Job description

About BOMA Project

The BOMA Project is a fast-growing, award-winning organization (non-profit in US; Kenyan NGO) that is implementing a high-impact program graduating for ultra-poor women to sustainable livelihoods in the drylands of Africa. They do this through their Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP), an innovative poverty graduation program for women living in extreme poverty in northern Kenya. The BOMA Project has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan that will take its proven poverty graduation model to 3 million women, youth, and refugees in multiple countries across Africa by 2027. 

BOMA has been working in Kenya since 2012, with a head office in Nairobi and sub-offices in Maralal, Marsabit, Isiolo, Turkana, and Wajir. BOMA is focusing on strategic partnerships and government adoption as pathways to reaching significant scale, while simultaneously maintaining a portion of its portfolio as directly implemented. BOMA implements a specific graduation program called Rural Entrepreneur Access Program (REAP) with ultra-poor women in the drylands of East Africa. Funding currently comes from private foundations, individuals, corporations, the US and UK governments as well as World Bank and other international institutions. Learn more about their mission and values by visiting their website. 

About the role

The Kenya Country Director (KCD) will work closely with the COO and executive team to implement BOMA’s global strategy around designing, adapting and implementing the REAP program primarily in Kenya and throughout Africa as requested, through strategic partnerships and government adoption. S/he will proactively seek out new opportunities for new business development, work with the team to innovate and adapt REAP to new contexts, and capture key learnings to continually drive impact higher, drive costs lower, and sustain BOMA’s reputation as a leading poverty alleviation organization. The KCD will act as the primary representative for BOMA in Kenya and will take the lead on building new relationships and partnerships with organizations and governments in Kenya. Finally, the KCD will set the tone for BOMA’s organizational culture in Kenya and will build a cadre of future leaders. 

A successful person in this role will be conscientious, with excellent judgment and will display an entrepreneurial spirit that is both creative and flexible. S/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, team approach and participatory leadership with tactful decisiveness to assist in the development and implementation of BOMA’s global strategy. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The individual will be a strategic thinker able to bring ideas to implementation. The role holder will have exceptional proposal development skills and an outstanding ability to design innovative programs that are responsive to community needs. An interest and ability to travel and work in very remote environments, and awareness of and sensitivity to multicultural international development work as well as ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles in required. An even temperament and a great sense of humor are highly appreciated.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Expansion & New Business Development – 25%: 

• Lead the identification and establishment of new program opportunities throughout Kenya.
• Oversee the development of specific expansion strategies for strategic partnerships, and government adoption.
• Lead the development proposals and concept notes that drive impact and revenue in line with established strategic targets.
• Provide leadership in all aspects of program design to ensure consistent quality, including the incorporation of cross-cutting themes, quality data analysis, lessons learned and best practices.
• Ensure that program implementation maintains high quality is aligned with BOMA’s mission, vision and strategic plan.

Program Implementation – 15%:

• Ensure that BOMA delivers on all its contractual program obligations, ensuring that program delivery hits all targets, comes in on budget and on time.
• Oversee the creation of well written and comprehensive reports, submitted on time to partners and donors.
• Ensure effective, transparent use of resources in compliance with BOMA and donor policies/procedures.
• Oversee budget management of sub-grantees/sub-contractors, if applicable.
• Build and maintain operational systems that ensure proper administrative support for programs, as well as segregation of duties between finance and operations.
• Create professional project management practices for all programs, and ensure staff have sufficient training to execute on those practices.
• Support teams to improve data collection, management, and use to build a culture of adaptive management, high-quality program performance, and learning.

Team Development – 15%:

• Create a culture of accountability, transparency, trust and collaboration at BOMA.
• Advocate for and oversee professional development and performance management of all staff.
• Seek ways to ensure effective management and communication systems enhance the work performance of all staff.
• Coach senior-level staff to manage and develop high-performance teams and develop and implement program strategies focused on impact and results.
• Coordinate and lead regular Kenya/Country Leadership Team engagements.
• Serve as the primary authority on safety & security of team, participants and visitors.

Representation & Influence – 10%:

• Establish close and productive relationships with donors, partner organizations, as well as relevant government authorities in Kenya to promote BOMA’s work and reputation as the ideal graduation approach partner.
• Represent BOMA at all relevant meetings and conferences as requested.
• Drive BOMA’s brand as an innovative, high impact, poverty alleviation organization.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning – 10%:

• Support the MERL Manager to ensure high-level results are captured and disseminated to stakeholders.
• Ensure that robust monitoring and evaluation, quality data collection and analysis systems are in place, adhered to and used as a decision-making tool, encouraging consistency across programs.

Finance and Administration – 10%:

• Arrange meetings of the Board which involves the issue of proper notices of meetings, preparation of agenda, circulation of relevant papers as well as taking and producing minutes to record the business transacted at the meetings and the decisions taken.
• Ensure the necessary registers are established and properly maintained.
• Inform NGO Board of any significant changes/resolutions e.g. appointment or resignation of directors etc.
• Advise the Board on good practice in corporate governance, e.g. giving guidance on the legal implications of the way it discharges its duties, runs meetings, and makes decisions.
• Promote the compliance framework to safeguard the integrity of the organization.

Other – 5%:

• Support organizational decision-making to reflect BOMA’s mission and values.
• Support BOMA’s strategic planning processes and regular performance assessments with a focus on scaling with operational excellence.
• Drive BOMA’s effort to deliver on its annual program reach and milestone goals to support scaling.
• Other duties as assigned.

Does this sound like you?

• BA/S or equivalent in social science, management, international development or other relevant fields. MA/S preferred.
• 5-7 years relevant development experience, including at least 3 years in a senior position.
• Experience managing humanitarian relief and/or transitional programs in areas affected by insecurity and conflict.
• Previous experience working in Africa is strongly preferred.
• Proven track record in program design, proposal writing and development, and donor relations.
• Trained and knowledgeable in design, monitoring, and evaluation concepts and methodologies. M&E experience should include conducting assessments and surveys, program design using a logical framework approach, selecting indicators, implementing monitoring plans, coordinating evaluations and data analysis.
• Experience supervising international and national staff, starting up programs and working in difficult environments.
• Experience managing programs in relevant technical area(s) including, Gender, Market systems, Graduation Approach, Livelihoods and Health.
• Knowledge of major donor requirements and compliance issues.
• Strong management skills with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meets deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• History of working effectively with host country government, national and international NGO partners, and collaborating with other actors, including the private sector.
• Solid knowledge of and experience with security protocols is essential.
• Fluency in written and oral English is required.

Persons of all gender, race, sex, orientation, age, and identity are encouraged to apply. If you have any questions concerning the role or want to express interest you can write to Sarah Ndegwa at sarah@shortlist.net and cc Shivani Nair on shivani@shortlist.net. If interested, click on the link to apply.