TCDC Executive Director

Do you want to take the lead in further developing the centre as a Pan African Leadership Development Centre and actively support efforts and ambitions to foster an “African People’s University”?
Do you thrive on working closely with great leaders – both internally and externally?
You might be our new Executive Director!

The Executive Director (ED) is overall responsible for leadership, management and development of TCDC. Tasks are carried out in close consultation and coordination with the centre’s Leadership Team, Management Forum, Partnership Board, staff and relevant ActionAid federation stakeholders. Of the main tasks, the Executive Director will take the lead in further developing the centre as a Pan African Leadership Development Centre as part of the Africans Rising Network.

The Position, Responsibilities and Tasks

Strategic leadership of TCDC

You are expected to foster a joint strategic vision for what TCDC is becoming alongside the Partnership Board to ensure TCDC is a sustainable and proactive, strategic capacity development partner to ActionAid and African Civil Societies within the field of Governance, CSO Leadership, Development and Organising. You will:

• Be accountable for delivering on the current 5-year Organizational Strategy and responsible for developing the next 5-year (2022-2026) TCDC strategy, aligned with AAI and AADK strategies.
• Be responsible for convening and reporting to the Partnership Board
• Develop partnerships with civil society organisations, movements, colleges, higher education institutions and other relevant organizations; and provide a breeding ground for new partnerships in harmony with TCDC’s mission and strategic direction.

TCDC Manager

The Executive Director leads a sustainable and effective organisation based on motivated and committed staff. You are expected to:

• Provide overall leadership and management based on participation, clear sharing of power, inclusion, dialogue and transparency.
• Stimulate a culture of highly motivated & committed people, professionalism, cooperation and accountability in the whole organisation at all levels.
• Support the Directors of Operations and Programmes to execute the TCDC strategies and guide and supervise middle managers and staff
• Overall responsible for the financial sustainability of the Centre.
• Initiate and supervise TCDC’s programme development in accordance with changes in the organisation and in the external environment, e.g. developments and trends in leadership of progressive civil society organisations, movements and networks as well as AA countries’ needs.
• Ensure that TCDC operates in compliance with the Government Agreement between Denmark and Tanzania and with any pertinent legislation, regulations, and rules incl. AADK’s/AAI’s policies. It includes overseeing of financial management and budgeting procedures, HR management and Reporting in close cooperation with the Directors; the Executive Director has the overall employment and disciplinary authority of these staff members and has the overall responsibility for safety or security issues.
• Be a visible leader to the staff of TCDC, engaging with the staff in alignment with the core values of TCDC and AADK.

TCDC Representative

TCDC benefits financially and strategically from a strong image as a reliable and relevant partner to civil society in Africa. You will:

• Represent the interests of TCDC in relevant fora and promote good relations and dialogue with development partners, media, organisations, and movements to ensure increased visibility of TCDC.
• Build and maintain relations with government authorities and institutions in Tanzania and beyond (i.e. EAC, SADC, AU etc.)
• Perform ceremonial duties as per demand.
• Represent TCDC in all relevant fora in relation to local community requests.
• Represent TCDC at the three Strategic Cooperation Levels as per the AAK-TCDC MOU.

Fundraiser & Business Developper

We expect TCDC to be financially sustainable and grow its partner and client base. You will therefore:

• Ensure the development of a funding strategy for TCDC; including donor scoping, development of high-quality proposals and ensuring effective implementation and reporting of externally funded proposals.
• Build strategic relationship with potential official aid agencies, foundations and other high value donors.
• Ensure that TCDC participation in different fora contributes to the financial sustainability of the Centre by advocating for the services offered by the Centre.
• Ensure that fundraising initiatives are coordinated with AADK Fundraising task force and AAI fundraising team.
• Ensure a strong value proposition to clients, matching the available facilities and opportunities for further business development with the needs of partners and clients.

The Executive Director has 2 reportees – Operations Director and Programs Director – refers to AADK International Director and is accountable to the TCDC Partnership Board.

Qualifications

As minimum requirements, the Executive Director is expected to have:

• A master's degree in social science or in another relevant field
• Minimum 10 years working experience of which at least 5 years in a management position incl. people management – preferably with responsibility of middle managers
• Solid experience in and sound knowledge of governance, leadership, accountability and progressive civil society and social movements
• Robust experience in strategy development and training management
• Proven strategic, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Comprehensive working experience from an African context and strong relations with civil society networks in Africa and globally

Furthermore, to fill this position, you are:

• A team player, results oriented, and clear decision maker with strong analytical skills
• Inspiring and inspired by meeting people
• Able to demonstrate differentiated leadership styles
• Fluency in English. Proficiency in Swahili is a strong advantage

We strongly expect that you can demonstrate:

• Strong communication skills as well as flexible and adaptive work style
• Strong intercultural and social competencies with a good sense of diplomacy

It is a prerequisite that you are culturally sensitive while ensuring visible leadership – you appreciate cooperation also when the individual has a different background and approach than you; and you are open to feedback and to share power with a strong sense of purpose. You are visionary and lead by an innovative, positive, and strategic mindset that sees opportunities rather than limitations - for you and for others.

AADK offers

• A 3-year appointment without upper work limits but with high flexibility, so that a healthy balance between private- family and work life is possible;
• A comprehensive compensation package where salary and employment conditions are in accordance with the Terms and Conditions for AADK staff posted abroad – Grade F;
• Pension scheme is part of the package;
• A broad, professional network of passionate, international colleagues;
• A young, informal and dynamic working environment characterized by a modern management culture and cooperation across the organization.

You can expect international travel activity up to 30 days/year.

About TCDC

TCDC (MS Training Center for Development Cooperation) is part of ActionAid Denmark (AADK) and as such, ActionAid International (AAI) but caters to a variety of civil society organisations, movements and networks based on the vision of “A Civil Society actively initiating, leading, sustaining and succeeding in popular struggles for a more just, democratic and sustainable world.”

TCDC’s mission is to build the capacity of leaders of present and tomorrow’s political struggles through:

• Training in democratic governance and leadership to enhance knowledge, skills and motivation/confidence for civic and political action, solidarity building and networking
• Providing a creative, open and safe space for networking, reflection, knowledge sharing, and organising individual and collective action for a more just democratic and sustainable world
• Innovative resource mobilisation approaches for sustaining capacity building for leaders of popular struggles

TCDC operates as a social enterprise aspiring to be an innovative knowledge and learning lab, offering fit-for-purpose capacity building in a green and sustainable learning environment.

TCDC’s program portfolio includes a large number of training courses within Leadership, Governance, Programme and Project Management as well as an Intercultural Program with Kiswahili as the core element. All training courses can be customised to suit clients’ and partners’ needs and can be offered at the centre or another location. TCDC also offers Bachelor and Master programmes on Leadership, Governance, and Development. More about courses here.
TCDC is engaged in a number of long-term partnerships based on training and learning interventions and processes, project implementation, as well as consultancies. Partners include national and international civil society organisations, movements and networks as well as universities, higher education institutes, and others.
In addition, TCDC is in great demand as a convening centre for conferences, seminars, workshops, and meetings. More about facilities here.

TCDC’s structure includes two divisions: Programmes and Operations incl. Convening. There is a total permanent staff of around 45 and more than 50 associate trainers. Many support functions are carried out by external service providers, e.g. transport and housekeeping.

For more information, you can visit TCDC website: http://mstcdc.or.tz/.

AADK fights poverty by promoting the political empowerment of the world’s poor and supports long-term development work, education programmes and campaigns as well as cross border exchange of experience and knowledge between people. We aim to help organise ‘communities of action’ in Denmark and globally that can take up the struggle against injustice, poverty and discrimination, with a special focus on young women and men who live in poverty and exclusion. Our mission is to reduce inequality within and among countries, in order to create a just and sustainable world, where all people live in freedom and dignity, without poverty and oppression.

AADK is an inclusive workplace which welcomes a diversity of people and ideas. As an equal opportunity employer, AADK invite everybody with relevant qualifications, independently of any identity markers (such as race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, social or economic status or any other), to apply.

Applications

Deadline for application: Sunday 24th November at midnight (Central European Time). 

You can get more information about the position through Andreas M. Andersen, TCDC Director of Operation, [email protected], or Julie Koch, AADK International Director, [email protected].

Interviews are expected to be conducted on or around December 3rd, second interview on December 10th, and final interviews on December 13th afternoon. The interview process will include an assignment and, should you be selected for a second round, you can expect participating in an assessment process around your personal profile.

Start date: April 1st, 2020.
Location: Arusha, Tanzania