Mexico Country Representative

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

ROLE PURPOSE

As a Country Representative, you will be Plan’s legal representative in the country and drive gender transformative programmes and influencing work at the country level, reflecting Plan International’s dual mandate, focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable children, particularly girls.

As a member of the Cluster Management Team, you will be accountable for the delivery of the country strategy and have direct leadership of country programmatic resources. You will work collaboratively with the Cluster Management Team who have leadership over operational support resources.

You will lead a high performing country team, ensuring accountability for meeting targets and maintaining alignment with the Global Strategy. You will ensure that your team is ready and able to respond to emergency and development needs of the most marginalised children and young people, especially girls.

You will be actively engaged in representing the organisation to the national and international donors, and National Organisations.

You will be the organisation's representative within the country, and its main spokesperson to the media and government, and responsible of the Plan's positioning and official communication within the country.

You will understand and drive efforts to deliver positive change for girls through advocating, campaigning and communicating at a national level.

Plan’s Global Strategy emphasizes the need for greater localization, and as Country Representative you will support this through the strengthening of local actors and community engagement in all programmes.

Dimensions of the Role

• Legal representative and key spokesperson of Plan International in the country.

• Management and approvals of security risk levels in the country and ensuring the adherence to Security Management Standards and Security Key Performance Indicators

• Line Management of CO Management team

• Representation of the organisation to key stakeholders, including local authorities, institutions, key account donors, and media.

• Funding portfolio in the country

Accountabilities

Lead Plan International’s programmatic and influencing work in Mexico, including development and scale up of humanitarian action, ensuring it is focused on gender transformation and is relevant to the needs of the most vulnerable children, particularly girls.

• Support the development of a country strategy through the input of country analysis based on a thorough country assessment of gender power relations and child rights issues, and identification of the unique value the Plan can add through programmes and influencing focused on gender transformation and equality for girls. This should include the participation and consultation of key stakeholders for child rights in the country, including children and young people. Lead on influencing at a national level with government and civil society stakeholders.

• Ensure alignment between the country strategy (or where appropriate the Cluster Strategy) and the resource availability of Cluster functional capacity to support the delivery of development objectives and the ability to respond to humanitarian challenges and ensure that targets are both ambitious and realistic.

• Ensure effective and swift emergency preparedness analysis, risk reduction and resilience building, and mobilise Cluster resources as required to respond to humanitarian crises.

• Be responsible for leading and ensuring the implementation of security strategies within the country. This includes making informed decisions in coordination and under the guidance of the National Security Focal Point and the Security Coordinator of the Cluster/Regional Security Advisor.

As Country Representative you will be a member of the Cluster Management Team

• As a member of the Cluster Management team, drive effective, efficient and impactful programmes across cluster countries.

• Lead programmes and influence in the country. Collaborate with peer members of the Cluster Management Team to ensure the required level of operational support, capacity and capability in delivering and influencing programmes.

• Act as legal representative in the country approving decisions associated with local funding, programs, security, and people management,

• Liaise with the local board if the Plan is registered locally in the country.

• Share the  reflections, programme models, and good practices, within the cluster and the region for broader organisational learning.

Country programmes and projects will be well funded and sustainable

Represent Plan International to national and international donor agencies in the country. Track potential funding sources in alignment with the Business Development Plan.

• Ensure the Plan is represented in key coordination bodies/spaces where the organizational profile can be built with local donors. Build brand recognition in the country.

• Identify and explore local funding opportunities that are in line with the agreed strategy.

Work with Cluster Business Development by contributing to proposal development and budgeting, maximising cost recovery opportunities while ensuring donor compliance and financial management. Coordinate the operational support procedures and standards in line with the Cluster standards.  

• Ensure that sponsorship commitments are fulfilled in the country.

Plan emergency response budget in high-risk countries. 

Country programmatic and influencing work is guided by accurate and timely work plans and budgets and creates impact and efficiency.

Develop program work plans based on the country’s strategy and cluster resource availability, incorporating the context and environment.

• Ensure Project Managers effectively manage projects throughout the entire lifecycle, including partner/community engagement during design and implementation, and that projects have accurate financial, procurement and resourcing plans.

• Ensure Project managers work with Cluster operational teams to ensure realistic phased budgets for all programme and influence activities.

• Deliver country level grant and sponsorship work on time with clear measurable impact on children and in full compliance with donor requirements and Plan International’s policies and procedures.

Influence key decisions of local, national and international institutions to advance children’s  rights, particularly girls.

• Demonstrate commitment to gender equity and represent Plan International to the highest levels of government, civil society, the media.

• Lead representation of Plan International’s work and positions on priority issues with key stakeholders at national level within the country, including media and the highest levels of government.

• Initiate and engage in collaboration with local and international authorities, UN agencies, sector coordination bodies, INGOs, national NGOs and local communities.

• Ensure timely and engaging external communications at the country level that keep Plan International at the forefront of the issues affecting children and girls.

Lead an engaged and efficient team, skilled in their area of expertise

• Manage a high-performing team that delivers excellent programmatic work, using child-centred, participatory and gender-sensitive approaches in line with Global and Country Strategies.

• Ensure the Country Office meets the organisation’s programmatic management standards at all times.

• Communicate to staff the country’s security situation and protocols. Ensure that the Standard Operating Procedures are developed and implemented, giving due consideration to the security and safety of staff and visitors.

• Ensure that safeguarding and security elements are in place, and that safeguarding and security representatives are consulted throughout the projects’ life cycle, including the planning stage.

• Ensure that the Plan’s portfolio is registered with the relevant authorities and complies with local laws. Sign MoUs with relevant local authorities, as required.

Child Protection and Gender Equality & Inclusion

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• Proven leadership experience  in development and humanitarian programming.

• Proven understanding of “child rights” and “gender in development” concepts and the promotion of girls’ rights in the context of relevant International Conventions (Convention of the Rights of the Child, Convention for the Eradication of Discrimination against Women) and the Global Development Goals (SDGs).

• Knowledge of International Humanitarian Law, Humanitarian Coordination and Humanitarian Donors as well as understanding main stakeholders

• Experience and understanding of the concepts of sustainable community development and participatory approaches and practice in development interventions.

• Knowledge of programming in challenging environments with good understanding and appreciation of the historical and security contexts, political environment, economic, social/religious and humanitarian context in Mexico or a comparable environment.

• Experience and understanding of key concept around business development plans and resource mobilization.

• Proven skills in the development and management of effective and motivated teams, including remote team management.

• Fluent Spanish and good English written and verbal communication skills.

• Proven networking and negotiation skills with governmental, donor and non-governmental actors

• Strong diplomatic and communication skills, including through mass-media in order to influence decision-makers and key stakeholders.

• Demonstrable knowledge as a result of study, training or practical experience on the key debates in the humanitarian industry, especially related to working in conflicts and protracted crises, and emergency response methods and effectiveness.

• Knowledge of the requirements of donor compliance and financial management.

• Knowledge of programming in complex and constantly changing environments.

Desirable

• Relevant University degree in development, social science, business administration or related field

• Knowledge of the geopolitical factors affecting child-poverty in the country and the political, social and environmental opportunities for change is an advantage

Business Management Competencies

• Understanding Plan International in context: Understanding the organisation, how it operates, its priorities and changing context.

• Managing People and Relationships: Working with others, managing people and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion

• Risk Management: Managing and mitigating business, legal, safety, security, reputational and project risks in line with

• Managing Change: Integrating conscious change management and continuous improvement into work planning, processes, and delivery

• Delivering Results: Planning and managing resources, projects and partnerships for the effective and efficient delivery of result

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.