IPPF – Regional Director SARO

Regional Director SARO January 2024

1 IPPF - Regional Director SARO

About IPPF IPPF is a network of nongovernmental organizations working for sexual and reproductive rights.

It is more than 70 years old and is present in 150 countries 25 of them in the East and South East Asia and the Oceania Region. The membership is built by one per country. The federation has undergone a governance reform and has implemented a new strategy in 2023 where the interest is that the member organizations are at the center and that they are the ones who, from their knowledge of the context, nurture the federation.

IPPF members receive core grants, benefit from exchanging lessons learnt, are accredited and important topics such as diversity and social entrepreneurship n are addressed. They are global leaders in sexual and reproductive rights and health, youth and gender issues.

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The Role Role:

Regional Director SARO

Location:

New Delhi

Salary:

Competitive

Role Purpose Responsible for leadership and management of the Region, promoting IPPF and SRHR to advance IPPF’s Strategic Framework. As a member of the Director’s Leadership Team, jointly be responsible for the strategic leadership of the global secretariat.

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About IPPF South Asia Regional Office (SARO) The South Asia Regional Office covers the most densely populated region in the world. In a highly challenging context of poverty, fastest growing and large population of young people, gender inequality, restrictive laws on issues around reproductive and sexual rights, socio-religious barriers, and vulnerability to natural calamities, SARO works across nine countries, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, through Member Associations (MAs) and Collaborative Partners (CP).

With over 1.6 billion people in the region, the populations vary from 400,000 in Maldives to 1.2 billion in India. The economies range from fragile and low-income to middle-income countries. Six (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) of the nine MAs/CPs are large service providers in their countries, whereas the other three (Maldives, Iran and Bhutan) reflect thematic leaderships on issues such as gender-based violence, ending child marriage, and SRHR services in conservative environment.

Most of the South Asian MAs and CPs, in providing services have been close witnesses to and key players in the growth/evolution of SRHR programmes in these countries.

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The Regional Office plays an important role in building stronger in-country institutions, focusing on adapting good governance and management practices, building capacity in the areas of programme delivery, resource mobilisation and data management, thereby promoting a favourable environment towards sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across the region.

In addition to raising resources through restricted projects and technical support, the Regional office, in partnership with its MAs over the past two to three years, has been instrumental in introducing various key initiatives such as: integrated counselling modules, gender masculinities sexual health in South Asia, SRHR champions directory, mapping of all youth lead/youth organisations in South Asia, ‘Everyone’s Right to Know: delivering Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) for all people, knowledge portal on SRHR, setting up a robust system of collecting, managing and analysing data for decision making at all levels.

The Regional Office also works very closely with various UN and international and intergovernmental agencies, creating a momentum and pathways for adoption of charters/mandates by Governments across the region, to uphold the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all.

Responsibilities The Regional Director SARO will provide effective support to the Director-General (DG) in London and to South Asia Regional Council and Member Associations, and provide leadership, management and development to around 20 employees of the South Asia Regional Office. The Regional Director, as part of IPPF’s global Divisional Leadership Team (DLT), will report to the DirectorGeneral (DG) in London and have responsibility for the strategic leadership of the IPPF Secretariat.

Priorities include:

• Leading implementation of IPPF’s new Strategic Framework within the region.

• Managing and overseeing strategic operational delivery of the work of the South Asia Regional Office, ensuring Member associations have access to technical support and assistance for programme development and implementation.

• Engaging effectively with the volunteer bodies of the Regional Executive Committee (REC) and Regional Council (RC), consulting and communicating with them and implementing their decisions within the Region.

• Developing and maintaining relationships with governmental and non-governmental agencies to facilitate and promote the work of the Federation.

• Identifying and acting on resource mobilisation needs.

• Providing support to Member Associations and the Regional volunteer bodies to ensure that IPPF policies are interpreted and applied appropriately in the Region and that the views of Member Associations and the Regional volunteer bodies are shared with the Senior Management Team.

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Candidate Profile Proven ability:

For this key role, IPPF is seeking a Senior International Health or Development Executive, with significant experience and interest in SRHR, Human Rights, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and related fields. That must include significant experience of complex operational leadership and people management of large teams, and experience of reporting to a board. The successful candidate will have a track record of effectively working with donors in the international development sector, and proven experience of networking to build partnerships and donor relations. They must have extensive knowledge of developing countries, particularly within South Asia, and strong knowledge of the international political environment, particularly in that Region. Familiarity with IPPF and/or its Member Associations is desirable, as is experience of working with senior volunteers.

Strategic leadership and results orientation:

• Vision and drive, along with demonstrable experience of developing and implementing strategy across a complex and diverse organisational structure and set of stakeholders.

• Strong analytical skills.

• A healthy appetite for taking calculated risks in pursuit of strategic aims.

Operational management and leadership: • Part of the Divisional Leadership Team (DLT) within an international organisation, including 6 IPPF - Regional Director SARO

• • •

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the ability to engage meaningfully at the wider organisational level and share best practice.

Strong people management skills.

Proven financial management experience.

Excellent time management and organisational skills to deliver complex projects on time, to budget and to a high standard.

An entrepreneurial approach and the ability to bring creativity and innovation to inspire colleagues and external stakeholders alike.

External representation and advocacy:

• Sophisticated understanding of ever-changing political and socio-economic dynamics across South Asia, as well as knowledge of the international context.

• Strong political acumen and the ability to act as international spokesperson and effectively manage the political process of the deliberative bodies.

• Ability to advocate for and represent the work of the organisation in the region with all relevant bodies and other relevant organisations, often against strong opposition in the lobbying environment.

• Experience of networking with relevant partners and of building donor relations, including those in the international development and private sectors.

Interpersonal acumen and personal competence:

• Outstanding interpersonal skills with gravitas and diplomacy.

• Strong advocacy and negotiation skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; strong presentation skills.

• A true team-player with an aspirational and empowering approach to leading teams.

• The highest regard for integrity, ability to maintain confidentiality and a flexible personal style.

• Awareness of and sensitivity to the multi-cultural and diverse environment in which IPPF operates.

• An understanding of and a commitment to safeguarding, including child protection, in a local and international context.

• Supportive of a woman’s right to choose and to have access to safe abortion services.

Other skills and criteria:

• Comfortable with social media and the use of new technology.

• Post-graduate degree in applied social sciences, health or management or equivalent standard of education.

• Fluent in English, both verbal and written.

• Comfortable to travel extensively.

Agree to sign and adhere to IPPF’s Code of Conduct and Safeguarding (Children and Vulnerable Adults) Policy. IPPF is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers, contractors and partners to share this commitment.

IPPF Strategy 2028

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 as 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 Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Pat-Jones-CV-012024-IPPF or Pat-JonesCoverLetter-012024-IPPF.

Timeline

Closing Date: 1 March 2024 (Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.)

First stage interviews: Final interviews:

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TBC TBC

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 IPPF’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 ippf-directorsaro@oxfordhr.com in the first instance.

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