Country Director, Multiple locations

The Organisation

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 75 countries.

The Opportunity

Plan International’s Ambition from now to 2027 is to see All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change. Will you stand with them?

Working together we will create:

• A world where all girls know and exercise their rights to living the life they choose 
• A network of supporters, communities, staff, partners, and donors, all supporting girls and young women to stand strong as they learn, lead, decide, and thrive 
• ​​​​Global change through breaking down the barriers and discrimination girls and young women currently face every minute, every hour, every day 

We aim to improve the lives of 200 million girls in the next five years. There are more than 200 million reasons to join Plan International, will you be one of them?

As a Country Director, you’ll play a key role in driving change to advance children’s rights and equality for girls by working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners. Plan International has worked with children, young people and communities for over 80 years and are committed to making a lasting impact on the lives of the most vulnerable and excluded children while supporting children’s rights and gender equality.

We aim not only to improve the daily lives of girls but also to advance their position and value in society, whilst actively working with boys and young men to champion gender equality.

We believe in advancing children’s rights in all contexts, including during conflict and emergencies, where girls are faced with additional dangers.

Our programmes deliver lasting change against discriminatory norms, policies and laws. We listen to the voices of children in the community, especially girls whose views and needs are frequently overlooked, to ensure that our work is relevant and effective.

We work to strengthen the capacities of governments and encourage them to meet their obligations towards child protection and fulfilling children’s rights. We form effective partnerships to address the systemic and structural causes of child rights violations and inequality, and support other humanitarian groups in order to extend our reach beyond the communities we work in.

We embolden young people to become active drivers of change by educating them on their rights and supporting their activism.

Our work is:

• Gender transformative
• Rights-based
• Active in all contexts,
• Active at all levels – from local to global
• Achieved in partnership with other groups
• Accountable to children and communities where we work, and to our partners, and informed by children’s voices, especially girls

Your Role

Our work is already reaching more than 50 million children including supporting over 26 million girls to learn, lead, decide and thrive, yet there is so much more potential to deliver high-quality programmes that provide long-lasting benefits to those children, their families and their communities.

As a Plan International Country Director, you will be the leader tasked with unlocking that potential in country.  

This is a truly influential position that comes with full accountability for Plan International’s operations and results in country. You will have the unique opportunity to drive programmes and influencing work, set overall direction for the country office, lead and grow the team, and ensure accountability to communities and donors for meeting demanding targets and maintaining alignment with the global strategy.

You will be deeply comfortable with leading transformative change and your talents as a leader and communicator will inspire Plan employees and volunteers while engaging partners, government, local communities and our other stakeholders. You will bring a focused approach to key responsibilities such as risk management, income growth, the disbursement of project funds and the oversight of projects.

About You

We’re looking for a number of exceptional, highly experienced leaders for Country Director roles to support, inspire and lead our teams. With demonstrable experience exercising leadership functions with increasing responsibility in an international environment related to development and social justice and of programming in difficult environments you are ready to rise to a new challenge that puts girls rights at the heart of everything you do.

As Country Director, you will be adept at developing people, building relationships, and creating a strong sense of purpose and collaboration for all those around you. You will bring genuine passion, determination, and fresh thinking to our work – with the aim of expanding both our reach and our impact, and making change work for millions of children.

You will consistently live our values, aligning them with our work to bring these to life.

Opportunities currently exist in the following locations – please click on the title for the full role profile;

• Country Director, Burkina Faso
• Country Director, Cameroon
• Country Director, Egypt
• Country Director, Guinea
• Country Director, Jordan
• Country Director, Liberia
• Country Director, Senegal

Closing Date: Monday 3rd October at 11.59pm UK

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.