Mental Health Director at CBM International

Job Overview

• The job holder is responsible for leading CBM Global’s Community Mental Health (CMH) work at a global level, guided by the new Community Mental Health Framework, aligned to the CBM Global Federation Strategy. This involves the integration of external global standards and organizational vision, mission, and values into planning and operational direction, including setting and maintaining quality in programme implementation and advocacy. As a dual mandate organisation, the role will involve both engagement in mental health aspects of international development, and in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergency settings and Disaster Risk Management.
• The role is primarily focused on strategic leadership in the organisation, and setting of normative standards to guide the direction of the CMH work within the CBM Global Federation. Impact on programme quality is mainly through enabling Regional Advisors to support Country Team and Member Team Mental Health Focal Points and Disaster Risk Management staff to offer good standards of input to partners. This is a key role in facilitating the 3-way collaboration between Member Teams, Country Teams, and other thematic Technical Teams. We seek to increasingly work in an integrated way across our technical areas of expertise, building on our collaboration with the disability movement.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the position holder will lead the Core CMH Team which leads this area of technical specialism for the organisation globally.

Based:

• This role can be based in any CBM Global Office. Applications are therefore encouraged from those with the right to work in: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Zimbabwe, as well as Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, and the UK.

Hours:

Full-Time

Salary range:

• The salary offered will be competitive, dependent on skills and experience, as well as country of location. We offer a local contract.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Strengthening and growing the work in mental health and psychosocial disability in CBM Global by liaising with other parts of the CBM Global Federation: Member Teams, Secretariat leadership, Country Teams, and other Technical Teams.
• Developing and further refining the Community Mental Health Framework, Good Practice Guides, position papers, and contribution to the Impact Framework and other Technical Frameworks.
• Providing strategic leadership and management. Line manage Regional CMH Advisors and Core CMH Team members as they support Country Teams and partners in the delivery, monitoring, evaluation, and continued refinement of programmes.
• Providing an external voice for CBM Global in the field of mental health on relevant global forums, advocating for approaches to mental health that align with CBM Global positions on inclusive development, disability, and human rights.
• Promoting CBM Global’s CMH work within the organization and representing CBM Global externally, strengthening relationships with the wider disability movement.
• Providing advice and support to the global organization in relation to mental health as part of the wider programme and fundraising work of the organization, as well as in strategic direction.
• Building an organisation that supports wellbeing of staff in line with our organizational culture and vision of an inclusive society.
• As head of the Core Team for CMH, overseeing and ensuring the delivery, monitoring, and evaluation of mental health components of CBM Global’s programme, based on the CMH Framework and CBM Federation Strategy, and according to CBM Global’s operating model.
• Identifying opportunities for resourcing and developing, in 3-way collaboration with Member and Country Teams, new programmes, both focused on mental health and integrated into other sectoral work (at country, regional and global levels).

Key outcomes expected from this role.

• Growth in the number and quality of programmes developed and funded that successfully deliver improvement in quality of life for people with mental health conditions.
• Strong CMH Team that is competent in delivering good technical advice to other teams and partners.
• Good representation of CBM on the international and national stage, so that the organization is seen as a leading voice in the field.

Safeguarding Responsibilities.

Focuses on self-awareness and behavior regulation, observing and reporting others’ behavior, training.

Knowledge

• Understands what safeguarding means for the teams/departments they manage and the work they do.
• Understands power imbalances, how team/organizational culture may be reinforcing negative stereotypes and biases, and the impact of these dynamics on the vulnerable and marginalized.

Skills.

• Leads teams to develop the necessary skills and expertise to undertake their roles and responsibilities for safeguarding.
• Explicitly and visibly challenges power imbalances, inequalities, gender bias, and discrimination in organizational systems and processes.
• Leads on organizational change within their teams to embed safeguarding in their work and processes.
• Develops indicators and frameworks for measuring how well teams deliver on safeguarding roles and responsibilities.
• Creates organizational mechanisms that strengthen accountability to communities, Members, and donors on safeguarding.

Behaviours

• Holds teams accountable for delivering on safeguarding standards
• Articulates and promotes the strategic importance of safeguarding all aspects of the organization’s work.
• Demonstrates leadership in ensuring that staff, programs, and operations are safe for all program participants, staff, and volunteers.

Person Specification

• All of the following requirements are essential, unless marked with a * when they are desirable, and will be assessed from a combination of information provided from the application form and interview process.

CBM Global welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds and people with lived experience of disability.

Qualifications Education, Knowledge & Professional Experience.

• Professional qualification in mental health, psychiatry, psychology, psychosocial disability, or related field
• Background and experience in development cooperation, including in applying relevant tools and methods (Project Cycle Management, inclusive and participatory approaches, WHO resources like mhGAP, QualityRights, etc)
• Minimum of 5-10 years working experience in international development
• Strong understanding of disability-inclusive development and experience in applying these principles
• Experience in mental health and psychosocial support and Disaster Risk Management, including programme implementation and understanding of relevant frameworks (IASC etc)
• Experience in networking, advocacy, and influencing with knowledge of key global and continental networks. Active participation in relevant networks and strong relationships across key actors in the field
• Knowledge and understanding of key players and stakeholders in CMH on global and regional levels
• Experience in raising funds through competitive proposals and engaging with institutional funders
• Experience in managing and working in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural teams
• Experience in operational research, and interpretation and application of evidence in practice
• Experience in teaching/ training/ coaching

Languages

• English (professional proficiency, spoken and written is essential)
• French, Spanish (desirable)

Tools

• Project Cycle Management, narrative, financial and statistics reporting
• Tools and resources specific to mental health work; QualityRights, mhGAP; MHPSS in emergencies (IASC)
• Good skills in MS Office, Teams/Zoom, ability to manage budgets in Excel

Core Competencies

• Developing others
• Managing performance
• Persuasive communication
• Result orientation
• Decisiveness
• Fostering teamwork
• Building collaborative relationships
• Strategic thinking
• Initiative
• Global Perspective
• Business Acumen

Employee Benefits·

• We offer flexibility and working from home arrangements.
• As part of our commitment with inclusion, CBM Global aims to encourage applications from people with disabilities and those with health conditions. We have a comprehensive equality and diversity policy.