Background
This position is located in the Operations and Advocacy Division (OAD), in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response efforts. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.
The Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF) is a country-based pooled fund (CBPF) intended to support coordinated humanitarian action, in line with the Humanitarian Response Plan, and to address some of the most critical needs, which are of strategic priority and which would otherwise would go unfunded. The UHF will allow donors to pool their contributions into single, unearmarked funds to support local humanitarian efforts, which will, in turn, not only enable a coordinated, flexible and inclusive humanitarian response, but also strategically maximize available resources.
The position of Assistant Finance Officer/Pooled Fund is based in Mykolaiv (the duty station may be subject to change, as the operational situation in the country evolves), Ukraine. Under the overall supervision of the Deputy Fund Manager, the incumbent will report to the Finance Officer.
The Assistant Finance Officer/Pooled Fund is expected to help strengthen OCHA’s humanitarian financing, programmatic, reporting quality, follow-up, and support the Humanitarian Financing Unit’s (HFU) senior management in the same. Main duties will include supporting the correct running of the Grant Management System-based allocation and reporting timelines, sensitization and awareness-raising among NGOs and participating United Nations Organizations of them UHF’s work, and supporting reporting and monitoring activities, or other functions as required.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Financial review
- Financial management
- Budget administration
Financial Review:
- Facilitate the review and revision process of project proposals in consultation with sector leads and other technical partners and advise organizations on recommended revisions, assisting them in revision drafting if required, and submit it to the Certifying Finance Officer for clearance.
- Support the review of grant agreements and supporting documents to ensure accuracy, consistency, reasonableness and compliance with the United Nations Financial Regulations and Rules (UNFRR) and the Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF) Guidelines.
- Support the review of budgets, budget revisions, reprogramming, or No-Cost Extension requests.
- Conduct market cost survey for items commonly purchased under UHF projects and maintain a database to support cost-effectiveness analysis of UHF proposals.
- Reconciles advisory reports from HQ with UHF records on project performance status and financial statements.
- Communicate concerns about proposals, project documents, or implementing partners.
- Assists in the preparation of financial analyses for the UHF Annual Reports and other progress or ad-hoc reports.
Financial management:
- Conduct partner sensitization on UHF procedures and guidelines for accessing grants, as well as regarding compliance with the United Nations Financial Regulations and Rules (UNFRR) and the Guidelines for Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF) through participation in meetings and workshops.
- Support the preparation of and execution of the Grant Agreements to be signed by the partners and the HC, follow up on requests to the CBPF Section at the HQ to arrange for fund transfers to partners and notify the recipient partners of status of payments.
- Assist UHF staff and its stakeholders regarding queries on payment and deposit-related issues.
- Track, collect, and review financial reports from the UHF partners to ensure accuracy and compliance with UHF guidelines and project budget and provide feedback to partners as necessary.
- Assist in tracking project spending and ensure that future payments are approved based on satisfactory financial reporting and justification of previous advances.
- Conduct financial spot-check visits to partner offices, in line with operational modalities and UHF guidelines.
- Report financial outcomes to the Finance Officer along with the recommendations to partners following the financial spot-check visits to partners.
- Support the Finance Officer in arranging project and/or partner audits of the UHF funded partner projects, help facilitate audit visits, review audit reports, keep records of partners’ performance, provide feedback to partners, and support the process of recovery of funds if necessary.
- Liaise with relevant OCHA sections in HQ.
Administration:
- Support the Finance Officer in liaising with companies carrying out contractual services on behalf of the UHF and provide support and information as and when required.
- Stay up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to program budgets and the UHF in general.
- Prepare documents and reports for country-level coordination forums.
- Performs other duties as required.
Competencies
Professionalism
- Shows pride in work and in achievements;
- Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
- Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
- Motivated by professional rather than personal concerns;
- Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges;
- Remains calm in stressful situations.
Accountability
- Takes ownership for all responsibilities and honours commitments;
- Delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards;
- Operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules;
- Supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments;
- Takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
Client Orientation
- Research potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct, and appropriate fashion;
- Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
- Establishes, builds, and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients;
- Actively supports the interests of the client by making choices and setting priorities to meet their needs;
- Anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing
- Generates new ideas and approaches, research best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
- Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches;
- Identifies and communicates opportunities to promote learning and knowledge sharing.
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise
- Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
- Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
- Analyzes the requirements and synthesizes proposals;
- Strives to keep job knowledge up to date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
- Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in finance, business management, public administration, Economics, accounting or other related fields. Bachelor`s degree with 2 additional years of relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of Master’s degree.
Experience:
- Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience. Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in finance and accounting, program management, administration, crisis/emergency, project management, budget management or other related area is required.
- Experience with audit, financial spot-check, and/or financial report review is desirable.
- Experience in capacity assessment of partner organizations is desirable.
- Experience with project management, budgeting and proposal writing is desirable.
- Experience in a humanitarian context within the UN Common System or other comparable international organization is desirable.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English and Ukrainian (written and spoken) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.
Equal opportunity
As an equal opportunity employer, UNOCHA values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.
UNOCHA is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.
Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority
UNOCHA does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.
Probation
For all new UNOCHA fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNOCHA under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Right to select multiple candidates
UNOCHA reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNOCHA at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
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