Country Representative – Freetown, Sierra Leone
Full Time – Fixed Term Contract for Service July 2016 until March 2018
Salary: £1,300-£1,600 monthly gross
Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is an independent foundation sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). WFD specialises in parliamentary strengthening and political party development. It does this by supporting the development of parliaments, political party structures and civil society organisations. It is uniquely placed to draw directly on the expertise of the Westminster political parties in all its work.
Established in 1992, WFD has supported transitions to democracy in central and Eastern Europe, strengthened multi-party democracies in Africa, and extended its work to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2004.
The Programme: WFD is looking to recruit an experienced Country Representative to lead WFD’s newly established programme in Sierra Leone. WFD implemented a series of political party assistance and parliamentary strengthening programmes between 2001 and 2013. Most recently, WFD worked closely with the British Council as well as with other partners on a programme entitled “Strengthening the Parliament of Sierra Leone” (2010-2011).
WFD is once again looking at working with the Sierra Leonean Parliament. Recently, WFD conducted a context analysis on the Sierra Leonean Parliament to inform the development of the new programme, which will include providing support to the Hansard department, capacity building, the provision of resources and reform.
The WFD implementation approach consists of two key principles: (i) to work with key stakeholders such as Parliament and committees, and (ii) to deliver programmes with both local and international expertise.
Main Purpose of the Role: The Country Representative for Sierra Leone will have responsibility for management of WFD’s programme in Freetown, which includes managing the full programme cycle from office set-up and registration, Programme design, planning and implementation, through to transition/end of project, as well as budget management and monitoring and evaluation. This post holder will initially be the only member of staff in this office so is expected to lead on all aspects.
The post holder will play a central role in stakeholder management (MPs, political parties, parliamentary Secretariat, academic institutions, think tanks, civil society as well as the international donor community and the British High Commission). The post holder will also be expected to contribute to development of future business opportunities specifically for Sierra Leone and to contribute to WFD’s work in the region.
The successful candidate will have the following experience and competencies:
Essential
- Thorough knowledge of the political environment in Sierra Leone.
- A sound understanding of parliamentary and political systems.
- Significant experience in designing and implementing programmes. This should include management experience of parliamentary strengthening or related democracy development work.
- Strong English, written and oral communications skills necessary to produce proposals and reports and to present them to WFD’s Board and funders, to donors, and to local partners and other stakeholders.
- Thorough understanding and experience of financial management and numerical competency.
- Significant experience of producing programme reports with analysis and documentation of outcomes and programme learning.
- Significant experience in fundraising
Desirable
- Educated to Master’s Degree level or above in a relevant discipline such as political science, law, social development, public administration or international relations desired; Bachelor’s Degree required.
- An understanding of gender equality issues in Sierra Leone.
- Experience implementing UK funded and/or USAID, UNDP, EU, DFAT, or other OECD donor-funded programmes.
- Significant experience of gathering and consolidating information for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
The appointment will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
This is a locally based field role and therefore the successful candidate must have eligibility to work in the relevant location.
Please submit a completed application form to recruitment@wfd.org by 12:00 midnight (GMT) 21 June 2016 and see the full job description and candidate guidance notes. These are all available via the following link: http://www.wfd.org/jobs/country-representative-freetown-sierra-leone/
Please note this statement is for information only and does not form part of a contract.
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