Deputy Country Representative for Afghanistan, based in Kabul

Position description

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis, GIS and remote sensing. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO with headquarters based in Paris and present in thirty countries. The two organisations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, which allows IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support in its fields of intervention.

We are currently looking for an IMPACT Deputy Country Representative to oversee programmes for the IMPACT Afghanistan country office.

Supervisor: IMPACT Country Representative

Title:IMPACT Deputy Country Representative

Location: Kabul, Afghanistan

Contract duration: 12 months

Start date: 1 July 2026.

COUNTRY PROFILE

The humanitarian response in Afghanistan remains one of the largest in the world, with 21.9 million people identified as in need of assistance in the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. The country is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with drought conditions affecting agriculture and livelihoods. Natural disasters, including flooding and earthquakes, remain prevalent – often causing displacement, damaging and destroying shelter and services, and disrupting livelihoods. Conflict remains a risk, with recent increase in conflict activity between Afghanistan and Pakistan. With millions of refugees in neighbouring countries, including Iran and Pakistan, forced return of refugees is also a driver of needs in the country.

Alongside this, since the De facto Authorities took control of the government in 2021, a range of restrictive policies have significantly restricted the rights of women and girls in society – leading to increased marginalisation and protection risks. The economic situation remains poor and authorities lack resources to run effective public services, with reliance on humanitarian assistance. As the USA was a major aid donor in Afghanistan, their withdrawal of all aid funding had a significant effect, for example on the closures of health centres. With political positioning of donor governments restricting a full development approach, a basic human needs response is increasingly complementing the humanitarian response across Afghanistan.

Against this backdrop, IMPACT Initiatives is planning a range of research activities to support an evidence- and needs-based humanitarian response. The IMPACT Deputy Country Representative supports the Country Representative in overseeing programme strategy and implementation internally, as well as external representation of IMPACT.

POSITION PROFILE

IMPACT is currently recruiting a Deputy Country Representative (DCR) for Afghanistan under the supervision of the Country Representative (CR) to be based in Kabul, Afghanistan. The DCR will oversee multiple research cycles in a complex environment, maintain relationships with key stakeholders, and represent IMPACT in external engagements, to inform decision-makers about existing evidence for strategic decisions.

The DCR will directly line manage staff leading research units and teams (Research and Associate Research Managers) and Research Specialists, including human resource planning for the research department. The role is responsible for overall management and guidance of IMPACT research programs. They will lead the research teams in achieving programme excellence and ensuring the highest level of impact and accountability, while ensuring compliance to IMPACT guidelines, policies and standards across the mission. The DCR will also work with project development to ensure accurate, timely, and high-quality donor reporting and represent the mission to donors as necessary, will lead on programme development and support the CR is determining and delivering the strategic direction of the mission.

The DCR will be expected to gain and maintain a strong contextual understanding of Afghanistan and the aid response, which will be used to guide programme strategy and dissemination of research products.

The DCR is a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and will be expected to be involved in discussions on a range of management issues including budgeting, HR, and access. The DCR is primarily responsible for acting as Country Representative when the CR is absent.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Programme Planning and Oversight

• Provide technical oversight to all mission research units and research cycles, advising on research techniques and ensuring that all research adheres to IMPACT global research standards, reviewing and advising on design of research outputs when necessary.
• Ensure that all IMPACT research programmes are aligned with the IMPACT global strategy as well as the IMPACT Afghanistan strategy. Ensure that research units and team have relevant and up-to-date strategies and lead oversight of progress against delivery.
• Supervise all stages of programme implementation and provide backstopping for issues; lead on troubleshooting and problem solving when necessary; oversee the development and adherence to workplans.
• Provide updates to SMT on progress against delivery and challenges to implementation and provide suggestions and recommendations where necessary for support to effective programme delivery.
• Ensure the lessons-learned are documented, stored, and acted upon, as part of programme review processes and as part of inductions to incoming staff to build institutional knowledge.

Grants development and fundraising

• Support the CR with identifying funding to support IMPACT’s programmes, representing IMPACT with donors as necessary, and presenting IMPACT programmes on a regular basis to donors.
• Support the CR, in coordination with Research Managers and project focal points, in drafting proposals, including programme conceptualisation with research teams, narratives, logframes, and other required documents; ensure all proposal processes are well coordinated and submissions meet deadlines.
• Ensure that reporting to existing donors is of high quality, timely and strategic. Maintain strong relationships with existing donors through regular meetings to brief on project progress, sharing key research findings, highlight information gaps in the response and sharing contextual and operational updates, in coordination with the CR and unit/team leads.
• With support from the Project Development Officer, lead on the review of programme inputs into reports and ensure that all reports are of high quality and submitted on time.
• Alongside the Country Representative and Project Development Officer, ensure the existence and maintenance of a project development strategy for IMPACT Afghanistan, mapping donors and donor priorities, mapping potential donors and developing and actioning a donor engagement strategy.
• Contribute to the drafting of donor reports as necessary and ensuring that research units/teams contribute to report drafting in a timely manner.

Team Management and Leadership

• Direct management of staff, including recruitment, conduct of appraisals, and staff career management.
• Provide senior level leadership across the mission, including actively participating in the Senior Management Team (SMT) and fostering a positive work environment for all members of the mission.
• Together with the CR, develop ToRs with clear responsibilities for research positions; contribute to the organisation of research, data, and GIS units for optimizing efficiency and effectiveness. identify needs for staff recruitment, including capacity or skills gaps within the units.
• Together with the CR, ensure that research staff are recruited in timely manner and recruited according to needs and budget.
• Support the identification of training and development needs in research unit/teams and enable opportunities for professional development within the teams. Provide mentorship and support to research team members.

External engagement

• Maintain, improve, and expand key relationships across the aid architectures, positioning IMPACT as a critical information management and research actor. Work with the CR and other relevant staff to ensure a coherent approach to external engagement within the coordination structure.
• Build and maintain relationships with key operational actors to enhance the visibility of IMPACT research and information products, encourage their use in response planning, and understand how IMPACT products and dissemination could further be developed to enhance relevance and use.
• Support the CR in IMPACT advocacy work; largely revolving around raising awareness of key findings with regards to needs and drivers of needs in Afghanistan and situating these within wider conversations in the response, in order to ensure that key findings are heard and used to inform response strategies and implementation, and that the response is based on evidence.
• Facilitate strong internal communication and coordination through chairing meetings as relevant, attending ACTED coordination meetings as relevant.
• Ensure that all relations with communities we work with are conducted in a respectful and consultative manner, and that research activities are clearly communicated to communities.
• Represent IMPACT and present findings at relevant key platforms/meetings.

Strategic leadership within IMPACT Afghanistan

• Actively participate in SMT discussions across functions including finance, HR, and access. Proactively propose strategic programme discussions to SMT.
• Together with the rest of the SMT, support the CR in strategy development and implementation through conversations with external actors, context monitoring, and conversations with project focal points.
• Play a leading role in organising and facilitating the extended SMT (ESMT), including working with SMT members to help prepare staff for ESMT discussions and strengthening the capacities of staff to participate in these discussions.
• Together with the CR, ensure that project focal points are trained and able to situate their projects within the wider context and support them in thinking strategically about their project
• Support Research Managers in the development of unit strategies that can inform and be informed by broader response directions.
• Stay up to date on the Afghanistan context and ensure that IMPACT Afghanistan maintains an understanding of how the context interacts with the humanitarian and development systems.

Qualifications

• Excellent academic qualifications, including a Masters degree in relevant discipline required.
• Significant relevant working experience in humanitarian, development or related settings, including relevant experience conducting and overseeing research in complex environments.
• Excellent team management, coordination, organisational and planning skills required, including ability to manage large workloads, oversee multiple teams and effectively meet deadlines, through an excellent ability to multi-task and prioritise.
• Experience with external engagement (donors, partners and other key stakeholders) required.
• Familiarity with the humanitarian coordination system required.
• Sound judgment and emotional intelligence in high-pressure or sensitive situations. Possesses strong interpersonal awareness and the ability to respond constructively to feedback and shifting priorities.
• Understanding of processes involved in conducting research required.
• Excellent communication and drafting skills required for effective reporting.
• Excellent analytical skills required.
• Experience managing multiple budgets an asset.
• Ability to work independently and manage people remotely required.
• Demonstrable ability to work under pressure and meet competing deadlines required.
• Solution-oriented, flexible, and open-minded, including ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment required.
• Good understanding of the Afghanistan context - past experience in the region is desirable.
• Fluency in English required. Ability to speak Dari or Pashto is a significant asset.
• Ability to operate Microsoft Word and Excel required.
• A sense of curiosity, the drive to improve the humanitarian sector, and ability to see the big picture

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• For this position, salary between 3’550 € to 3’600 € monthly (before income tax), etc as well as a monthly living allowance of 500 USD NB - IMPACT salaries are strictly determined by our salary grid depending on the grade of the position and the level of education of staff. A location-dependent security and/or isolation adjustment is then applied as a recognition that some staff are required to work in difficult places where living and working conditions are much more difficult than elsewhere.
• Accommodation and food provided in an Acted guesthouse. Food allowance provided at weekends and during holidays.
• Enrolment in Swiss private pension fund (Swisslife – approx. 9.975% of staff gross salary), health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance.
• Flight tickets every six months & visa fees covered (in-country travel costs and professional expenses are fully covered).
• Contribution to the transportation of luggage: between 20 and 100 kgs, depending on the length of the contract (+ luggage and personal property insurance)
• Annual leave of 36 days per year. Public holidays of the country of assignment. Family/compassionate leave when applicable. R&R allowance every eight weeks, with $500 flight allowance and $200 expenses allowance.
• Predeparture induction - 3 days at IMPACT Initiatives’ HQ in Geneva + one week pre-departure training in ACTED HQ in Paris, including a 4-day in situ security training (as necessary based on previous employment and inductions of the successful candidate).
• IMPACT and Acted prioritizes the psychological safety of its staff, and the health insurance provided covers, among others, up to 1000 € per year of psychosocial counselling fees.

Application instructions

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