BOARD SUPPORT AND GOVERNANCE COORDINATOR

Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in 1971, is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of medical professionals, logistics, administrative and various other professions, all guided by our medical ethics and our principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.

MSF WaCA, created in 2019, is the first MSF headquarters in Africa, and responds to the desire to reinvent the MSF movement after 50 years of humanitarian actions in the world, for more access to care, more reactivity and proactivity for greater medical coverage of affected populations in the world.

You are preparing to become a member of the MSF family, with over 50 years of emergency medical action that earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

We are an inclusive organization that considers social and professional well-being a right for all and provides an environment that takes into account the diversity of each member.

MSF WaCA claims an African anchorage that considers the local expertise with which it contributes in the implementation of its activities and makes each member, a key actor of the new dynamics of the humanitarian action in the world.

We Are Looking for: BOARD SUPPORT AND GOVERNANCE COORDINATOR

Department: Governance

Direct Manager: Board President

Functional Manager: Board President

Working %: 100%

Position Based in: Abidjan, HQ

Mobility: All WaCA’s Interventions Zones

Type of Contract: Fixed-Term (6months)

Position to be filled:01^st August 2024

Objectives

This role is to provides direct support to the Board Chair and Board as a whole, to the Executive director exclusively on board liaison issues and coordinates with Executive Directors Assistant. The principal role is in ensuring the overall good functioning of MSF WaCA’s Board, and governance oversight. The role is key to enabling the smooth and efficient preparation and running of Trustee meetings, ensuring MSF WaCA’s compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, board decisions and internal policies relevant to a registered charity and a limited liability company.

Main responsibilities

Governance policy and support to Trustees

• Maintain and assure regular review of MSF WaCA’s governing instruments (eg, Articles of Association, ToRs of Board members, policies, role and tasks repartition of the Board Members (committee, working group and ad hoc responsibilities), Statutes, Internal rules etc.).

• Coordinate Board Members recruitment and succession planning, including facilitating induction of new board members, skills audits.

• Facilitate the use of the skills and interests of all Board members, keeping the board aware of training opportunities and arranging trainings as requested.

• Implement the WaCA Board of Trustee Conflict of Interest Policy.

• Remain up to date on developments in the MSF WaCA Board, its sub-Committees, WaCA partnership and MoUs, with others MSF associations including MSF International.
• Remain up to date on best practice in West and Central Africa Charity and governance requirements and in MSF governance requirements and best practice.

• Be the focal point for all WaCA Trustees

• Work with the Executive Director to ensure that MSF WaCA staff and members understand the role of the Board, and manage requests and information sharing between the Board and Executive.

• Populate and maintain any relevant pages on MSF’s website (public and association) and internal portal (Sharepoint)

• Arrange regular (annual) board evaluations (self or external) and work with Board Chair to track progress on points of learning.

Compliance with rules, regulation and internal policies

•Maintenance of all Board Records, including Terms of Reference, meeting minutes and any delegated authorities using the appropriate tools (eg, SharePoint).

•Custody of registers, minute books and records – collate and make available relevant information in a systematic and sustainable manner to support the health of institutional memory.

•Custodian of all governing documents, including the Articles of Association, and MSF International statues and any internal rules.

•With the Head of the Executive Office and Company Secretary, ensure compliance with external rules and regulation:

• Maintenance of company registers and any other relevant records, ensuring they are available for inspection where and when necessary.
• Maintenance of a list of members who are entitle to notices of meetings and other documents

•Coordination of trustee accountability and engagement at the annual general meetings with the Association Coordinator / Public Engagement team, including assisting in the smooth and efficient running of the Annual General Meeting (including associative meetings).

•Ensure, together with the Association Coordinator / Public Engagement team, MSF WaCA representation and accountability in partnership MSF OC and International Associative-Board projects

Ensuring good function of the Board and Committees

•Build and maintain the Board’s annual calendar and annual plan.

•Support the preparation and running of WaCA Board and Sub-Committee meetings (working with the Board President and Committee leads as appropriate)

• Issuing meeting notices,
• Support the President and Executive Director, or where relevant Committee President and Head of the Executive Office and Company Secretary, in the preparation and coordination of agendas, ensuring that international, operational, associative and executive topics are included and aligned to enable well-informed and timely decision making.
• Work with the Executive Assistant to ensure that Board and Executive agendas are aligned and decision logs up to date and readily accessible.
• Collating, monitoring quality and sharing information before meetings (including keeping trustees updated between meetings) and monitoring systems for information gathering and sharing,
• Ensuring logistics/ smooth and efficient running of the board and committee meetings (ensuring inclusive access)
• Taking minutes of all Board and Committee meetings, tracking action lists and managing the approvals process.
• Manage the logistics of meetings (ensuring inclusive access) arranging additional support where required.

•Facilitating approval from the board outside of Board meetings as agreed by the President

•Support the President to achieving healthy board discourse between all trustees, the executive and other parts of the MSF movement.

•In close collaboration with the Association Director and treasurer of the Board, build, maintain and monitor the Association Budget.

Support to the President of the WaCA Board

• From time to time, support the preparation of presentations, speeches, dossiers and other internal and external documents.

• Support the president of the MSF WaCA Board of Trustees in administrative tasks as required. For example, correspondence, expenses, travel needs and briefings.

• Keep secure and organised all correspondence, other relevant documents and any sensitive or confidential files.

• Any other tasks as may be assigned from time to time

Education

Minimum Bachelor degree in management, international relations, business administration, politic studies, organizational communication or any relevant field.

Competencies

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• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• in depth experience with tools and resources that improve governance efficiency and provide for effective meeting management.
• Ability to work independently and take initiative.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with an ability to listen well, interact effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization, and develop relationships both within and outside the association.
• Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality

Professional experience required

A minimum of 3 years’ experience in a high-level of administrative/association support; experience in working with a

Board of Directors will be appreciated. Experience with meeting coordination,

Reporting, and tracking policies and procedures is required.

Equivalencies of experience may be considered

Languages Skills

• Working proficiency in English and French

Computer Skills

• MS Office suite (mainly MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint); sharepoint

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MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.
Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.

N.B.: This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.

Deadline: Friday 19 July 18:00 GMT
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
The organization reserves the right to begin the recruitment process upon receiving suitable applications, even before the application deadline.