CHARITY JOBS IN AFRICA

Organization: Mercy Corps
Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 26 Nov 2014

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Finance Director is a member of the senior management team and part of the Mercy Corps Finance Department, and as such is responsible for all aspects of financial management of the country programs, working collaboratively to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. S/he works under the direction of the Country Director and is responsible for all financial functions in South Sudan, including accounting, payments and banking, payroll, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and grant financial management and compliance. The Finance Director, in support of the Program Department, provides timely reports and assistance to the Country Director and the Program team to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively.

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

As Mercy Corps seeks to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression around the world, the events currently sweeping across South Sudan are rare moments of opportunity. Mercy Corps is interested in strengthening its presence for early as well as longer term programming for South Sudan, including those who have been displaced.

Mercy Corps has been operational in South Sudan since 2005 and is currently engaged in series of development and resiliency programming in the north of the country. Yet since the outbreak of fighting on December 15, 2013, Mercy Corps is launching emergency programming throughout its current areas of operation including: Warrup State (Twic County), Unity State (Bentiu, Koch and Leer) and the Abyei Administrative Area. Unity State in particular is caught in the crossfire of the violence and, as such, there is a significant and growing level of humanitarian need. The emergency response program in Unity State provides life-saving support to IDPs and host communities affected by the current fighting. Mercy Corps strategy in South Sudan is to ensure that Communities affected by war and natural disasters access lifesaving assistance coupled with pre-emptive livelihoods assistance and protective resilience building support.

South Sudan is currently in the midst a major humanitarian crisis impacting the entire country. The main thrust of the work of Mercy Corps along with her national and international partners for the next foreseeable future (12 to 14 months), is focused on meeting the urgent humanitarian needs across the country. As the complexity of the crisis unfolds and unleashes itself on millions of people, the heightened insecurity and continuous acts of violence and war are making the humanitarian response not only more challenging but also highly complicated, with battle lines changing on a weekly basis, making places that are safe one week, unsafe areas the next week and vice versa.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Strategy and Vision

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment of empowerment;
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve objectives and contribute to country-wide strategy development; and
• Member of the SMT.

Personal Leadership

• Consistently demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure, even under difficult circumstances;
• Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity; and
• Demonstrate an awareness of his/her own strengths and development needs.

Representation

• Interface with donor representatives to convey information about programs as appropriate;
• Communicate with partners and sub-grantees, to verify their systems and that they understand and follow all appropriate procedures and archiving;
• Participate in sharing best practices with NGOs and governmental agencies; and
• Effectively stay abreast of donor policies, procedures, rules and regulations; compile and update applicable local policies; and train Mercy Corps program and partner staff in these policies.

Team Management

• Hire, train and supervise Mercy Corps finance staff in country;
• Create a sustainable work environment of mutual respect that attracts motivated, skilled and effective team members and enables them individually and collectively to strive to achieve excellence;
• Supervise and lead a diverse team of direct and indirect reports in field offices;
• Contribute to country team-building efforts; build constructive internal relationships; help team members identify problem solving options and ensure integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes;
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews; and
• Provide team member with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.

Operations – Financial

• Ensure effective, transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures;
• Maintain banking relations and plan and monitor country cash flow requirements to ensure the smooth implementation of Mercy Corps programs;
• Maintain appropriate local insurance coverage in coordination with the Operations Department and HQ, to protect Mercy Corps;
• Perform internal audits and reviews as required to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps and donor requirements;
• Analyze compensation packages, taxation requirements and human resource policies for local staff to ensure that Mercy Corps’ has adequately accounted for the financial impact of local staff compensation and benefits;
• Develop annual fiscal year budgets with the Country Director and develop and implement grant budgeting and forecasting systems with Program Managers;
• Oversee and manage daily country-wide accounting and finance functions including the timely recording of transactions, cash management, banking, payroll, inventory, receivables, and payables;
• Plan and implement systems for financial operations in all the offices in accordance with the Mercy Corps Field Finance Manual and donor regulations, including systems for cash flow management, budgeting, consolidation of accounting information, internal controls, reporting, record-keeping, grant management and compliance; and
• Provide on-going technical support for drafting and reviewing budgets and financial narratives for new proposal development. Take the lead as appropriate in the budget development process including facilitation of review and feedback of budget by Mercy Corps HQ.

Compliance and Headquarters Liaison

• Review and monitor partners’ financial reporting and compliance. Provide additional technical assistance to partners as necessary to maintain high standards of compliance;
• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps’ procurement policies and procedures for all goods and services;
• Provide monthly standard accounting submissions to Mercy Corps Headquarters, including general ledger files, account reconciliations, expenditures by cost center/project, required sub-grantee reporting, as well as other financial information in a timely and accurate manner; and
• Cooperate with HQ to create donor reports and other financial reports as needed.

Reporting

• Provide monthly management reports to the Country Director, Head of Offices, Operations Manager and Program Managers, including expenditures by cost center/project, sub grantee reporting and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner; and
• Provide monthly standard accounting submissions to Mercy Corps Headquarters, including general ledger files, account reconciliations, expenditures by cost center/project, required subgrantee reporting, as well as other financial information in a timely and accurate manner.

Accountability:*Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.*

Organizational Learning:As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: All Finance Department staff

ACCOUNTABILITY

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO:Country Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH:HQ Regional Finance Officer (with authority for technical financial matters); members of Operations, Program Managers, TSU team members, and others.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• A BA/S or equivalent in accounting or financerequired; advanced degree preferred.
• At least 7 + years for Manager of progressive financial management experience, including supervisory experience required.
• At least 4 years’ experience in grants management as well as an understanding of donor (including USAID, UNDP, EC, DFID) regulations required.
• At least 3 years’ international experience required; international NGO/PVO field office experience is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience and skill with budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports.
• Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables and balance sheet.
• Experience of managing system change process
• Prior management experience and strong organizational skills.
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Excellent oral and written English skillsrequired; proficiency in (language) is (preferred/required).
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• Previous experience in insecure environments (if this is an insecure region).

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful candidate will have an ability to interact effectively across international and national program and finance teams successfully, both in a managerial as well as training capacity. S/he will be able to support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful financial information, have a demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. An impeccable professional standard of finance and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential. The Finance Director must be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

LIVING CONDITIONS:

The Finance Director is based in Juba, South Sudan. The location is unaccompanied and insecure. Housing is group accommodation with limited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. There is limited access to medical services. This position requires 20% of travel by air and road to field offices in insecure environments.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

How to apply:

Please apply directly at:
http://mercycorps.silkroad.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.dspjo...