Secretary General

The Role

Role:
Secretary General

Location:
Remote or in One of the CIVICUS hubs with Preference in the Global South

Salary:
$120 – $140K plus benefits

Contract Type:
Permanent

Report To:
CIVICUS Board of Directors through the Board Chair

Direct Reports:
Chief Operating Officer, Chief Officer Evidence and Engagement, Chief Officer Advocacy, and Solidarity Action, Chief Officer Innovation and Sustainability, Head of People

Job Summary

The Secretary General (SG) reports to the CIVICUS Board of Directors through the Board Chair, the Secretary General is responsible for providing representational and strategic leadership for CIVICUS members, partners and networks.

The role will manage the overall operations of the organisation, cultivate an environment of innovation and thought leadership that will bring about new ways of fulfilling our mission. The SG will also establish a culture of high trust, high accountability and high performance.

Representational Leadership

• Inspire and energize CIVICUS members, partners and networks to create a thriving global civil society movement at national and international levels.
• Champion CIVICUS movement’s concerns effectively to the wider world.
• Maintain and grow our external credibility, high-level external relations and responsibility for catalyzing strategic alliances to further CIVICUS aims at these levels.

Strategy Leadership

• Provide visionary leadership for CIVICUS members for how civil society can best realise and leverage its potential to effect systems change in the coming years.
• Work in a consultative manner to ensure that the five-year strategic plan (2022-2027) is delivered with the desired impact, including an obvious focus on what we will do differently.
• Provide geopolitical analysis and identifying shifts in the external environment that will pose both opportunities and risks for the mission of CIVICUS.
• Drive innovation and take CIVICUS and its membership to a new level of truly global and inclusive mobilization.
• Maximize the Board’s ability to contribute to CIVICUS mission and promote good and effective governance.

Organizational Leadership

• Cultivate an environment of innovation and thought leadership that will bring about new ways of fulfilling our mission.
• Establish a culture of high trust, high accountability and high performance.
• Lead by example, motivating and developing the Senior Management Team and broader staff.
• Grow a sustainable funding base.
• Provide strong fiscal oversight to create a responsible and responsive organization.
• Bring vision and oversight to CIVICUS programmes and World and Youth Assemblies.
• Inspire an organizational culture of conviction, accountability and learning.
• Support the CIVICUS Board.

People Leadership

• Ensure adherence and delivery of CIVICUS Talent Management including recruitment, selection, retention, development and succession planning.
• Conduct probation and performance management according to HR timelines ensuring consistency with strategic direction of key programme areas (accountability, resourcing, innovation, effectiveness).
• Support both the professional and personal development of staff, ensuring that they can be proactive on all matters, thus maximizing and integrating the effectiveness of the service they provide.
• Develop a team culture that values collaboration internally, cross functionally and in partnership with partners where applicable.

CIVICUS Values and Change Management

• Lead Innovation and Change by establishing a culture of excellence in respective teams that values experimentation, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure personal and team culture that demonstrates all CIVICUS values.

Education, Language & Qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant field and/or substantive work experience in the International CSO/NGO Space.
• Fluency in English and preferably several other languages.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• High level capacity and demonstrable skills in setting vision, developing and implementing strategy in a networked environment and building support among diverse audiences.
• A highly developed capacity to build and convey the ‘big picture’ while inspiring and enabling others to identify the implications for their daily work.
• Demonstrable experience of living and working in and amongst different cultures with a natural ability to win trust and build rapport across cultural and geographic boundaries.
• A track record in implementing and embedding change in a civic or systems context allied with a deep understanding of the need for civil society to reconnect with the grassroots, social movements and youth.
• Extensive abilities and experience in motivating and inspiring others; building collaboration, youth engagement and cooperation across civil society and breaking down silos.
• Exceptional networking, consensus-building and brokering skills at the highest levels and the ability to build strong and open relationships across a broad constituency.
• A proven ability to build, motivate and enthuse a senior team, and manage a matrix organization towards the delivery of key goals, whilst also creating effective frameworks and measures for holding people to account.
• Strong interpersonal, advocacy and communication skills with the gravitas, ability and presence to promote CIVICUS and the movement externally and on all media platforms.
• Experience of driving innovation and collaboration within an organization or movement and also advising and being accountable to a Board.
• Solid understanding of financial management.
• Understanding of governance.
• Ability to travel internationally as required.

Personal Qualities

• A definite commitment to CIVICUS mission and values.
• An agile mindset with a keenness to experiment, innovate and test new ideas.
• Clear professional and personal commitment to being accountable; a leadership style that encourages the receipt and giving performance feedback.
• Highly relational with an ability to build strong relationships across cultural boundaries.
• Passionate, principled, courageous, creative, respectful, humble, accessible, warm and empathetic with people.
• A good communicator as well as listener to other people’s views and opinions.
• A proven ability to work under pressure and juggle multiple competing deadlines, tasks and demands.
• A willingness to undertake frequent and extensive international travel for high-level representational purposes that generate significant out-of-hours commitments all year round (past years have seen the Secretary General travel 30% of the time).

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