Head of Zimbabwe Country Programme

• Location: Harare, Zimbabwe. Hybrid, option to work remotely two days a week
• Salary: Competitive salary and benefits
• Contract: Permanent, full-time
• Candidate Level: Management
• Sector: Conservation/Environment/Climate

Background:

Oak Foundation contributes to a safer, fairer, and more sustainable world through its grant-making. We are proud of the work our grant recipients do around the world every day, to help people and communities to thrive and to conserve our earth for future generations. With offices in Europe, Africa, and North America, we make grants to organisations located in approximately 40 countries worldwide.

Description:

Purpose of role

The Zimbabwe Country Programme contributes to prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable communities in Zimbabwe. The programme has three areas of focus: 1) help families and communities thrive; 2) support children and adults with special needs; and 3) improve livelihoods through skill-building and entrepreneurship training. The programme’s annual budget is $9M USD per year, and it makes about 20 grants per year.

The Head of Zimbabwe Country Programme provides a wide range of grant-making and operational support to ensure effective execution of the Oak Foundation’s Zimbabwe Country Programme and grant-making strategy. This person will supervise two Harare based-staff, and work with Geneva-based operations colleagues. They will also interact directly with other senior leaders of the foundation. This person will report to the Chief of Staff, who is based in Geneva.

Primary responsibilities

The employee’s tasks for the foundation include:

Strategy refinement and execution

• Execute the programme grant-making strategy.
• Propose and present opportunities for funding.

Grants and portfolio management

• Identify new partners through research, networking, and field exploration, including identifying new opportunities outside of our known networks.
• Manage the grant-making process, including division of labour across the programme team, and develop appropriate trackers to manage the grant-making budget and pipeline.
• Draft summaries and grant proposals and prepare progress reports to develop, and manage an evolving portfolio of grants.
• Ensure grant recipients are aware of and have access to organisational strengthening and safeguarding support, in collaboration with relevant advisors.

Relationships and communication

• Forge and manage excellent relationships with grantees, Trustees, colleagues, peer organisations, and other stakeholders.
• Represent the programme and Oak Foundation externally at relevant meetings, conferences, and convenings.
• Prepare text and presentations for the website, annual report, Advisory Panel meetings, and other foundation yearly reports.

Operations, office management, and coordination

• Ensure administrative requirements are correctly and promptly met, including filings and local compliance, banking, taxes, and expense reporting, among others.
• Work with Oak’s main administrative office colleagues to develop an annual operations budget and manage the budget throughout the year.

Team and general management

• Lead the team with a collaborative, supportive, inclusive, and empathetic leadership style.
• Mentor other Zimbabwe-based staff to support their professional development and continued learning.

Requirements:

Qualifications

• A university degree is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience in philanthropy and grant-making, nonprofit management, organisational development, and/or social sector impact.
• Established reputation as a strategic thinker with a strong understanding of the Zimbabwe country context and the interconnectedness of different issue areas and their challenges.
• Proven excellence in written and interpersonal communications, with the ability to communicate seamlessly both internally and externally on behalf of the foundation.
• Track record of performing duties and tasks with a high degree of efficiency, precision, prioritisation, organisation, discretion, and autonomy.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in a comparable role, with demonstrated capacity for growth.
• Strong capabilities with Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel, with a high degree of comfort learning other office IT tools such as Zoom, SharePoint, Teams, and Salesforce.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.
• Committed to Oak’s organisational values.
• Committed to Oak’s child safeguarding policy.

Comments:

Reporting to:  Chief of Staff

Manages:            2

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV/resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the role and how you fulfil the requirements set out in the job announcement by clicking on the link below.   

If you have any questions about the role or organisation and would like an informal chat ahead of submitting a formal application, please reach out to Zoe Oldham.

The deadline for applications is Monday 10th November, 9:00 am CET

Contact person: Zoe Oldham

Preferred method of response: Web

Apply link: Link to Apply

Email: zoe@upsallinternational.com

Closing date: 10/11/2025