NEF Belgium - Director, EU

Director, EU

December 2022

About NEF Belgium

NEF Belgium is seeking an experienced Director, EU, to be based in Brussels in the NEF Belgium office. The Director, EU is the NEF Belgium point of contact in the EU.

NEF Belgium was established in 2018 as a part of the NEF Family of Entities composed of Near East Foundation (Syracuse, NY, USA), Near East Foundation UK (London, UK) and NEF Belgium. NEF Family of Entities represents a network of three non-profit international organisations that support livelihoods recovery and community-based economic development in the Middle East, Africa, and Caucasus. Since 1915, NEF’s work draws on local teams, experience, and partnerships in the field to create community-led solutions to improve livelihoods and local governance among conflict and crisis-affected groups, while maintaining neutrality and ensuring inclusiveness in our approach. Working through a network of country offices and local partners, NEF currently has approximately 250 staff members and active programs in nine countries: Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Mali, Morocco, Sudan, South Sudan, and Syria. NEF’s work lies at the humanitarian-development nexus and is organised around three pillars: Inclusive Economic Development, Climate-resilient Development, and Stabilisation and Peacebuilding.

Title: Director, EU

Reports to: Vice President of Programs

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Travel: Yes, 35%

The Role Position Description

Working within NEF’s family of entities and under the leadership of NEF Vice President of Programs, the Director, EU is responsible for the management of NEF Belgium’s portfolio, with a focus on program oversight, proposal development, partnership management and accountability for program performance. The Director, EU has a strong background on inclusive finance, inclusive economic systems, and microfinance in fragile and/or conflict affected contexts. The Director, EU has an existing working relationship with European and UN Donors and is familiar with the management of EU and UN funding. The Director, EU will work in coordination with NEF’s global team to maintain and further program quality, contribute to program priorities, cultivate funding opportunities and support the diversification of NEF’s funding portfolio.

The Director, EU will maintain effective working relationships with European and multilateral donors as well as philanthropic foundations and other partner institutions.

Responsibilities

The Director, EU has the following specific responsibilities:

Management at NEF Belgium

• Maintain positive working relationship with relevant offices on behalf of NEF; the Director, EU is the NEF Belgium point of contact in the EU;

• Work with NEF’s program team to ensure NEF Belgium projects are managed effectively to maximise impact, growth, innovation, and learning;

• Foster open and transparent communication with NEF country programs and headquarters to ensure consistent information sharing and support;

• Promote teamwork and cooperation to achieve shared objectives across NEF core program areas and functional areas;

• Provide training and technical assistance to field offices when needed to enable staff to participate effectively in project management and contribute to program growth;

• Undertake other tasks as assigned by the Vice President of Programs to contribute to meeting the strategic vision and objectives of NEF Belgium and the NEF Family of Entities.

Program/Proposal Development

• Ensure that NEF Belgium programs remain in alignment with NEF global goals and strategic plan;

• Coordinate capture management and prepositioning for new funding opportunities;

• Contribute to proposal development efforts, serving as proposal lead for specific opportunities;

• Contribute to program design and proposal strategy in cooperation with colleagues at headquarters and country offices;

• Contribute to strategic partnership building in support of program growth;

• Represent NEF in relevant working groups; maintaining a strong engagement with and building partnerships within development and other relevant aid communities in Europe and elsewhere;

• Engage with institutional EU and UN donors to identify priorities, defines issues, and provides clear information about NEF experience, expertise, and effectiveness;

• Work closely with the Vice President of Programs and business development staff to raise NEF visibility in Europe;

• Represent NEF in relevant communities of practice and sector-specific fora.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor in a relevant field;

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in the field of international development, economic development, international finance, or equivalent experience;

• Five years of proven management, business, or programme development experience

• Demonstrated experience in inclusive finance, economic development programmes or stabilisation;

• Prior proven experience in building funder or investor pipelines and in identifying partners for consortia and strategic alliances;

• Demonstrated experience in and thorough understanding of the priorities and decisionmaking of donors, minimally including key European bilateral and multilateral donors;

• Experience leading proposal development and proposal teams for multimillion-Euro funding opportunities;

• Proven ability to lead proposal strategy development and to develop proposal value proposition and themes;

• Excellent written and oral communication in English and French is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical expertise aligned with NEF’s core programmatic areas (inclusive economic development, climate resilient development, and peacebuilding and stabilisation) in fragile and/or conflict affected contexts;

• Prior successful experience establishing and managing operations office for NGO business or related initiative;

• Master’s degree preferred;

• Arabic proficiency.

Position Criteria

• Strong analytical and assessment skills, including the ability to analyse development challenges and propose innovative and unique ways to address them;

• Excellent written communication skills including ability to plan for, write, integrate, and edit technical proposals on a wide range of development topics, articulating solutions in a clear, concise, and persuasive manner;

• Effective interpersonal and oral communication skills. Must possess aptitude for intercultural communication;

• Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and with flexibility; to perform duties under pressure and meet deadlines in a timely manner; to work as part of a team; complete assignments independently; to take instructions and criticism constructively; to exercise problemsolving skills; and to interact with coworkers, partners, donors and the public in a professional and pleasant manner.

How to Apply

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter. Please provide a CV and cover letter in two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process. The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

The document should be saved in PDF in the following format: Your First NameYour Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Pat-Jones-CV-122022-NEF or Pat-Jones-CoverLetter-122022-NEF.

Timeline

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Selection Process

All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

Equality Statement

Equality and diversity are at the core of NEF Belgium’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Queries

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email at nef-director@oxfordhr.co.uk in the first instance.

About Oxford HR

Oxford HR operates globally - mainly within the international development and charity sectors. We carry out retained executive search mandates at board and senior management levels. We also offer human resource and organisational development consultancy.

Oxford HR has many years of experience in search as well as an extensive network of international development, social sector, corporate, public sector, and academic contacts from across the world. We carry out comprehensive and often international searches designed to meet the specific needs of our client.