Country Director
About WaterAid
Over the past 22 years, WaterAid have seen their work thrive in a very dynamic context. Over the years they have raised WaterAid’s profile in Nigeria, building strong relationships with stakeholders and gaining strong experience in working on the ground with community and state actors to increase access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
This is an exciting time for Nigeria. Momentum is growing around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including access to WASH, and policy reforms pointing to an increase in political will. Though Nigeria has numerous opportunities for sustained and equitable development, numerous challenges remain to be addressed, including insecurity; the humanitarian burden; a high rate of open defecation and low access to basic sanitation.
About the Role
Success will involve creating state and national influencing platforms that draw on state and country evidence to shape policy and practice at national, continental, and global levels, as well as increasing access to quality water, sanitation and hygiene services for poor communities
By increasing their understanding of power and influence, WaterAid’s aim is to strengthen the political will in the sector and catalyse change in Nigeria; a country that influences the African continent and the World.
In 2016 WaterAid developed a new country strategy with focus on:
- achieving a progressive reduction of blockages in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) Sector;
- empowering citizens to demand and claim their rights to equitable WASH services and development; and
- strengthening partnerships to influence the WASH sector, ensuring access to sustained high quality WASH services for all.
Duties and Responsibilities
Your role will be crucial in enabling WaterAid achieve its ambition in Nigeria. You have the ability to increase WaterAid’s impact in the country and more widely. You understand the complex and highly varied contexts of the Nigerian Federation, as well as having a broader understanding of the regional and global policy environment. The funding landscape is changing and your leadership and team management skills will be integral in enabling the Nigeria team to implement the Country Programme Strategy with a good portfolio of restricted funding.
You know how to influence stakeholders and decision makers, with the desire to make things happen and deliver results. You are change manager who can refocus priorities and reshape the organization’s approach. This will require good cross-functional knowledge along with the ability to challenge and improve financial and organizational processes. You are an empowering leader, able to motivate the team to deliver excellence and influence change in the country.
Skills & Experience
We expect you to demonstrate that you are:
- A networker: able to create, maintain and expand relationships; influencing stakeholders and decision-makers and state and national level;
- A leader: able to inspire action in the team, getting things moving and delivering results—as well as building internal capacity;
- A change manager: able to refocus priorities and make changes to teams, operations and strategies to increase WaterAid’s impact in Nigeria;
- Financially-competent: able to raise funds and being accountable for good governance and positive results;
- Resilient: able to work in a challenging environment, fostering a positive and dynamic culture.