Chief Executive Officer at Action Appointments

The Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, known as the EDP, is an independent, not-for-profit, public benefit company that works with a range of partners to improve the performance of the Cape Town and Western Cape socio-economic development system. The EDP supports leaders and institutions from different sectors – public, private, community, civil society, research and academia – to work together to grow the economy and to address complex system challenges.

Based in Cape Town, the EDP is currently seeking to replace the founding CEO who will be stepping down early next year.

Chief Executive Officer

The EDP CEO, reporting to and working closely with the EDP Board, will be responsible for leading the organisation into its next decade. This will involve supporting the organisation to broaden its focus to partnering for human, social, economic, physical and spatial development, and a just transition to a low carbon future.

Key accountabilities for the CEO role include:

• Upholding the reputation of the EDP as an independent, effective and uniquely collaborative intermediary organisation.
•  Leading, guiding and managing the EDP team with a specific focus on growing the financial and organisational capacity of the organisation for scaling up impact.
• Delivering concrete partnering solutions for partners.
•  Maintaining close relationships with existing public sector partners and building strong relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders and other partnering institutions and networks nationally and globally.
•  Diversifying the fundraising and business income streams to ensure sustainability.
•  Building the entrepreneurial practice and culture of the organisation.

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Key Criteria for the CEO role

This servant leader, collaborative in nature, will possess a solid track record in heading up and guiding an organisation, government department or corporate through a transitional or expansion stage. We are looking for a strategic executive manager with a deep understanding of the complexities of the societal challenges our country faces and a practical understanding of the support required in the intermediary spaces to promote partnerships to deal effectively with these challenges.

Applicants should possess the following key qualities, experience and skills:

Key Qualities and abilities:

• Dynamic, emotionally intelligent, empathetic and collaborative leader who embraces the challenges of working in intermediary spaces.
• Ability to create compelling vision that motivates commitment, input and participation.
• Ability to translate divergent perspectives.
• Embrace diversity and difference, and work affirmatively with difference.
•  Strong financial experience, acumen and ability, and a good track record in fundraising and growing income from a diverse range of sources.

Knowledge, experience and understanding of:

• Developmental needs of diverse communities.
• Systems thinking and practice and system and stakeholder mapping.
• Dealing with complex issues and processes in contested, low-certainty, low-trust environments.
• Adaptive governance, leadership and management.
• Collaboration and partnering methodologies, frameworks and practices.
• Role and function of collaborative intermediary organisations.
• Public policy, governance, regulatory compliance and planning processes.
• Human behaviour and organisational culture change.
• Transition management.
• Transdisciplinary research.
• Fundraising and managing donor relationships.

Key Skills:

• Collective problem solving.
• Strategic planning and implementation.
• Facilitate win-win outcomes.
• Convene diverse stakeholders.
• Communication to diverse audiences and target markets.
• Strategic use of social media.

3 year contract with a possibility of renewal subject to performance.

Please view the full job description and application instructions on the vacancies page at

www.actionappointments.co.za and email your application by Monday 25^th July 2022 to tracy@actionappointments.co.za.