Regional Director, East and Central Africa at TradeMark East Africa (TMEA)

Roles and responsibilities 

• Strategy development and implementation at Senior Leadership & Management Team level (20%)
• Work effectively and closely with the CEO, CoP and SLMT in developing and managing TMA’s development and strategy.
• Actively participate in the continued implementation of TMA’s Strategy 2 Programme and in futureprogramme development including potential geographical expansion with the CEO, CoP and SLMT.
• Contribute actively to regular SLMT meetings, highlighting key country programme portfolio issuesfor senior engagement.
• Lead Country Heads in developing annual business plans for capacity development, policy reforms,systems and infrastructure development for regional trade and integration in East and Central Africa insupport of the broad TMA goals and objectives, for approval by the National Oversight Committees(NOCs), Board and Council.
• Oversee and direct the development of national programmes as a central part of TMA’s overall activities and impact.
• Liaise with the Chief of Programmes in development of Project Appraisal Reports (PARs) outlininginputs, activities and outputsrequired to achieve TMA’s strategy and business plan, for approval by NOCs, Board and Council.
• Integrate on-going Development Partners’ support for regional trade and integration activities where aligned to TMA’s goals and objectives.

Job description

• With the CEO and CoP, take a leading role in developing TMA’s new long-term strategy and developing greater learning and accountability practices across the organisation.
• Work with SLMT on strategic analysis, portfolio analysis and stakeholder perceptions to inform future programming, and for reporting to the NOCs, Board and Council.

Political, stakeholder and diplomatic engagement, fundraising and partnership development (15%)

• Oversee and shape TMA’s strategic political, stakeholder and diplomatic engagement at country level in
• East and Central Africa.
• Examine opportunities forstrategic partnershipsto enable TMA to achieve its objectives with the CEO and
• CoP.
• Highlight opportunities for increased funding and co-manage fundraising with the CEO and othermembers of SLMT as agreed with the CEO and CoP. This will include supporting funding applications, responding to requests for information, etc.
• Co-ordinate country level political management with CoP and SLMT. This will include undertaking regular Ministerial level operational engagement with country-based stakeholders.
• Actively represent and promote TMA’s work and profile and deputise in national and international public events and fora for the CEO and CoP, particularly those related to TMA operations.
• Provide strategic input and engage with stakeholders and partners on regional trade and integration involving EAC institutions and Partner States and development partners.
• Promote local procurement of all proposed, direct or indirect, TMA sub-contracts and related opportunities in order to develop the East Africa based service provider capacity.Programme development and delivery (30%)
• Work closely with the CoP and Country Heads to coordinating implementation of TMA’s operations acrosscountry programmes.
• Lead on (and be held accountable for) development and delivery of coherent multi-country operational strategy delivery and allied budgeting, business planning, forecasting & expenditure reviews.
• Ensure robust country risk management frameworks are in place in all countries of operation.
• Co-manage political risk and engagement at country and regional levels with the CEO and SLT.
• Ensure full compliance with TMA regulations across operations (1st Line of Defence).
• Actively manage the smooth introduction of TMA’s enhanced matrix management approaches to ensure harmonious co-working and ensure compliance of all teams to TMA procedures and policies.
• Lead on coordination of annual reviews across countries.
• Provide on-going strategic input and quality assurance support to country portfolios in order to maximise results impact.
• Ensure a comprehensive dashboard of key programme performance indicators (KPIs) is regularly monitored and managed across countries to ensure 80% plus levels of performance attainment.
• Manage a series of effective performance meetings of country teams, and regular monthly KPPI meetings with the CoP.
• Liaise with the Programme Delivery Hub and Impact Unit to ensure that portfolios and projects are regularly monitored through implementation of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms by all country programme teams.
• Liaise with the Programme Delivery Hub and Impact Unit to ensure proactive communication of TMA’s
• results streams to stakeholders and partners.
• Ensure programme implementation of key crosscutting themes and strategies for gender, poverty, safeguards, extractives and climate change.
• Oversee efficient and effective operation of country programmes in line with funding agreements with donors and defined TMA policies and procedures.
• Prepare periodic management reports for submission to the Board and Council.
• Ensure that programme teams have high calibre financial management with 90% of disbursements/payments made in line with forecasts, and that TMA manages its financial resources with minimal risk or incidence of fraud or misappropriation

Academic and professional qualifications 

• Undergraduate o r Master’s degree preferably in Economics, Development Studies, International 
• Trade, Planning, Finance or Management.

Work experience 

• Undergraduate degree holders will have at least 15 years’ working experience, including seven years of leadership and management experience. Postgraduate degree holders will require at least 13 years’ experience including seven years of leadership and management experience.
• Minimum of ten years’ experience in managing business units or development programmes, particularlyin areas related to TMA’s core focus areas.
• Demonstrable knowledge, skills and experience in programme cycle management and programme delivery, political economy analysis, donor management and fundraising.
• Three years of senior level experience within East Africa or other developing economies are essential for this role.

Additional skills
Essential:

• Strong strategy orientation and experience with the ability to communicate strategy and resultsconcisely and simply. Ability to deliver plan and performance to budget.
• Excellent leadership and management skills, with demonstrable strong people management.
• Adept at working with diverse teams, delivering change and achieving results.
• Ability to establish and maintain strong collaborative partnerships/relationships with development partners, senior government officials, civil society and business organisations.
• Sound technical knowledge of the African regional integration agenda and of the major multilateral and bilateral trade agreements which affect East African countries.
• Ability to influence others to achieve objectives and gain consensus and collaboration.
• Sound decision-making, judgement, problem solving, organisational and analytical skills.
• Excellent writing under time pressure, presentation, communication and personal effectiveness skills.
• Collaborative and team-oriented management approach and co-working approach.
• Strong computer literacy with proficiency in MS Office applications.