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THE ORGANISATION POSITION CANDIDATE PROFILE PROCEDURE

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Job profile

Member of the Executive Board/COO

9 April 2021 2 / 10


Content

The organisation

Cordaid Governance

Position

COO

Candidate profile

General knowledge and experience COO's experience Personality Terms of employment

Procedure

Contact details

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The organisation

Cordaid

Cordaid and ICCO have joined forces and have continued as a single organisation since

January 2021. It is unique that two of the largest players in the field of international

cooperation in the Netherlands have joined forces. Cordaid is traditionally Catholic, having

emerged from the missionary work of Memisa, among others, and ICCO stems from the

Protestant churches. Bringing together two large international organisations with hundreds of

employees and local offices in the most remote areas of the world is not an easy task. But

ultimately this integration of two organisations should lead to considerable cost savings and

greater efficiency. It is estimated that the new Cordaid will be able to save five to ten million

euros a year, money that will go directly to combating poverty.

Cordaid offers the entire spectrum of humanitarian aid and development cooperation: from

working on resilience for vulnerable communities, to strengthening health care, food and

education, to supporting enterprise and creating economic prospects. The new organisation

focuses on the poorest people in the poorest countries. Cordaid has a total staff complement

of 1150, almost 1000 of whom work abroad, and a turnover of more than 170 million euros.

The Dutch activities are concentrated in The Hague.

https://www.cordaid.org/nl/nieuws/cordaid-en-icco-gaan-samen-in-een-organisatie/

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Governance

Cordaid has a collegial management model of three members: a CEO, COO and CFO. All

members are directors under the articles of association. All the directors intrinsically reflect

the foundation's identity and accompanying values. A single Supervisory Board was formed

from the Supervisory Boards of both organisations. The Supervisory Board recruits, appoints

assesses and dismisses members of the Executive Board, and determines their individual

responsibilities and the division of mandates. The Supervisory Board involves the individual

members of the Executive Board in this process in advance, with the 360-degree feedback

from the other members of the Executive Board serving as input for the assessments.

The Executive Board is responsible for the direction, development, fundraising and

performance of the activities and the results of the organisation. They individually manage

both line and staff departments and monitor their mutual coherence. These line managers are

fully responsible for the performance and control of the activities within the mandate

assigned to them in their field of competence. The Executive Board has collegial final

responsibility, with each director having his own functional responsibility towards the country

directors. The COO bears the country directors' line responsibility. The heads of staff lead the

head office's departments and, functionally, the country organisations. They are responsible

for policymaking, quality, support and consolidation.

The Executive Board consists of a chair with the strategy, external relations, communication,

HR, integrity and institutional and private fundraising portfolios (CEO), a director responsible

for the entire operation in the country organisations and the programmes (COO) and a director

with the finance, ICT, procurement and facility management portfolios. All three directors

play a role in visiting the countries where Cordaid operates.

The current COO has announced his departure, resulting in a vacancy on the Executive Board.

The new COO plays an important role in the transition to a single organisation, both at the

head office and in the country organisations, in conjunction with a move towards

decentralisation in the coming years. Against this background, Cordaid's organisational and

governance model will be evaluated after three years in consultation with the Supervisory

Board. Partly for this reason, the future make-up of the Executive Board will be discussed at

that time. For that reason, the COO will initially be appointed for a period of four years.

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Position

COO

The prospective director will, together with two fellow directors, be collegially responsible

for the entire organisation. Together with his two colleagues, the director plays an important

role in steering the attainment of Cordaid's ambitions. The director is responsible for the

successful operation (both substantively and financially) and further development of the field

offices and head office within Cordaid's mission and preconditions. The director creates a

culture in which taking responsibility and calling each other to account for their

responsibilities and arrangements is a matter of course.

This director will be responsible for all of Cordaid's operations and, consequently, for the

majority of its staff and resources. In addition, the managers of the programmes department,

the operational excellence team and the Global Security Advisor report to this director.

The COO plays a crucial role in shaping the integration and professionalisation of the country

organisations and achieving economies of scale. Close attention will be paid to operational

excellence within the primary process. Reliability, clarity and continuous optimisation of the

process are part of this strategy, with digitisation – part of the CFO's portfolio – being an

important factor for the envisaged changes.

As a portfolio holder, the director is also responsible for safety in the countries where

Cordaid operates. In addition, the director – in coordination with colleagues – develops and

maintains a relevant international external network with key stakeholders who are relevant

to the operation, including other NGOs, public and private cooperation partners.

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The director, together with his two colleagues, is responsible for transparent communication

and interaction with the Supervisory Board and ensures that this takes place in a timely and

complete manner.

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Candidate profile

General knowledge and experience

The following job requirements have been drawn up for the Executive Board as a whole:

• Academic thinking and working level.

• Managerial experience in organisations in positions bearing or sharing final

responsibility, also with remote teams.

• International experience (with working across borders) and working in a multicultural

context.

• Experience with complex internal organisational and cultural change.

• Affinity with development cooperation through work experience in developing countries

and/or NGOs.

• Christian philosophy of life and/or driven by Christian values.

• Fluent in English and working knowledge of French.

• Passion to improve the world, illustrated by a thread through professional and leisure

activities.

• The Executive Board has a diverse make-up.

COO's experience

You have demonstrable experience in designing and implementing transitions in a complex

organisation of professionals. You have gained experience on the question of what should be

organised centrally and what should be decentralised. This experience may have been gained

in the private or a social sector. You have an international scope and can quickly master the

complexities of international development cooperation. You have a sound business

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background, have experience with operational excellence and see opportunities to optimise

processes. You are comfortable with the rapidly changing external environment in which

Cordaid operates and can build up an international network relevant to Cordaid. You are

demonstrably socially involved. With your experience and personality, you are able to quickly

familiarise yourself with the complex issues Cordaid deals with.

Personality

You are a solid director with a keen eye for the risks and safety issues that an organisation

such as Cordaid faces. You set a clear course when it comes to the operation, create focus,

make choices and know how to enthuse others for this. You have implementation power. You

know how to translate Cordaid's strategy into the primary processes in the countries. You are

a people-oriented and enthusiastic manager, who trusts and gives space within the set

framework. You are tenacious in achieving a result for Cordaid in the longer term. You keep

track, delegate easily, make clear arrangements, and ensure a clear prioritisation and division

of responsibilities. You are consistent, can be critical when necessary and take decisions.

You hold others accountable for the results to be achieved and monitor progress. You

function well under pressure and can handle a large workload.

You show empathy, listen well, are genuinely interested in others. You are easily

approachable for employees and ensure that you know what is going on in the countries. You

can put things into perspective, celebrate successes and create a positive team spirit with

your enthusiasm. You are a collegial director, who can make himself vulnerable and does not

have a big ego.

Terms of employment

With regard to remuneration, Cordaid complies with "the regulations for directors of

charitable organisations”.

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Procedure

Maes & Lunau Executive Search supports Cordaid during the selection procedure for the

vacancy on the Executive Board.

o The preselection is being handled by Maes & Lunau, where the first interview will take

place.

o CV presentation

o First round of interviews with the selection committee

o Taking the Hogan Lead and discussing the results

o Follow-up interview with the selection committee

o Verify references

o Terms of employment interview

o Proposed decision of the Supervisory Board

o Works Council advice

o Appointment by the Supervisory Board

Contact details

For any questions about the position, please contact

Hanan Bahar: T: 020-535 6286 or E: [email protected]

If you are interested in this position, please apply at https://www.maeslunau.com/cordaid

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.maeslunau.com/cordaid

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Maes & Lunau: Beyond the obvious

We always go that little bit further in everything we do – go beyond the

obvious. And why? Because every organisation needs an inspiring leader with

unifying qualities and a clear vision. As an executive search firm, our aim is to

play an important role in this by helping organisations to improve. This begins

by understanding where the organisation wants to go, as well as getting a

good sense of the culture, the people and the organisation itself. We will then

work on creating a very clear profile which will form the basis for evaluating

candidates. We are there for the candidate and the client when the ideal

candidate starts in their appointment and continue to keep in touch long

afterwards.

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give up. During the process we hear and see many things and share this

information with our clients and candidates. We provide insights in search.

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successful, we will endeavour to make our point by of course talking it through

with the client and explain our reasoning .

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During the past 40 years we have felt responsible for the success of our clients

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have. It goes without saying that there’s nothing better than combining the

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