Head of Accountability & Transparency Unit (ATU)

## **MSF Eastern Africa is looking for a Head of Accountability & Transparency Unit (ATU)**

*Do your skills and experience not precisely match the requirements? At MSF EA, we strive to create a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace, recognizing the need to increase access to professional opportunities for historically underrepresented groups. If you're interested in this position but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the selection criteria, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be the ideal candidate for this or other positions.*

*Firmly committed to safeguarding patients, community members, staff, and all those in contact with the organization from all forms of abuse, including sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH), we will take all necessary steps, through rigorous vetting processes, to ensure that confirmed perpetrators of abuse do not join the organization.*

*For this position, contact level with patients and children is categorized as **Low** risk and will be monitored with this in regard.*

## ***Introduction***

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international independent medical humanitarian organisation that provides assistance to people affected by conflicts, epidemics, and natural or human-made disasters and excluded from healthcare. We provide this assistance without discrimination, irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.

## ***About MSF Eastern Africa***

MSF Eastern Africa is the regional institutional office of MSF. It focuses on representation and networking, recruiting and supporting staff from the region, communications and fundraising, as well as working on other dossiers of importance to MSF such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Data Protection, mutualization, training, medical operational support and environmental health.

## ***Rationale/Objective for Position***

The Head of the Accountability & Transparency Unit provides strategic leadership, independent oversight, and operational management of the ATU. The role is responsible for institutionalization and embedding a culture of accountability and transparency across MSF Eastern Africa systems, governance structures, systems, decisions and operations promoting organizational integrity, responsible use of resources and continuous learning.

The job holder, in addition to managerial duties, will provide strategic oversight and quality assurance for ATU investigations and personally leads high-risk, complex or sensitive investigations into alleged fraud, corruption, financial misconduct, serious breaches of organizational protocols and other integrity-related misconduct falling within the ATU mandate. The incumbent actively conducts impartial, timely, and thorough investigations into the most serious allegations of misconduct in accordance with the approved ATU Investigation Protocol, procedural fairness, confidentiality, data-protection requirements and established referral pathways. Safeguarding matters remain under the mandate of the Safeguarding function ensuring due process, fairness, and the protection of MSF’s integrity and credibility.

The Head leads the development and implementation of the MSF EA Accountability and Transparency Framework and its related policies and systems, including proactive monitoring, compliance oversight. The role will ensure that accountability and transparency are effectively embedded across MSF EA by leading key functions such as policy development, proactive monitoring, compliance oversight, feedback and response mechanisms (FRM), investigations, reporting, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement. and organizational learning.

The holder will lead high-risk and sensitive investigations and focuses on strengthening system-wide integrity, proactively mitigating risks and continuous organizational learning and improvements. The role strengthens system-wide integrity by identifying and mitigating accountability risks, ensuring that findings lead to corrective action and supporting management and governance bodies to make informed, transparent and accountable decisions. The position collaborates with MSF Eastern Africa departments, MSF Ubuntu teams, other MSF entities and relevant MSF International accountability structures, in accordance with the ATU mandate and applicable agreements.

This position will be **hierarchically** and **functionally** accountable to the ***MSF EA General Director***.

This position will collaborate with **MSF Ubuntu teams**.

## ***Tasks & Responsibilities***

**Strategic Leadership & Policy Development**

- Lead the development, periodic review and implementation of MSF EA Accountability and Transparency Framework and associated policies, ensuring alignment with MSF International standards and best practices
- Ensure coherence and complementarity with related organizational frameworks and functions, including Safeguarding, EDI, Data Protection, Human Resources, Finance, Legal, Procurement, Medical and operational functions, while respecting their distinct mandates.
- Translate the ATU Framework into strategic priorities, annual objectives, workplans, indicators and measurable deliverables.
- Lead the annual planning and budgeting process for the ATU, presenting the proposed plan and budget the Accountability Steering Committee (ASC) for endorsement and through the appropriate MSF EA approval process..
- Manage the ring-fenced unit budget and ensure transparent, efficient and accountable resource allocation.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for the ASC, providing regular briefings on performance, emerging risks, and strategic priorities.
- Lead periodic gap analyses, stakeholder consultations and organizational learning processes to strengthen and continuously improve MSF EA accountability systems.
- Establish ATU standards, procedures, tools, quality-assurance mechanisms and performance indicators.
- Provide strategic and technical advice to the General Director, Management Team and relevant governance bodies on accountability, transparency and organizational integrity.
- Ensure that the ATU’s annual priorities are risk-based and aligned with MSF EA’s strategic plan and institutional risk profile.

**Unit Leadership and Operational Management**

- Provide overall leadership, direction and operational management of the ATU, ensuring delivery against its approved mandate, annual plan, budget and performance indicators.
- Recruit, supervise, support and develop ATU staff, establishing clear roles, delegated authority and performance expectations.
- Assign investigations, accountability reviews and compliance assessments based on risk, complexity, competence, capacity and potential conflicts of interest.
- Establish effective case-management, workload-monitoring, recordkeeping and quality-assurance systems.
- Promote timely integration of lessons learned into policies, procedures, internal controls, training and management practices.
- Monitor and report on implementation of approved corrective and preventive actions.
- Ensure that ATU staff receive appropriate technical supervision, psychosocial support and measures to manage occupational risks associated with sensitive investigations.
- Secure appropriate specialist or external expertise where a case requires additional independence, capacity or technical competence.
- Regularly assess the Unit’s capacity, resources and operational risks and propose corrective measures where necessary.

**Active Investigations and quality Assurance (Dual Role)**

- Provide strategic oversight of all ATU investigations, ensuring cases are triaged, assigned, prioritized and conducted consistently and in accordance with the ATU Investigation Protocol.
- Personally lead and conduct high-risk, complex, or sensitive investigations into allegations of serious misconduct which are not safeguarding related, fraud, conflict of interest, breaches of protocol, misuse of MSF organizational reso