Village Director – Jordan

Name of position: Village Director

Location: Amman – Jordan

Name of position of the direct superior: National Director

Name of position employee is directly in charge of: All village staff / Youth leaders and assistant youth leaders of youth facilities connected with his village

Special authority and regulation/ entitlement: Head and overall responsible of all SOS projects in the Village

Employee is substituted by: Assistant Village Director

Responsibility of reporting to: National Director

Attendance of Meetings: National Association Meetings, Village meetings, other meetings on request of the National Director.

Mission of the position:

The Village Director leads the SOS Children’s village. He/she co-ordinates all village activities and is responsible and accountable for the overall development of the SOS Children’s Village. The village director’s role is not so much to directly interfering with day-to-day tasks of village co-workers rather than guiding the village and its staff in a strategic way according to SOS Children’s Villages’ policies and values.

He/she both follows his/her vocation and carries out a job within special working conditions. The village director assures the quality of child care within the framework of the SOS family child-care model.

He/She ensures the development of all village co-workers. He/she directly guides and supports each SOS mother to ensure the well-being of the SOS families. The village director guides and supports the SOS youth facility leaders and promotes strong links between SOS families, youth care co-workers and village co-workers. Thus, he/she provides framework conditions for families and children to grow.

The village director ensures that the individual needs and rights of children are addressed and respected. The rights and concerns of children are at the centre of his/her work.

He/She ensures the implementation of the organisation’s policies and guidelines, effective planning, evaluation, reporting and financial management. The village director builds partnerships with the local community and government authorities and represents the SOS organisation and its integrated approach (family-based child care, family strengthening, education and advocacy) to the internal and external environment.

He/She comes to terms with living both private life and profession and strives to bring them into balance (work-life balance for himself/herself and his/her family).

The village director’s work is based on good and effective guidelines of leadership & management (e.g. human resources development etc) and child & youth care (e.g. child and family development etc). These two main task areas of a village director are equally important and complement each other.

Cooperation and Reporting:

• Reports directly to the national director; he/she receives ongoing guidance and support from the national director and the national office and has regular performance appraisal discussions to develop his/her career.
• Fosters good relationship and maintains close cooperation with all SOS village co-workers, especially with SOS mothers and SOS youth care co-workers.
• Represents the SOS children’s village towards government authorities and other external bodies and organisations and promotes strong and long-term partnerships with local communities.

Main clients:

• SOS Mothers, Youth Facility Leaders,
• CV leading Pedagocial co-worker, CV leading administrative co-worker, other co-workers according to CV structure
• National Director and National Office co-workers
• Government authorities and local community members

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

· Ensuring the overall development of the SOS children’s village: The village director ensures that the needs of children and youth are identified, respected and protected. He/She coordinates the planning and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation processes for the SOS children’s villages. The village director accounts for the implementation of the organisation’s policies, manuals, standards and guidelines and implements administrative systems promoting the efficient and responsible use of financial resources and property. He/she presides over the village committee and the child admission committee and cooperates closely with representative / coordinative functions (e.g. SOS mother coordinator).

· Guiding and supporting SOS Children’s Villages’ co-workers:The village director leads and supports all SOS Children’s Village’s staff in a strategic way according to SOS Children’s Villages’ policies and values and acknowledged and contextualised guidelines of leadership, management and human resource development. He/she delegates tasks with trust and gives co-workers the space to perform effectively. The village director creates an open working environment where village co-workers learn and question with confidence and strive for participation. The village director promotes strong links (communication, team work and the sharing of knowledge) between SOS families, youth care co-workers and other village co-workers. He/She coordinates the professional recruitment and careful orientation for all village and youth facility/youth programme co-workers, provides ongoing feedback, carries out performance appraisal discussions with every village co-worker, encourages co-workers to take responsibility for their own learning and development (according to the HR Manual’s principles and guidelines) and ensures that they receive the support they need to fulfil their tasks. The village director manages routine personnel administration tasks, including management of personnel files and leave administration. He/She consults the national director/national association on key staff issues (such as recruitment, salaries etc.).

· Guiding and supporting SOS mothers and SOS families: The village director ensures that framework conditions for a high quality of child care within the SOS families are given. He/She supports the development of strong and long term family ties and ensures a secure environment for children and SOS mothers. The village director builds positive relationships with children through day-to-day interactions and regular meetings and maintains an overview of and interest in the needs and development of all children. He/She ensures the required support and monitoring services for SOS mothers and coordinates their professional development.

· Guiding and supporting SOS youth facility leaders: The village director ensures that framework conditions for a high quality of youth care within youth facilities/youth care programmes are given. He/She ensures that youth programmes offer career, learning and development opportunities for youths and maintains an overview of and interest in the needs and development of youths. The village director coordinates the professional development of youth facility leaders and ensures the required support and monitoring services for youth care co-workers.

· Promoting strong and long-term partnerships with communities: The village director promotes and facilitates strong relationships and partnerships between SOS families, youths in youth facilities/youth care programmes, youth care co-workers and the community. He/She forges strong links with like-minded and complementary organisations and represents the organisation in local NGO networks and advocacy initiatives. The village director assures effective co-operation with the local media (so that the organisation’s aims and objectives are continuously promoted) and represents the organisation’s interests as well as child and youth care expertise (integrated approach) to the local authorities. He/She ensures appropriate accessibility of village facilities to the neighbouring communities.

· Contributing to the development of the National Association:The village director learns from other SOS Children’s Villages and shares his/her own experience. He/She participates actively in national planning and evaluation processes and actively contributes to the further development of the organisation’s policies. The village director contributes to local and national child and youth care initiatives and contributes to national advocacy efforts where appropriate. He/She seeks recognition of the SOS family model. He/She helps fundraising staff understand how the SOS Children’s Village assists children and families and provides background information, text and photo material, supports them to realise fundraising plans and familiarises village co-workers on the importance of fundraising.

· Learning and development opportunities: Every village director assumes responsibility for his/her own professional development. He/she gets support from the national director who offers learning and development opportunities based on the village directors’ individual wishes and needs and the strategic goals of the organisation (e.g. secondments/cross trainings/job rotation, promotion, participation in planning, strategy and policy processes etc.). The basis for the village director’s development is his/her mid-term individual development plan. Support offers help the village director in coming to terms with demanding situations and derive learning opportunities (e.g. personal and team counselling, networking/peer group exchange etc.). The village director attends at least one ongoing training every year.

Must criteria

• · Gender: The position is open to women and men.
• · Education: at least a degree in social sciences is highly recommended (management/leadership, HRM, educational sciences, psychology, social work etc.)
• · Experience: leadership experience at a senior management/executive level, preferentially within the NGO or public sector; minimum three years practical experience in one or more of the following functional areas: child and/or youth care, community development, human resource management, psychology, education
• · Health: Good physical and mental health
• · Readiness to live within an SOS Children’s Village
• · Willingness to make a long-term commitment
• · Strong interest in working with children and youths
• · Knowledge of local language and culture
• · Readiness to obtain the necessary SOS specific competences through a professional orientation and basic training process and ongoing development

Ideal Competence Profile

Note: This ideal competence profile is based on the Village Director HRM Concept. It serves as an orientation for recruitment and development opportunities. It is not expected that a new village director’s capability profile (to be determined during recruitment) exactly matches this ideal competence profile when he/she starts to work for the organisation. An entry profile for the position should be defined (including the required must criteria and non-negotiable competences) in order to compare it with the applicant’s capability profile. Nevertheless, the village director is supposed to develop towards this ideal competence profile thanks to the experience, leadership and guidance of the national director and the learning & development opportunities.

Professional Competences:

• Management competences: skills and expertise in HR/HRD; ability of strategic thinking, planning and budgeting; financial management skills; basic knowledge in fundraising and marketing; network-based way of thinking
• Child and youth care competences: pedagogical and psychological knowledge and skills; basic comprehension of child, youth and family development; knowledge of national child welfare and child care legislation; familiar with and aware of children’s rights and child protection; capability to promote child and youth activities; experience in cooperating with local and national child and youth care projects of governmental and NGO initiatives
• SOS Children’s Village competences: knowledge and comprehension of the task areas of SOS mothers and youth care co-workers; profound knowledge about the SOS organisation and its core principles (vision-mission-values, policies, local and global development); familiar with the integrated approach policy

Social Competences:

• Leadership: Ability of building effective teams, keeping high performance and generate commitment to organisational goals; ability to delegate; knowledge and skills in conflict management; communication skills
• Teamwork skills: ability to build interpersonal relationships
• Intercultural, gender and diversity sensitivity: respects and appreciates different cultures, religions and social backgrounds and is capable of a gender sensitive approach
• Emphatic and active listener
• Community development and facilitation skills
• Methodical competences:
• Capability for participative approaches
• Monitoring and evaluation skills
• Hands-on computer software skills (E-Mail, Word)
• Good presentation and project management skills

Personal Competencies :

• Strong interest in child and youth care
• Upright, stable and mature personality
• Self-management skills (including the capability to continuously reflect upon own behaviour and gain learning experiences for the future)
• Ability to keep a good work-life balance (including stress management skills)
• Perseverance, patience and understanding
• Willingness to learn and develop
• Capacity to taking pressure
• Flexibility
• Knowledge of English