Director of Sub Region, Middle Eastern, Eastern and Southern Africa

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 know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. 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.

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

The Opportunity

We are currently recruiting for a Director of Sub Region in our Middle Eastern, Eastern and Southern Africa (MEESA) region. The Director of Sub-Region is accountable towards coherent and consistent implementation of Plan International’s purpose and ambition across the sub-region, in line with Plan’s values-based leadership, underpinned by feminist principles. They ensure quality, aligned strategies are developed and resourced for all countries in the region and programmes delivered with the expected impact. As a member of the regional hub management team and of the regional leadership team, they will have specific accountabilities to drive elements of the regional hub plan.

Accountabilities

Leadership, People and Culture

• Accountable for overall delivery of Plan International’s strategic goals, meeting Plan International Standards, and ensuring alignment to PI purpose and values in a portfolio of countries through line management of Country Directors.
• Accountable to ensure that the overall long term workforce requirements for the sub region are defined, overall talent, in line with capabilities needed, is identified and actively managed; and that the region has sight of the requirements, plans and talent to deliver longer term objectives of the region.
• Be a role model in driving positive culture change across the organisation, consciously embracing, and personifying the values-based leadership framework under pinned by feminist principles, holding self and others accountable for behaviors, drawing on strengths and reflecting on areas of self-development.
• Be intentionally aware of the impact and power, purposeful and visible about changing the organisational culture and our internal power dynamics that empower teams to live and participate in the culture as a group

Strategy and Business Management

• Ensure that Country Offices have ambitious, impactful and achievable country strategies that are aligned to the global strategy and connected to other countries’ and are driving future focused change in country office structures, capabilities and culture to ensure Plan remains relevant and sustainable and delivers increased impact in a rapidly evolving region.
• Raise Plan International’s profile through effective influencing and advocacy, working with the regional influencing team in line with the Pan African Advocacy Strategy. Being an ambassador for the subregion and the region and representing Plan International at appropriate regional events and on regional bodies.
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks, resolve recurrent/systematic challenges within the sub-region and across region.
• Lead on specific region-wide priorities and initiatives and contribute to regional wide decision making.
• Build and maintain effective relationships within the Regional Leadership Team and with the Global Hub and National Organization representatives to ensure courageous and innovative solutions to challenges are taken forward.
• Build influential relationships internally across Plan International to strengthen a culture of collaboration, resource sharing, partnership, and learning within the region and at the global level. Build relationships externally with peers in other organisations and representatives in the region to create opportunities to further Plan’s mission and strengthen Plan’s reputation.

Corporate Governance

• Oversight on performance on programme delivery and compliance, across the sub-region, against Plan International’s policies and management standards, key performance indicators and legal/ regulatory requirements.

Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion

• Ensure 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.

While these points are framed as accountabilities, the Director of Sub-Region will support country directors to identify and resolve challenges and work with other parts of the organization to protect countries from excessive or unmanageable requirements.

We are seeking an experienced leader with a strong cultural understanding and a proven track record in managing complex international organisations. Skilled in coaching high-performing teams, business planning, donor compliance, and financial management you bring a deep knowledge of programming in challenging environments, with expertise in geopolitical, socio-economic, and humanitarian contexts affecting child poverty. Strong networking and negotiation skills, effectively working with governments, NGOs, and private entities.

Please follow this link for a full role profile; DSR MEESA 2025.docx