – 30 Districts across Uganda.

The success of this role will be measured by the following key result areas:

• Providing leadership resulting in robust strategy development, program management and high-quality deliverables across all locations in Uganda to achieve IJM Uganda program’s objectives and results.
• Mentorship and effective management of programs team.
• Sustaining strong relationships with international donors and national stakeholders. Working with fundraising teams to develop proposals to attract funding for programme expansion.
• Regularly feeding back ongoing Uganda program results and learnings to regional and global teams to build improved VAWG programming and contribute to the body of knowledge on what works to combat VAWG.
• Building and executing IJM Uganda’s program in alignment with IJM’s 2030 vision, theory of change, global and regional strategies and approved national program documents.

Education & Experience:

• Minimum five years’ experience successfully leading cross-cultural teams to achieve ambitious objectives in challenging environments with excellent outcomes.
• Experience in Sub-Saharan contexts preferred.
• Degree in law, international development or other related field (Master’s level preferred)
• Minimum five years’ experience in leadership of international development program design & delivery and/or monitoring & evaluation, with demonstrated rigor and success in either or both disciplines.
• Experience of managing relationships with international donors and intergovernmental organizations, engaging at a senior level to secure and successfully deliver international donor funded programs.
• In-depth knowledge of programming to combat violence against women and girls. Broader experience in access to justice, Rule of Law and human rights issues in Sub-Saharan contexts is preferred.

Technical Competencies:

• Ability to serve as a spiritual leader and mentor
• Excellent research, writing, and verbal communication skills
• Strong program development and management skills, including proven ability to lead development of monitoring, evaluation, research and learning and to successfully reset strategy based on analysis of program data, learnings, and financials
• Proven ability to lead cross-culturally to set and achieve significant outcomes and impact
• Proven ability to manage and lead teams of varying but complementary experience towards unified decision making
• Proven ability to deliver a coherent national program funded by multiple donors with different priorities

 Non-Technical Competencies:

• Mature orthodox Christian faith as defined by the Apostles’ Creed
• Demonstrated ability to appropriately handle stress and conflict
• Courageous, confident, human and servant leadership
• Sound and disciplined in judgement and problem solving
• Rigorously result-oriented
• Resilient; persevering in joy through challenge and failure

How to Apply

To apply for this role, kindly send through a Microsoft Word version of your CV and a cover letter detailing why you are suited to this role. Please mark it for the attention of Tim Wingrove, email address: [email protected].  Please subject your email with the following reference: IJM_DoP

Please note that the interview dates for this role will be confirmed with you should your

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