Compliance Coordinator - Kenya/Somalia

Country: Kenya

Organization: Concern Worldwide

Closing date: 12 May 2023

Job Title: Compliance Coordinator - Kenya/Somalia

Reports to: Systems Director – Kenya

Technically: Grant Compliance Unit in Concern HQ in Dublin.

Direct Reports: None

Liaises with:

Internally – Country Management Team, Programme Coordinators/Managers, Finance, Admin, HR and Logistics teams.

Externally - Partners staff and management.

Job Location: Nairobi, with regular visits to programme locations in Kenya and Somalia and partners in line with agreed work plan. (Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Kenya at the time of application - National Position)

Contract Details: Fixed Term , One(1) Year Contract, renewable subject to availability of funds.

Job Summary:

The jobholder will mainly be focusing on compliance and donor grant management, and will support the Systems Directors and CFCs by ensuring that proper financial and systems controls are in place, functioning effectively in line with Concern Worldwide and donors’ procedures and policies. This is a two-fold role, with both an assurance and an advisory aspect. On the assurance side the jobholder will be responsible for completing transaction testing, rectifying identified issues, and consolidating action points. He or she will be involved in rectifying issues identified as opposed to just making recommendations to address these issues. On the advisory side the jobholder will be responsible for advising various departments within Concern throughout every stage of the project life cycle. He or she will also be responsible for designing and delivering training workshops to Concern staff and implementing partner staff or supporting other staff members as and when necessary.

He or she will also support the Systems Directors and CFCs in ensuring that Concern’s partners are aware of relevant policies and procedures of Concern and donors.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

To ensure that there is sound financial systems, controls by:

• Testing internal controls, targeting particular high-risk areas (e.g. payment, cash voucher and procurement processes), documenting any weaknesses and making recommendations to address these weaknesses.


• Liaising with relevant staff to proactively ensure issues identified during the transaction testing are rectified. The Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for following up with relevant management on changes implemented to address issues identified


• Communicating and educating staff on compliance requirements and necessary practices for compliance to Concern and donors’ policies and requirements.


• Act as audit coordinator for donor audits which requires attendance at opening/closing audit meetings, coordinating staff members, reviewing the completeness of selected documents prior to submitting to auditors and responding to donor audit reports


• Maintaining a log of actions required from various audits/reviews and working closely with departments/partners to ensure that any issues identified are properly understood, improvement commitments are made and that their implementation is monitored.


• Attend Project Management Meetings held at the various stages of a project/grant (Opening, Interim and Closing) to ensure relevant compliance issues are discussed and understood.


• Support Grant Owners with their review of new donor agreements to ensure the main compliance requirements are identified.


• Periodically review grant files maintained on Concern’s Grant Management System (and in hard copy as required) to ensure that all relevant documents are filed and easily accessible.


• Liaise with other INGOs and networks and other relevant stakeholders for effective coordination and implementation of compliance issues.


• Occasionally attend key activities (e.g. tendering, large recruitments) as an observer.

Support partners in their donor compliance obligations (Local Partner Development & Support) by;

• Review partner assessment reports to identify capacity gaps and liaise with relevant staff to develop and execute an action plan in a timely manner.


• Visiting partners’ offices to conduct compliance testing and organize donor compliance training for Concern partners to address compliance gaps identified during testing.


• Making recommendations to the Country Management Team on compliance issues of Concern’s partners, with special focus on the key areas that require management attention for immediate improvement (findings rated as high risk).

Other Duties

• In conjunction with the respective CMT, considering what other training should be scheduled for staff and implementing partner staff. Liaising with Concern HQ to support these training needs. When requested by the senior management, assist in preliminary investigations of alleged frauds, mismanagement, loss of assets or any other investigation to a maximum of two fraud investigations per year.


• Undertake any other appropriate tasks that may be requested from time to time by your line manager.


• Participate and occasionally present on key compliance areas identified in the Global Concern Compliance Network held every two months.

Person Specification

Minimum Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Qualified Accountants (ACCA/CPA or equivalent)


• A degree in Commerce, Finance, Accounting or related field


• At least ten (10) years’ experience working in a finance/accounting/audit role.


• At least three (3) years internal or donor auditing experience.


• Knowledge of donors financial policies and procedures.


• INGO work experience would be advantageous, preferably in a finance or compliance position, with particular experience of institutional donors such as Irish Aid, EU, ECHO, FCDO, USAID


• Experience in developing and delivering training workshops and materials.


• Prior working experience in Somalia and context knowledge would be an advantage.


• Good communication and coordination skills; Fluent in spoken and written English


• Advance knowledge and experience of using Excel is MUST

Desirables & Special Skills:

• Ability to instruct and enforce adherence to rules and regulations


• Ability to organize and prioritize workload


• Good team player and capable of working with multicultural team.


• Ability to cope with stress; work under pressure often to strict deadlines.


• Facilitation and interpersonal skills.


• Alertness and vigilance to potential breaches in compliance

How to apply

Interested candidates, who meet the above requirements, should send a detailed CV with three referees and Cover Letter Only to nairobi.hr@concern.net with the subject of the email as "Compliance Coordinator’’ on or before Friday, 12th May 2023 ". Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview.

Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunity employer and does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (for application, written test, interview, training, medical examination etc.) nor act through recruitment agents. This is applicable for all opportunities including staff and interns.

Your Personal Data

During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on ensuring that the name of any employee or volunteer (existing or new), does not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will only be made following a successful clearance check being conducted on the applicant and such checks may be updated periodically during the course of the period of employment.

By submitting a formal application for paid or voluntary employment to Concern, you agree to Concern carrying out a clearance check as outlined above and that Concern will not proceed to recruit you should your name appear on any of the aforementioned lists

In certain circumstances, donors may request that personal data relating to employees to work on the activities that they fund be provided directly to them - so that they can perform their own counter terrorism checks. This may involve transferring some basic personal data outside the EEA. It will be a condition of your employment contract that Concern be allowed to share this information with institutional donors for these purposes.

ForadditionalinformationpleaseconsultourwebsiteorcontacttheHumanResourceDivisioninourHeadOffice.

You have certain rights under data protection legislation. For more information on how to exercise those rights please visit www.concern.net/about/privacy

Please only apply for this position if you are satisfied with the proposed processing of your personal data as outlined above.