Country Director

The ideal candidate should have:

- A successful track record of at least three years of managing staff, resources and fiduciary responsibilities in a multicultural environment. Though it is not a requirement for applying for the position, REF Romania would prefer someone who has experience of managing organisations in flux and/or being a manager in international organisations.
- Knowledge of education policy and practice as they pertain to minorities in Europe. Experience of these issues as they relate to Roma and to Romania will be an advantage.
- Demonstrated success in managing complex projects
- Ability to work effectively and sensitively with a wide range of stakeholders, including minority groups, civil society and international organisations and governments.
- Familiarity with EU Funding schemes, such as PHARE and structural instruments
- Experience with minority inclusion issues, programmes and projects.
- Demonstrated success in fund-raising
- Good communication and advocacy skills. Ability to express ideas and concepts concisely and clearly and in both written and oral forms.
- Excellent spoken and written English and Romanian. Knowledge of other relevant European languages spoken in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romanes will be an advantage.
- A Master’s Degree or equivalent academic qualification in a relevant field of study, such as education, social science, political science, management or economics.
- The highest personal integrity

The general duties of the Country Director are to:

- Manage REF Romania’s operations so as to reach the targets set out in the Country Assessment and to support the overall REF Romania 2010-2015 Strategy
- Manage REF Romania staff so as to ensure the right balance of skills and knowledge, to develop an effective senior management team, and to motivate and support staff for better performance.
- Plan and manage the approved budget of REF Romania, including ensuring the procedures are in place to manage and report on multiple sources of funding
- Develop strong communication and collaborative links with all key stakeholders, including both government and civil society
- Identify opportunities for raising resources and establish procedures for ensuring timely decisions by REF Switzerland about which opportunities are pursued and ensuring that strong applications are prepared
- Ensure that REF is represented effective externally, so as to promote REF’s demonstrated successes and to advocate for improved educational outcomes and governmental policies for Roma
- Provide timely and clear advice to the REF Boards, through the REF Director
- Ensure all REF decisions and actions are taken in line with existing policies and that accurate and complete records are kept
- Sustain the independence, objectivity and integrity of REF and its programmes

Short term priorities for the position are to:

- Lead the preparation of the revised Country Assessment in a consultative way, with the full range of internal and external stakeholders
- Ensure that necessary policies and procedures are developed and implemented to establish the REF Romania office on a secure footing, and to meet the needs of REF Romania, the REF Network and external funders
- With the REF Director and the senior managers in Budapest and Bucharest, ensure effective working relationships are established between the two offices, including consistent application of policies and approaches, sharing of knowledge, and staff reporting arrangements
- Create a coherent team of staff working in REF Romania so that they share a common goal while working on different projects and share the overall goals of REF

REF will provide an attractive salary and benefits, commensurate with experience, to the right candidate. The Director will be employed on a contract under Romanian Labour Law.

REF encourages applications from women and from members of the Roma community. All applications will be considered in their merits against the criteria above.

Applicants should also send the names of three referees who may be contacted before interviews are held

Applications should be submitted by 15th of September 2010, 6pm

The goal of the Roma Education Fund (REF) is to close the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non Roma.

REF manages six main programmes:

- Project grants to NGOs and governments
- Tertiary education scholarships to Roma students studying for BA, Masters and PhD.
- Policy development and capacity building
- Direct implementation of large-scale EU-funded projects
- Reimbursable grants to NGOs to ensure Structural Fund projects can start on time
- Communication and outreach

A new 2010-2015 Strategy was approved in 2009, the main element of which is to scale-up REF activities. One element of that Strategy is to access European Structural Funds for large-scale projects.

REF Romania was registered on April 29, 2009 with the purpose of:
- Providing technical assistance within a consortium of other partners implementing projects (i.e. projects principally funded through Structural Funds from the Romanian Government).
- Becoming the lead partner and implementing agency for projects, principally funded through Structural Funds.
- Providing a conduit for resources from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to REF Switzerland.

The managing body of the Romanian Foundation is represented by the Board of Directors that includes three members. The main REF foundation was established in Switzerland in 2005. In addition, since REF is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, there is a Hungarian foundation.

A Memorandum of Agreement sets out the relationship between the three REF foundations (‘the REF Network’). The members of the REF Romania Board are all members of the REF Switzerland Board. The REF Executive Director serves as Director for all three foundations and the Country Director of REF Romania will report to the Director.

REF Romania has been very successful in its applications for funding from the Romanian Managing Authority for Structural Funds. We have contracted two projects, each worth approximately 5 m EUR to be implemented over 3 years. The projects will be implemented by a coalition of NGOs, with REF as the lead partner. (REF Romania is also a partner in two further projects which are on the reserve list presently.)

In addition to these Structural Fund projects, the REF Romania office will be responsible for implementing other REF programmes in Romania, such as the tertiary scholarship programme (Roma Memorial University Scholarship Programme), and have a joint role in other REF programmes such as the Policy Development and Capacity Building Programme and the Project Grant Programme. Significant numbers of staff will need to be appointed in order to implement all these projects and activities. This will also require setting up a much expanded office. The policies and procedures for this office are under preparation and will be finalized shortly. It is expected that staff working in the REF Romania office will have be responsible to the relevant managers both in Bucharest and Budapest, to ensure effective and consistent pursuit of REF’s objectives.

A revised Country Assessment, setting out the situation of the education of Roma in Romania and REF’s medium term strategic priorities, is scheduled to be prepared in 2010. This Country Assessment will define the role of REF Romania further.

More information about the Roma Education Fund, including the medium term strategy, can be found at: www.romaeducationfund.org.