THE OPPORTUNITY
As the leader of Plan International Kenya’s humanitarian efforts, you will spearhead strategic, technical, and operational initiatives in preparedness, emergency response, and resilience-building programs. Your role will ensure Plan International Kenya is comprehensively equipped to proactively mitigate risks, strengthen readiness, and execute effective responses to crises, while simultaneously fostering long-term community resilience and advancing climate adaptation and nexus-focused programming across all initiatives.
Additionally, you will enhance PICK’s institutional capacity to implement excellence-driven, gender-transformative initiatives within humanitarian contexts, advocate for climate-resilient strategies across diverse sectors, spearhead integrated nexus planning and execution, and strategically position PICK within national, regional, and global coordination frameworks.
You will serve as PICK’s representative in national humanitarian and disaster risk reduction coordination forums, spearhead donor engagement efforts, and mobilize resources for both humanitarian initiatives and climate-resilience projects. Additionally, you will assist the Country Office leadership in ensuring alignment between country-level response strategies and Plan International’s Global Humanitarian Strategy, Climate Change Adaptation Framework, and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus principles.
Oversee and implement comprehensive strategies to streamline operations, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. Develop and maintain robust policies and procedures to enhance efficiency and compliance across all departments. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify areas for improvement and drive continuous process optimization. Lead initiatives to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and high performance. Monitor departmental performance metrics to assess progress and implement corrective actions as needed. Manage stakeholder relationships to ensure transparency, trust, and alignment with business goals. Provide mentorship and guidance to team members to cultivate leadership and professional growth.
Lead the alignment and integration of Plan Kenya’s humanitarian, resilience, and climate strategies with international best practices, spearheading nexus programming, policy advocacy, and the safeguarding of girls. Facilitate collaboration among multisectoral stakeholders, cultivate a prepared emergency response team, and uphold rigorous standards for timely analysis, reporting, and accountability.
Design and manage humanitarian and resilience initiatives in crisis-affected regions, ensuring interventions are gender-transformative, climate- and conflict-sensitive, and inclusive. Lead evaluations and response strategies, enhance disaster risk reduction (DRR), early action, and climate-resilient livelihoods, and coordinate high-quality, multisectoral implementation. Advocate for protection, resilience, climate justice, and gender equality throughout all programs.
Lead the development and implementation of emergency preparedness strategies by conducting thorough risk analyses, establishing early warning systems, and crafting detailed contingency plans, including regular simulations to test response effectiveness. Ensure seamless coordination among stakeholders, maintain surge capacity to handle escalating demands, and guarantee procurement readiness to secure necessary resources without delay. Offer expert technical guidance during crises to facilitate swift and informed decision-making, while consistently evaluating national disaster risk assessments to refine and optimize emergency response protocols.
To uphold compliance with international standards and donor expectations, this role will verify that programs align with established benchmarks while reinforcing accountability through structured feedback systems. Additionally, it will foster continuous improvement by facilitating real-time learning, capturing best practices, and maintaining comprehensive documentation. Strong monitoring and evaluation (MERL) frameworks will be implemented to systematically track program impact, and routine assessments will be conducted to refine strategies in response to identified gaps, emerging challenges, and key insights.
Support fundraising initiatives and cultivate donor relationships by developing strategic approaches, crafting proposals, and fostering partnerships; acquire grants, bolster external connections, and serve as PICK’s representative in coordination forums to amplify visibility and strengthen influence.
Enhance partner capabilities in emergency response, disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and integrated nexus programming while offering technical guidance and ensuring program quality. Additionally, advocate for and promote locally driven preparedness and response initiatives.
Oversee humanitarian and resilience teams by establishing transparent expectations while cultivating an environment rooted in gender equality, continuous learning, accountability, and excellence. Strengthen organizational surge capacity preparedness and prioritize staff wellbeing during critical incidents.
Oversee budgets, financial planning, and grant compliance for humanitarian and resilience initiatives, ensuring precise and prompt expenditure tracking and reporting in collaboration with Finance.
Plan International maintains a comprehensive global framework for safeguarding, including robust policies on preventing sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, as well as gender equality and inclusion principles, implementation standards, and guidelines relevant to your role. In this capacity, you will be responsible for ensuring compliance and enforcing adherence to these policies among staff and associates within your designated area.
You will be entrusted with assuming additional tasks within your defined scope of work at the discretion of your supervisor as needed.
What we are looking for:
We are seeking candidates with a Master’s Degree in Humanitarian Studies, Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Management, International Development, Public Policy, or a related field. Alternatively, applicants holding a Bachelor’s Degree with more than a decade of progressively responsible experience in a relevant discipline will also be considered.
A minimum of eight to ten years of progressive professional experience in humanitarian response, resilience-building, disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate programming, or nexus initiatives is required, with at least five years dedicated to senior leadership responsibilities.
We are seeking a candidate with a proven track record of leading emergency response efforts in challenging environments, including droughts, conflict zones, refugee contexts, and disease outbreaks.
You must possess robust technical expertise, demonstrating a deep comprehension of key principles and methodologies pertinent to the role.
Climate adaptation and resilience frameworks encompass strategic methodologies and tools designed to enhance an organization’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. These frameworks provide structured guidance to assess vulnerabilities, identify risks, and implement measures that strengthen long-term sustainability and operational continuity. They typically integrate risk management principles, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive planning to address both immediate and future climate-related challenges. Compliance with established standards and collaboration with cross-functional teams are often essential components of effective framework implementation.
DRR, early warning and early action systems are essential for mitigating risks and enhancing resilience to disasters. They provide timely alerts and proactive measures to reduce potential impacts on communities and infrastructure. These systems rely on advanced technologies, data analytics, and coordinated responses to ensure effective disaster preparedness and rapid intervention when needed.
Humanitarian principles, as outlined by the Sphere and Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), serve as the foundational framework guiding ethical and effective humanitarian response. These principles ensure accountability, uphold the dignity of affected populations, and promote the delivery of principled and quality assistance. Adherence to these standards is essential for maintaining trust, transparency, and the highest levels of professional conduct in all humanitarian operations.
HDP Nexus, complemented by its integrated programming capabilities, serves as a robust platform for data management and processing. This solution streamlines workflows through advanced tools and frameworks, facilitating seamless integration with existing systems. It demands proficiency in data engineering, scripting languages, and big data technologies to optimize performance and scalability. Users must also possess strong problem-solving skills and the ability to collaborate effectively within cross-functional teams. Responsibilities include designing data pipelines, ensuring data integrity, and implementing efficient processing solutions to meet evolving business needs.
We seek an individual with a demonstrated track record in cultivating donor relationships and securing resources.
You must possess experience in representing organizations within national-level coordination structures.
We seek a professional with exceptional analytical abilities, strong problem-solving capabilities, excellent communication skills, and adept negotiation expertise.
An accomplished professional with a proven track record in team leadership and strategic partner development.
Qualifications
BA/BSc/HND , MBA/MSc/MA
Experience Required
8 - 10 years
