Executive Director, StrongMinds
About StrongMinds
By adapting a proven therapeutic model, StrongMinds is the only organization scaling a cost-effective solution to the depression epidemic in Africa. StrongMinds is guided by an ambitious and unique goal of treating two million depressed African women by 2025 – enabling these women and their families to lead more healthy, productive and satisfying lives.
StrongMinds currently operates in Uganda where one out of every four women suffers from depression. The social enterprise uses a cost-effective and simple approach called group interpersonal psychotherapy that is facilitated by trained community workers. Since beginning fieldwork in 2014, StrongMinds has treated over 25,000 women with depression and aims to treat more than 100,000 women by the end of 2019.
StrongMinds seeks to resolve depression in vulnerable women and create lasting skills and support networks to prevent its return. More than 75% of women we have treated to date are depression-free at the conclusion of therapy.
About the Role
The Executive Director will lead all operations and staff of StrongMinds’ programs across Uganda (approx. 60 staff in the office and the field). They will also lead the strategy and development for StrongMinds in a second country in 2019. The Director will report to a local Board of Directors and serves as the first point of contact for all relations with the US office.
The Executive Director will proactively seek new funding opportunities and partnerships, strengthening the position of the organization by influencing and engaging with governments, donors, civil society organizations and affected communities. He or she will also play a pivotal role in further developing the approach and systems for StrongMinds’ institutional growth.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Drive the organization’s ambitious strategy to reach two million women by 2025.
- Lead and grow the StrongMinds Uganda team, ensuring an impact-driven and high performing organizational culture across multiple program sites.
- Maintain a bottom-line focus on the quality of treatment and the number of women served.
- Proactively seek partnerships and fundraising opportunities in the country and region.
- Grow and strengthen StrongMinds’ network across its relevant stakeholders and partners in governments and civil society.
- Further develop the strategy and systems to widen the organization’s operations across the region and increase efficiencies.
- Support a culture of innovation and pilot approaches continuously looking for new and more efficient ways to serve patients.
Skills and Experience
We are looking for:
- A hands-on and ambitious leader who can mentor, coach and motivate all staff, including senior staff.
- A results-driven leader who values measuring and analyzing impact with scientific rigor. A high comfort with data is critically important.
- A great communicator who is able to express the vision of StrongMinds and persuade colleagues at local and international levels.
- A networker who knows how to seize opportunities, establish and maintain lasting relationships with relevant organizations, government branches, and other stakeholders.
- A generalist who sees and fills gaps throughout the organization and enjoys contributing where extra hands are needed.
- A builder with a record of meeting program goals and deadlines who knows how to develop new initiatives and identify expansion opportunities.
- A self-starter who understands business operations and can create systems to increase efficiency and support the organization’s growth.
- A compassionate and intercultural mindset, able to fit into a fast-paced culture and serve as a thought partner.
- Nimble, creative and solution-oriented, adapting and contributing to the rapidly-changing day-to-day demands of the organization.
- Strong work ethic and personal integrity, ensuring an impeccable reputation for the organization and transparent and sound financial oversight.
- Dedicated to the mission of StrongMinds and to serving people living in the margins.
- Experience in mental health or global health is a bonus.
- World-class sense of humor.