President and Chief Executive Officer

Location: Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, Burundi, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan

Organization: Right To Play

Deadline: Deadline: June 20, 2025

Job Description

The President and CEO is accountable for leading the vision of Right To Play International and all its subsidiary organizations and providing strategic leadership to ensure fulfilment of the mission and its growth. This role is accountable for overall organizational performance, specifically the achievement of the objectives related to strategy and innovation, social impact, financial viability, relationships with diverse stakeholders, and organizational effectiveness.

About Right To Play

Right To Play protects, educates, and empowers children to rise above adversity using the power of play. For 25 years, we have been a global leader in helping children learn and improve their well-being through play. We reach millions of children each year in 14 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Indigenous communities in Canada, helping them to stay in school and learn, overcome prejudice, heal from trauma, and develop the skills they need to thrive. We do this by harnessing play, one of the most fundamental forces in a child’s life, to teach children the critical skills they need to dismantle barriers and embrace opportunities, in learning and in life.

Job Summary

The President and CEO is accountable for leading the vision of Right To Play International and all its subsidiary organizations and providing strategic leadership to ensure fulfilment of the mission and its growth. This role is accountable for overall organizational performance, specifically the achievement of the objectives related to strategy and innovation, social impact, financial viability, relationships with diverse stakeholders, and organizational effectiveness.

Strategic Organizational Growth

Responsible for the growth of the organization through innovation, development and the creation of new external opportunities and partnerships, new donors and fundraising prospects, and as the primary organizational spokesperson within the global community.

Strategic Planning

Oversees and guides the design and development of the organization’s vision and long-term strategic plan. Ensures National and Country Office strategic plans align with global framework and are implemented accordingly.

Organizational Leadership and Management

Leads, develops and manages the organization in accordance with its mission, values, strategic objectives, policies and systems to enable a fully integrated “One Right To Play”

Governance

Acts as link between the International Board of Directors (IBOD), its committees, National Boards and the organization. Executes Board directives as required across the organization. Creates the organization’s long-term strategic plan in consultation with and for approval by IBOD.

Financial Management

Ensures financial viability of the organization through oversight of the consolidated budgets. Reports the financial status of the organization to the IBOD on a quarterly basis.

Right to Play is seeking an experienced CEO with an innovative spirit and a proven track record of global leadership. The successful candidate will have experience managing complex governance structures and maintaining a balance between international and national entity governance.

They will be strong on resource mobilization, and have experience developing successful revenue strategies that respond to different and changing contexts and realities. The incumbent will have experience in one or more of the following areas: government, high net worth, legacy, and/or corporate fundraising. The incumbent will work with fund development across the organization to build funding strategies for the future.

The incumbent will bring with them ability to balance innovation and a track record of enabling strong processes and compliance. They will bring a strong orientation to partnership-building, an understanding of localization trends, and an ability to advance Right To Play’s localization strategy. They will have the ability to broker new business and drive change internally and externally.

The incumbent will have a proven track record of building a global organizational culture that drives trust and loyalty. They will be comfortable in the role of brand ambassador and bring with them experience in and an orientation towards thought leadership and profile-raising. The individual will be up to date and understand the world and the change currently happening within it; helping to forge a pathway for Right To Play for the future.

Key Competencies

• Strategy and vision: Envisions the future organization and can develop pathways to achieve it.
• Collaboration: Proven relationship-building skills and ability to work collaboratively and effectively with a wide variety of partners and donors.
• Growth mindset: Lifelong learner with capacity to grasp trends and emerging contexts.
• Leadership: Strong leadership and team spirit and an industry thought leader and innovator helping to shape the future.
• Integrity: Creates and promotes ethical practices internally and in all partnerships and coalitions.
• Communication: Excellent oral and written communication, representation, presentation, negotiation and influencing skills with fluent written and spoken English.
• Education: University educated, preferably with Master’s qualification in business, international development or a related discipline.
• Experience: Minimum five years’ experience at an executive level in an organization of similar size and comparable levels of international complexity.
• Sector knowledge: Understanding of international development and humanitarian aid sectors and current trends.
• Change management: Strong demonstrable experience of leadership capacity, including leading change management processes and innovation while retaining organizational effectiveness.
• Program knowledge: Knowledge of the issues children, communities and staff experience in contexts where RTP delivers its programs. Knowledgeable about play-based learning and its impact in child development.
• Board management experience: Significant experience working directly with a Board of Trustees
• External representation: Extensive experience of networking and influencing at the top level of governments, donors, foundations, corporations or academia
• Government relations: Knowledge of how government works and the ability to maneuver through political and bureaucratic structures well – can position RTP as a value add to political agendas