Simavi is looking for a strong successor to its current Managing Director, Ariette Brouwer, who successfully led and transformed the organisation the last 9 years.

Powerful women, healthy societies.

Simavi envisions a world in which all women and girls enjoy their human rights to water and sanitation, resulting in healthier and just societies. Therefore, it is our mission to fight for equality and overcome barriers for women and girls to claim these basic rights.

For more than 95 years, Simavi has been working for a healthy and equal world in regions where this is far from self-evident. We invest in women and girls because we firmly believe they have the potential to not only improve their own situation, but also the world around them. Our work focuses mainly on these four SDGs: 1) good health and well-being, 2) gender equality, 3) clean water and sanitation, and 4) partnerships.

Women and girls are disproportionally impacted by events like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. They are set back significantly in terms of gender equality and the fulfilment of their rights. Moving forward, Simavi is determined to put more effort and emphasis onto gender equality and access to water, sanitation and health (WASH).

Simultaneously, Simavi is adhering to the growing international movement within the international development sector demanding to shift power and decision-making to the local level, as a crucial step in creating more equal and just power relations in the sector. It requires us to critically look at ourselves and our way of working, and contribute to the movement to challenge and break existing power imbalances and ensure equal and inclusive collaborations at all levels.

Organisation
The Managing Director is the ‘bestuurder’ and reports to the supervisory board.

The purpsose of the role
The core purpose of this role is to provide leadership and direction to turn Simavi’s vision of Powerful women, healthy societies into a reality.

The Managing Director (F/M/X) is accountable for the development and execution of Simavi’s strategy, whilst empowering current and future partnerships. The Managing Director is the ultimate representative and ambassador of Simavi’s mission and as such has a critical role to play in developing external relations, raising funds, and developing and monitoring high-quality and impactful programmes in our core countries.

The Managing Director transparently reports results of the impact Simavi has with its programmes on women and girls to the Supervisory Board and more importantly to implementation partners, donors and other stakeholders.

What we expect of the Managing Director
It is evident that the Managing Director has to be passionate about Simavi’s mission and brings the experience to implement its recently refined strategy. The role of the Managing Director is to:

Provide Leadership – Stipulates a clear vision and purpose for the organisation. Operates as a positive role model for the culture of the organisation, acts values-based and with integrity understands and navigates organisation dynamics and builds strong informal networks. Develops a high-performing collaborative team and is inspirational and present. Is resourceful and willing to take measured risks.

Develop strategy, execute review and adjust – Understands the external context in which Simavi operates and has a clear long-term view. Navigates ambiguity and is relentlessly solutions driven, at pace. Uses strong analytical and innovative thinking to develop a clear business strategy to achieve goals. Ensures alignment of the organisation with Simavi’s strategic direction and drives focus of the teams to deliver impact.

Drive fundraising – Develops high-performing fundraising strategies for programmes and advocacy. Engages with funding providers to support programmes where required.

Ensure solid financial management – Accountable for setting and delivering annual budgets and long-term financial goals. Achieves strategic goals for fundraising, programme management, advocacy and financial reserves. Has strong financial leadership and financial acumen, and a proven track record of healthy long-term financial management.

Create impactful partnerships – Knows the field and is able to identify strong partners that can complement Simavi’s mission and programmes. Understands how to build and improve partnerships for a specific outcome and to drive systemic change. Is an excellent collaborator with a strong external orientation.

Build Simavi’s brand and reputation – Develops and maintains a strong positive brand reputation for Simavi. Ensures that the profile of Simavi is enhanced through media appearances, and top-level engagement with government, business, the general public and other NGOs. Forms positive collaborative relationships with peers.

Live Simavi’s values – Embodies the following five core Simavi values that state what we stand for, drive our decisions, clarify our ambition and describe how we work: sustainable, empowering, just, connecting and inspiring.

Selection criteria
We expect the Managing Director to bring:

• Strong affinity with:
  • Simavi’s mission to fight for equality and overcome barriers for women and girls to claim their rights to water, sanitation.
  • Climate justice, anti-racism and ‘shifting the power’.
• Extensive experience working for NGOs in international development and co-operation in the field of WASH.
• A proven track record of creating measurable impact and advocacy as a Managing Director of an internationally operating NGO.
• A strong network of institutional donors and partners, both public and private.
• Business sense and financial acumen.
• Proven track record and experience in fundraising
• Strong internal and external communication skills.
• Creating engagement whilst being decisive.

Remuneration
The role will be remunerated according to the code of conduct of Goede Doelen Nederland.

Procedure
Simavi is assisted in this procedure by executive search agency Colourful People. For more information about Simavi, the position or the procedure, please contact Rick Verhoeven, senior partner at Colourful People (06 267 067 57). You can express your interest by uploading your letter and CV via the application button on our website no later than 21-01-2022.
Interviews with Simavi’s selection committee are scheduled in week 6 and 7.

Agency calls are not appreciated.