International Team Leader – Local Economic Development / Market & Private Sector Development (80-100 %)

Caritas Switzerland is a leading relief organisation in international development cooperation and humanitarian aid with the primary goal to fight and eradicate poverty worldwide. Focusing on income generation, migration and climate change, Caritas Switzerland’s International Cooperation Programme is implemented with presences in 15 countries across the globe. Mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and in cooperation with its consortium partner NIRAS International Consulting, Caritas Switzerland implements the project “Local Economic Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina” with the overall goal to create new economic opportunities and increase incomes for men and women. The project facilitates local actors such as municipalities, the private sector and civil society to jointly develop strategies and implement projects that will improve the comparative advantages of localities and the framework conditions for businesses. Caritas Switzerland is recruiting an experienced Team Leader to lead the Project Implementation Unit and steer the project in close collaboration with national stakeholders. The Team Leader will ensure the achievement of the project’s objective and secure the effective coordination and cooperation with national and international partners.

Your duties

• Overall responsibility to steer and manage the project operationally and strategically
• Effective human resources management of project staff and external experts
• Secure result-oriented project management ensuring the project’s overall objectives and its outputs and outcomes are achieved
• Skillfully applying project cycle management, the Team Leader ensures sound communication and financial, administrative and human resources management
• Coordinate inputs from the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) ensuring outputs are delivered with highest quality standards and timely reported to the client
• Apply adaptive project management as systematic process for continually improving management and implementation
• Prepare yearly project plans of operation in participatory processes with key project stakeholders
• Set-up and steer the Grant Mechanism for beneficiary localities
• Prepare meetings of the project Steering Committee and act as its secretariat
• Actively promote synergies and harmonise activities with other Swiss projects and relevant projects of other donors
• Actively engage in coordination with stakeholders for concerted policy influencing
• Monitor relevant changes and developments in the context and propose project adaptations as needed in order to ensure its effectiveness

Our requirements

• Relevant higher education in the field of economy, political economy, political science or similar
• At least 8 years of project-relevant work experience preferably in local economic development (LED) or private sector development or in related thematic development areas such as Market System Development (MSD), development of small- and mid-sized enterprises (MSE), income generation, access to finance for business development, local governance and policy influencing
• Experience in managing multi-stakeholder processes, public private dialogue, private sector engagement
• Professional experience in BiH or the Western Balkans region is an advantage
• Experience in managing teams in development projects; strong entrepreneurial skills and managerial know-how including result-oriented and adaptive management; proficient in strategic planning; excellent human resources, financial and project cycle management skills; strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills
• Experience in working with both public sector and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and promoting their involvement
• Experience in conflict sensitive project management, gender mainstreaming, governance, and social inclusion
• Knowledge of environmental aspects of local economic development
• Strong communication, presentation and negotiation skills
• Excellent command of English; knowledge of local languages (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian) is an asset