HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

HRM

MEDICAL AID WHERE IT'S NEEDED MOST. INDEPENDENT.NEUTRAL. IMPARTIAL.

WELCOME Thank you for your interest in becoming the new Head of Department – HRM, of Médecins Sans Frontières. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent, medical, emergency relief organisation that provides assistance to people worldwide, regardless of their background, religion or political convictions. We aim to save lives and to offer medical care to victims of disasters, wars and epidemics. Working together with local staff, we give direct support to the population. We appeal to those in power, including governments and international organisations, and speak out about the abuses we encounter in the course of our work. MSF coordinates operations through collaborations between global offices. ‘Artsen zonder Grenzen Nederland’ (MSF-Holland) has a partnership with offices in the UK and Germany. This partnership, known as ‘MSF Operational Centre Amsterdam’ (MSF-OCA), operates medical humanitarian interventions in about 25 countries. Annually, MSF-OCA deploys approximately 1,000 international staff and employs 10,000 national staff. The number of staff in the HRM Department is 55 and the OCA Field Operational budget is 260 M Euro, with the MSF Amsterdam HO Budget equating to 40 M Euro, making a total of 300 M Euro for the combined field and Amsterdam office. MSF is looking for a Head of HR Department who comes with a strong background and attitude to lead necessary change and help shape the MSF of the future. MSF OCAs field operations

Head of Department HRM Médecins Sans Frontières, HollandDecember 2017 3

have grown significantly in the past years. This requires a well-established HRM Department with a Department Head who develops an HRM Vision and Strategy for the future and brings focus and energy to the HRM Department for its essential role in recruitment of field staff and supporting field offices and staff. We are looking for a Head of HRM Department who is innovative, strategic, flexible and an excellent leader for people and in processes. (S)he is eager to drive the change processes that are necessary for translating the growth of the organisation and its expanding network into a staffing vision, HRM policies and procedures. The candidate has the ability to participate, manage and act in a complex international MSF context. Dynamism, energy, innovation, commitment to MSF’ operations and what it needs to work in the most challenging circumstances, is a must for the new Head of HRM Department. In return you will be guaranteed an exciting, challenging and rewarding experience within a progressive and forward-thinking organisation that’s making a real difference. If you are interested in this unique role and would welcome the opportunity to have an informal conversation, please contact our advising consultant, Yolanda Weldring, on +44 (0) 1865 403327 / yweldring@oxfordhr.co.uk or Joe Beahan (Research Associate) on MSFHolland_HRM@oxfordhr.co.uk.

Our Mission

MSF intervenes in emergencies and crisis situations, to relieve human suffering from unmet medical needs and to create a space for humanity.

We work to provoke a social and political response that meets the essential needs, and respects and protects the dignity, of people in danger. We strive to innovate and incite change through our medical action, its “témoignage” and its active reflection on the situation of populations in danger.

Our Vision

MSF works to assist populations caught up in humanitarian crises where there is a high level of medical need. We make strenuous efforts to respond to more major humanitarian and medical crises, and increase the scale and effectiveness of our individual responses, while prioritizing emergencies in all contexts.

Our Programmes

All our programmes have a direct and beneficial impact on the lives and health of the populations we seek to help. We aim to maximize the impact of our medical action by speaking out and using advocacy, in order to persuade or provoke governments and other authorities to implement positive changes in the contexts where we work.

Where We Intervene

Where we intervene will continue to be determined by the nature of a given context and the needs it generates, encompassing:

• Armed conflict, where we can have an impact on high levels of mortality and morbidity;

• Humanitarian crisis caused by violence, abuse, oppression, social exclusion, exploitation and/or malign neglect, which is leading to significant unmet health needs that we are able to address;

• Humanitarian crisis caused by violence, abuse, oppression, social exclusion, exploitation and/or malign neglect, which is leading to a lower level of unmet health needs but in which the scale of the humanitarian suffering justifies our presence;

• Medical crisis where a particular disease or health-related issue is causing significant levels of mortality and/or morbidity, where the existing response capacity is inadequate, and where MSF can have a short-term impact as well as potentially bringing about wider-reaching change.

Emergency Response

Rapid and effective response to emergencies continues to be our core business. Our interventions are mainly medical but will also, when needed, integrate broader public health measures such as water and sanitation, shelter and provision of non-food items.

Integrated Approach

Our medical programmes continue to respond directly to the unmet health needs of the populations we serve. In most contexts, this requires an integrated approach, combining a spectrum of

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ABOUT US

Head of Department HRM Médecins Sans Frontières, HollandDecember 2017 5

Leadership & People Management Development is an important initiative to improve support to our staff in order to be able to manage increased scope and volumes of activities, while dealing with higher levels of complexity.

Leadership At MSF

Leading organizations is a vital element in humanitarian operations and requires more than good management. Good leadership can lead to more effective humanitarian response while poor leadership can often create delays, confusion and missed opportunities.

Here at MSF, we view leadership as a combination of three functions: defining a direction for humanitarian response; developing a strategy to achieve this; and implementing the strategy through influencing teams.

Where Does Our Development Framework Stem From?

The set of values and behaviours that constitute the framework were created by MSF and resulted from a collaborative construction process which involved staff widely across missions, headquarters and partner sections, involving over 200 people in total.

Definition

The terms leadership and people management are used interchangeably at MSF, but have been provided with the following definitions:

Leadership Providing a clear vision, strategy, guidance and objectives for the humanitarian response; building a consensus that brings all workers

LEADERSHIP & PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

together around that vision and objectives, both in the field as in headquarters; and finding ways of collectively realizing the vision for the benefit of the affected population, often in challenging and hostile environments.

People Management Responsibility for planning, organizing, monitoring to determine and accomplish the objectives, as well as to implement plans by managing people and resources effectively and facilitating and creating the conditions for teams and individuals to implement projects and plans.

Our 5 Core Values

The Leadership & People Management framework contains 5 core values, Respect, Integrity, Humanity, Accountability, and Empowerment, each defined with a set of related behaviours. In addition to the 5 values, a concept adopted alongside the framework was that of collaboration.

Collaboration sits at the centre of the framework as an imperative to success. It is not considered a value, but rather the means through which we want to work within MSF, encouraging people to work together; share and discuss ideas and asking for and being open to contributions from others.

Collaboration is viewed as not just a one-time event, it is a process that continues and builds over time. The more we collaborate, the more significant the working relationships become, and the more positive results we will see in MSF as an organisation.

OUR STRATEGY

Moving Forward

We will strive for an MSF movement that ensures operational strength through diversity, that is financially sound and that is accountable to beneficiaries, donors and employees.

We will focus on our effectiveness in order to maintain our positive impact in the field. We will prioritize initiatives which improve MSF’s operational impact, its accountability and it’s decision-making. We will identify, initiate and implement projects to improve our efficiency and which contribute towards the overall financial sustainability of MSF.

We will be an increasingly diverse, international and inclusive organisation, enhancing our relevance in a changing global context.

Our Strategic Plan provides a framework to guide our decisions to 2019, representing the key areas of priority where results are expected:

• Improvement in OCA’s access to populations in need and acceptance by authorities and populations in our operational contexts.

• A continuing improvement in the delivery of our medical programmes; in particular we aim to achieve medical programmes that are more effective and more accessible to patients and communities, as well as more responsive to their needs.

• Improvement in the acute emergency response, and assistance of refugee populations, provided by both OCA and the wider humanitarian system.

• Recruitment and retention of sufficient numbers of qualified, appropriately supported and well-equipped staff.

• An improved support model that offers appropriate, timely services and enables our staff to be field- and needs-driven.

• A decisive contribution to a financially sound and accountable MSF movement, which remains operationally strong and diverse.

• An increasingly diverse, international and inclusive OCA, enhancing our relevance in a changing global

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ICT

OUR STRUCTURE

Comms

Fundraising

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Deputy Dir. Operations

Facilities

Human Resources

Logistics

Finance

Learning and dev

PMO

General Director

Director Projects, Resources and Org.Delegate Director Director Operations

Operational Mngrs

Emergency Desk

Deputy Med Dir

Deputy Med Dir

PHD / Amsterdam

PHD/Manson Unit UK

Medical Director

PHD / Amsterdam

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MSF OCA ORGANIGRAM

Head of Department HRM Médecins Sans Frontières, HollandDecember 2017

OCA

Board Canada Board UK Board Germany Board Holland

OCA Council

OCA MT

MT Canada MT UK MT Germany MT Holland

GD GD GD GD

GD

MT

General Director

Management Team

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Title Head of Department – HRM

Salary €78,000 + 30 days holiday and premium free pension

Location Amsterdam, Holland

Contract Initially offered on a 3-year contract, with an option of renewal

ROLE PROFILE

Responsibilities

The HoD HRM is expected to focus on enhancing the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the HR support delivered to the organisation. This consists of process improvements, implementation of systems and tools, improvements in the department’s organizational design, establishing consistent and transparent governance and communications, and stronger team work to help realize a more service-oriented department.

The HoD HRM will need to demonstrate strong leadership skills to develop and manage improvement strategies, and a high level of versatility to successfully shift gears between operational, tactical and strategic activities in all contexts, be it the Dutch home society, the OCA partnership and/or the MSF international environment.

One of the key challenges of the HRM function is not only to recruit, select, match, train, deploy and retain an ever- growing number of staff to man our field projects, but also to ensure that all MSF-OCA staff consistently meet the more demanding requirements of their roles in difficult and complex contexts.

The Head of the HRM department (HoD HRM) operates in a matrix organisation and acts as the link between the senior MSF-OCA HR platform and the MSF-OCA Management Team. The MSF-OCA HR platform comprises HoDs HRM of MSF-UK and MSF-Germany as well as MSF-OCA Head of Learning & Development.

In conjunction with the MSF-OCA HR platform, the HoD HRM drives the implementation of the staff and support goals as defined in OCA’s Strategic Plan for the period 2015-2019. The HoD HRM is therefore comfortable in seeking and securing support at various levels in the organisation. The HoD HRM has the support of a strong senior HR department management team, which include 2 deps Head of Department, Office and Field, 4 HR Advisors Ops Desk and a coordinator Psycho Social Care.

The HoD HRM is a member of the international HR Platform and as such delivers a significant contribution to the design of the international HR strategy for the entire MSF movement.

11Head of Department HRM Médecins Sans Frontières, HollandDecember 2017

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We seek an Head of Department HRM who shares our passion for our important work. A bridge-builder with excellent problem-solving skills, well versed in conceptual and analytical thinking and capable of translating concepts to practical implementations.

A natural leader with a drive for strategic focus and continuous improvements, you will be an experienced HR leader with extensive experience within HR and people management, ideally gained within an NGO. A coach for peers and staff members, you will also be expected to be comfortable with frequent-but-short travel abroad to other MSF offices or field projects and have a strong understanding and affinity with MSF’s purpose.

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in a senior management position with comparable responsibilities, preferably as an HR Director or a member of a Management Team.

• Bachelor or Master in Business Administration, with preferred specialisation in HRM.

• Knowledge of and experience with HRM in a highly dynamic international work environment and/or matrix organisation.

• Clear vision and solid experience with process engineering, organisational design and change management.

• Good negotiating and influencing skills.

• Outstanding communication skills as well as an excellent command of the English language.

Desirable

• Experience working in a charity / NGO in international development sector.

• Active knowledge of Dutch or French will be considered an asset. Attributes

• Charismatic leader

• Strategic, focused, structured planner

• Clear, original and creative thinker

• Strong motivational leadership skills

• Natural collaborator

• Solutions orientated

Skills

• Ability to set and communicate clear, measurable goals and expectations.

• Effective decisive management and business planning skills, with the ability to manage and prioritise work to deadlines and to achieve results with and through others

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to build relationships across all levels and teams

• Excellent presentation skills and written and spoken English

• Ability to work internationally and in a diverse and multi-cultural environment

• Good negotiation skills, with the ability to persuade effectively and deliver convincing arguments

Equality Statement

MSF Holland recognises the benefits of a diverse workforce. All employees are expected to be committed to promoting the principles of equality and diversity when undertaking their duties.

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w/c 29th January

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HOW TO APPLY

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this role, please find the role on our website, click on the “Apply” button, where you will be prompted to upload your CV, together with a supporting statement.

Please ensure that your submission fully addresses the appointment criteria in the person specification.

You should provide the names, positions, organisations and contact telephone numbers of two referees, one of whom should be your current employer. References will only be taken once your express permission has been granted.

We would be grateful if you could also let us know if you require any special provision as a result of any disability should you be called for interview.

Finally, please ensure that you have included your mobile and home telephone numbers, as well as dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the indicative timetable:

Selection Process

All candidates will receive feedback within four working days of the closing date. Shortlisted candidates may be required to undertake an assessment prior to the final interview.

Queries

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please contact: Yolanda Weldring through MSFHolland_HRM@oxfordhr.co.uk.

Timetable*

*These dates may be subject to change and applicants will be advised in advance should this happen.

First Panel interviews at HQ MSF

Preliminary interviews with Oxford HR

Final Panel Interviews at HQ MSF

w/c 29th January

January 30th - February 3rd

w/c 5th February

Head of Department HRM Médecins Sans Frontières, HollandDecember 2017

Offers

w/c 12th February

OXFORD

The Old Music Hall 106-108 Cowley Road Oxford OX4 1JE

United Kingdom

+44 (0) 1865 403 298

www.oxfordhr.co.uk | Company No. 6456325

LONDON

1st Floor, Three Tuns House, 109 Borough High Street, London SE1 1NL

United Kingdom

+44 (0)20 7939 7451