Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Vacancy Announcement No: FAO/08/2014
Deadline for Application: 12th Feb 2014   

Position Title: Junior Budget Assistant

Grade Level: SC-3

Contract Type: National Personnel Project   
 

Organizational Unit: FAO-Somalia

Duration: 3 Months, with possible extension

Anticipated start date:  Immediately
 General Description of task(s) and objectives to be achieved
Under the overall supervision of the Officer in Charge (O.I.C.) FAO Somalia and the direct supervision of the Senior Administrative Officer the Junior Budget Assistant will carry out the following duties.  Maintain a commitments register (contracts, purchase orders, travel authorizations, operating expenses) for assigned projects for the purpose of providing charge information to the Payments Desk. In consultation with project managers, charge payments to appropriate codes if not covered by commitments.Monitor expenditure against assigned project budgets and FBAs, and identify need for new FBAs, review and forward to HQ. Keep projects advised of status.Maintain the budget control sheets for all assigned projects, certify availability of funds for financial commitments and prepare Field Budget Authorization (FBA) requests when additional funds are needed.In consultation with managers of EC-funded projects, convert codes for field expenditure into EC format.Consult regularly, at least monthly, the official FAO financial records for all assigned projects available in its Data Warehouse, and reconcile local budget control sheets with them.Assist in the analysis of expenditure patterns and identify opportunities for cost containment.Report monthly to the Operations Manager on overall budget performance for all assigned projects using the Data Warehouse.Prepare budget reports as needed and on instruction from the Operations Manager or project managers.Assist project managers in developing budgets for project proposals.Identify need for budget revisions, and assist project managers in their preparation and review.Draft correspondence related to the above responsibilities.Minimum Requirements:

Education:

Secondary school education or equivalent commercial school. Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting or Commerce will be an advantage.Work Experience: Two years of clerical, administrative or accounting experience.

Languages:

Working knowledge (level C) of the FAO official language used for communication within the country (English, French or Spanish) and working knowledge of the local language(s) is required.Ability to effectively use standard office software, such as MS Office (Windows, Word, Outlook, Excel, Exchange) etc. Ability to use accounting software and other information systems and databases to insert data, make enquiries, retrieve/define ad hoc reports and analyses and edit results in appropriate format.Systematic, well structured and efficient approach to work assignments. Analytical ability, accuracy and consistency. Exercise diligence and care in dealing with records and expenditures. Interpersonal Communications and Teamwork Skills:The incumbent must possess a cooperative spirit, flexibility and openness to work in an international environment. Tact and courtesy. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural background.  To Apply:

Send your application to:
Candidates are requested to submit a covering letter quoting the Position Title and Vacancy Announcement No. FAO/08/2014 along with their current/detailed Curriculum Vitae and FAO Personal Profile Form (PPF) available http://www.fao.org/employment/irecruitment-access/en/. 

E-mail is the preferred means of receipt and the application should be sent to HR-Somalia@fao.org

Applications must be received by the deadline.  

Late applications will not be considered.

Only short listed candidates meeting all essential qualifications will be contacted.

Social Protection Actors Forum (SPAF)
The Social Protection Actors Forum (SPAF) is a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other Non-State Actors (NSAs) committed to support social protection in Kenya, through promotion of citizen’s engagement in the development, implementation and evaluation of social protection interventions in Kenya. SPAF advocates for the establishment of strong formal institutions for social protection in Kenya and is currently implementing an advocacy project whose overall objective is to ensure vulnerable populations realize social protection, and the right to social security as provided by the Constitution of Kenya. The project aims to stimulate demand for establishment of formal institutional frameworks to legally entrench social protection, enhance social services delivery and coverage.
SPAF conducts applied budget work to inform public policy making and investment in Social protection in Kenya and wishes to identify and articulate policy problems and concerns facing social protection in Kenya and will periodically research, analyze and publish information on policy developments and trends. This will ensure reduced ambiguity and enhanced focus on the most pertinent policy issues. The outputs of such analyses will be prepared and packaged to include viable policy alternatives developed with strong evidential support (quantitative and qualitative) to ensure the best chance of success for the advocacy agenda.
Applied budget work is critical to enabling citizen engagement with policy makers on matters relating to resource allocation and expenditure, including: transparency, accountability, participation, adequacy, priority, progress; and equity.
The purpose is to work with SPAF to raise the level of budget literacy among civil society, and bring in more people into the policy debate, thus enhancing the quality of the national budget with respect to social protection.
Specifically, the consultant will: 
a. Lead in Budget Analysis by facilitating forum members, consultants and stakeholders to scrutinize the National Budget, so as to ascertain the extent to which fiscal allocations and expenditure reflect the government commitments to social protection;
b. Lead in  the establishment of Public Expenditure Tracking project at the national and county levels, through which  forum members, and civil society in general, can monitor public expenditure with a focus on  efficiency, adequacy and coverage of social protection benefits; 
c. Lead in the establishment of Participatory Budgeting model, through which communities can participate in preparation of budgets based on consultations at the County level.

3. Approach to the Assignment

Under the supervision of the SPAF National Coordinator and with technical support from Concern Worldwide Advocacy Programme Manager, It is expected that there will be two main areas of work: 
a.Economic analysis of social protection in Kenya:
The position will perform or supervise application of advanced quantitative methods to assess the relationships between fiscal expenditure and indicators economic and social rights realization;
Recommend an advocacy agenda to leverage increased public investment in social protection.
 a.An Analysis report of the 2012/13 National Budget, with reference to challenges and opportunities for implementation of the National Social Protection Policy;
b.Expenditure tracking and participatory budgeting at county level.
 The assignment is to be completed within a period of 5 months and is to commence in September 2012. Masters degree in economics, public policy, international development policyStrong quantitative skills, and competence in integrating qualitative findings into the analysis2 years minimum experience in social sector budget analysisDemonstrable experience of working with and contributing to broader policy dialogue in order to identify key bottlenecks for investment in Social ProtectionExperience of consulting and collaboration with senior government officials and stakeholdersProven experience of conducting public expenditure reviews and translate analytical findings into practical policy suggestionsStrong facilitation and interpersonal skills Fluent in English and Kiswahili.Applications are invited from suitably qualified applicants.
3.A detailed technical and financial proposal.

Applications should be sent to jlilah@spactorsforum.org and copy to victor.odero@concern.net by September 6th, 2012. 

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
SPAF is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Social Protection Actors Forum (SPAF), Kenya.

Background

The Social Protection Actors Forum (SPAF) is a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other Non-State Actors (NSAs) committed to support social protection in Kenya, through promotion of citizen’s engagement in the development, implementation and evaluation of social protection interventions in Kenya. SPAF advocates for the establishment of strong formal institutions for social protection in Kenya and is currently implementing an advocacy project whose overall objective is to ensure vulnerable populations realize social protection, and the right to social security as provided by the Constitution of Kenya. The project aims to stimulate demand for establishment of formal institutional frameworks to legally entrench social protection, enhance social services delivery and coverage.

SPAF conducts applied budget work to inform public policy making and investment in Social protection in Kenya and wishes to identify and articulate policy problems and concerns facing social protection in Kenya and will periodically research, analyze and publish information on policy developments and trends. This will ensure reduced ambiguity and enhanced focus on the most pertinent policy issues. The outputs of such analyses will be prepared and packaged to include viable policy alternatives developed with strong evidential support (quantitative and qualitative) to ensure the best chance of success for the advocacy agenda.

Applied budget work is critical to enabling citizen engagement with policy makers on matters relating to resource allocation and expenditure, including: transparency, accountability, participation, adequacy, priority, progress; and equity.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose is to work with SPAF to raise the level of budget literacy among civil society, and bring in more people into the policy debate, thus enhancing the quality of the national budget with respect to social protection.

Specifically, the consultant will:

a. Lead in Budget Analysis by facilitating forum members, consultants and stakeholders to scrutinize the National Budget, so as to ascertain the extent to which fiscal allocations and expenditure reflect the government commitments to social protection;

b. Lead in the establishment of Public Expenditure Tracking project at the national and county levels, through which forum members, and civil society in general, can monitor public expenditure with a focus on efficiency, adequacy and coverage of social protection benefits;

c. Lead in the establishment of Participatory Budgeting model, through which communities can participate in preparation of budgets based on consultations at the County level.

Approach to the Assignment

Under the supervision of the SPAF National Coordinator and with technical support from Concern Worldwide Advocacy Programme Manager, It is expected that there will be two main areas of work:

a. Economic analysis of social protection in Kenya:
The position will perform or supervise application of advanced quantitative methods to assess the relationships between fiscal expenditure and indicators economic and social rights realization;

b. Advocacy:
Recommend an advocacy agenda to leverage increased public investment in social protection.

Outputs a. An Analysis report of the 2012/13 National Budget, with reference to challenges and opportunities for implementation of the National Social Protection Policy;

b. Expenditure tracking and participatory budgeting at county level.

Timeline The assignment is to be completed within a period of 5 months and is to commence in September 2012.

Consultant Profile 1. Masters degree in economics, public policy, international development policy 2. Strong quantitative skills, and competence in integrating qualitative findings into the analysis 3. 2 years minimum experience in social sector budget analysis 4. Demonstrable experience of working with and contributing to broader policy dialogue in order to identify key bottlenecks for investment in Social Protection 5. Experience of consulting and collaboration with senior government officials and stakeholders 6. Proven experience of conducting public expenditure reviews and translate analytical findings into practical policy suggestions 7. Strong facilitation and interpersonal skills 8. Fluent in English and Kiswahili.

View the original article here

Budget & Financial Analysis Officer

Brief Description

Reporting to the Business Support Manager and working closely with the Chief Accountant, the job holder will play a major role in implementing effective and value adding ABC budgeting, assisting the creation of business plans, models, analytical and reporting systems and tools that provide scheduled and on demand information, trends and business reports and ratios that help to plan and interpret business results and decision impacts on a continuous basis.

Description

Position Title: Budget & Financial Analysis Officer, Nairobi, Kenya

About Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies was conceived in 2007 out of the belief that giving every child access to a high quality education would have the greatest impact on reducing poverty worldwide.

With that guiding insight, Bridge International developed a strategy that would enable it to launch a large-scale network of high-quality, ultra low-cost, for-profit primary schools.

Operating a network of schools supported by a strong central headquarters gives Bridge International the scale, experience, and capacity to invest in systems of management, support, training, and innovation that allows individual schools to dramatically increase their effectiveness.

Using this model, Bridge International is able to profitably deliver high-quality education for $4 per child per month. This ensures that its academies will continue to successfully serve its communities as long as parents value the educational service provided.

The first Bridge International Academy launched successfully in Kenya in 2009 and 60 academies will be operating in Kenya in January 2012. Through rapid and strategic expansion, Bridge International will provide a quality education to over a million students in the coming years.

About this position

This is a key role within the finance department and working very closely with all heads of department. The finance department vision is to always be a valued business partner providing high quality and timely financial services.

Reporting to the Business Support Manager and working closely with the Chief Accountant, the job holder will play a major role in implementing effective and value adding ABC budgeting, assisting the creation of business plans, models, analytical and reporting systems and tools that provide scheduled and on demand information, trends and business reports and ratios that help to plan and interpret business results and decision impacts on a continuous basis.

Working closely with finance and business team leaders, the individual should be a hands on player and a quick learner

Key Areas of Responsibilities:

Development of templates and tailor made reports and analysis within the Navision Budget framework and account schedules and dimensions in line with standard and non routine demands of the finance and non finance team leadersAnalyse business activities in all departments and develop activity tracking and planning templates to serve as inputs for the budgeting and forecasting processCollect appropriate finance and non finance data and prepare budgets and forecasts for review and approval.Create rolling forecasts of profit and loss, balance sheet and cashflow items every month for use in day to day decisions and review of financial performanceInput budget and forecast data into the Navision budget moduleSupervise the budgeting data delivery time table to meet tight deadlines and assure quality of informationCreate complex but value adding graphs and ratios that help interpretation of trends for decision planning and reviewBuild appropriate tools to ensure quick feedback to operations department even with high growth of business projects and activitiesInitiate, train staff and implement ABC budgeting systems and budgetary control and reporting across the businessAnalyze costs and revenue drivers and support business leaders in their day to day decisionsTrain managers on budget and forecasting processes and toolsChampion continuous improvement projects in a structured way and seek opportunities to increase efficiency of the budgeting, forecasting and reporting tools Assist the Business Support manager and Chief Accountant on a day to day basisQualified accountant with ACCA/ CIMA or CPA, business degree from a reputable university and excellent academic and professional recordMinimum of 3 years work experience in a manufacturing, supply chain or other environments that has provided excellent skills in building and managing enduring and value adding budgeting and forecasting systems with ability to communicate and work with non finance managers and staff in a rapidly growing companyExperience of financial reporting and consolidation in a complex multinational organization, or of the internal or statutory audit of such organizationsExperience of working with medium to high exposure of business analysis, communication and support for large and fast growing profit oriented organizations.High integrity, IT literacy and excellent attention to detailPeople skills and superior presentation abilities is a major requirementExcellent awareness of current technical accounting and reporting requirements and the ability to apply these requirements in a pragmatic and commercial mannerAbility to plan and manage own workload and coach/mentor team members in order to harmonize work flows and meet tight deadlinesExcellent spreadsheet skills and proficiency with Microsoft Dynamics (Navision) version 2009Ability to use initiative and creative thinking to anticipate issues and develop common sense and practical solutionsProactive and self motivated with excellent communication skillsConfident and flexible team player with great ability to work closely with non finance team members within a multicultural environmentA “finisher” with the genuine drive and commitment to produce the highest quality work and to deliver technical expertise at all timesPassionate about children and education in Africa.

View the original article here

Budget & Financial Analysis Officer

Brief Description

Reporting to the Business Support Manager and working closely with the Chief Accountant, the job holder will play a major role in implementing effective and value adding ABC budgeting, assisting the creation of business plans, models, analytical and reporting systems and tools that provide scheduled and on demand information, trends and business reports and ratios that help to plan and interpret business results and decision impacts on a continuous basis.

Description

Position Title: Budget & Financial Analysis Officer, Nairobi, Kenya

About Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies was conceived in 2007 out of the belief that giving every child access to a high quality education would have the greatest impact on reducing poverty worldwide.

With that guiding insight, Bridge International developed a strategy that would enable it to launch a large-scale network of high-quality, ultra low-cost, for-profit primary schools.

Operating a network of schools supported by a strong central headquarters gives Bridge International the scale, experience, and capacity to invest in systems of management, support, training, and innovation that allows individual schools to dramatically increase their effectiveness.

Using this model, Bridge International is able to profitably deliver high-quality education for $4 per child per month. This ensures that its academies will continue to successfully serve its communities as long as parents value the educational service provided.

The first Bridge International Academy launched successfully in Kenya in 2009 and 60 academies will be operating in Kenya in January 2012. Through rapid and strategic expansion, Bridge International will provide a quality education to over a million students in the coming years.

About this position

This is a key role within the finance department and working very closely with all heads of department. The finance department vision is to always be a valued business partner providing high quality and timely financial services.

Reporting to the Business Support Manager and working closely with the Chief Accountant, the job holder will play a major role in implementing effective and value adding ABC budgeting, assisting the creation of business plans, models, analytical and reporting systems and tools that provide scheduled and on demand information, trends and business reports and ratios that help to plan and interpret business results and decision impacts on a continuous basis.

Working closely with finance and business team leaders, the individual should be a hands on player and a quick learner

Key Areas of Responsibilities:

Development of templates and tailor made reports and analysis within the Navision Budget framework and account schedules and dimensions in line with standard and non routine demands of the finance and non finance team leadersAnalyse business activities in all departments and develop activity tracking and planning templates to serve as inputs for the budgeting and forecasting processCollect appropriate finance and non finance data and prepare budgets and forecasts for review and approval.Create rolling forecasts of profit and loss, balance sheet and cashflow items every month for use in day to day decisions and review of financial performanceInput budget and forecast data into the Navision budget moduleSupervise the budgeting data delivery time table to meet tight deadlines and assure quality of informationCreate complex but value adding graphs and ratios that help interpretation of trends for decision planning and reviewBuild appropriate tools to ensure quick feedback to operations department even with high growth of business projects and activitiesInitiate, train staff and implement ABC budgeting systems and budgetary control and reporting across the businessAnalyze costs and revenue drivers and support business leaders in their day to day decisionsTrain managers on budget and forecasting processes and toolsChampion continuous improvement projects in a structured way and seek opportunities to increase efficiency of the budgeting, forecasting and reporting tools Assist the Business Support manager and Chief Accountant on a day to day basisQualified accountant with ACCA/ CIMA or CPA, business degree from a reputable university and excellent academic and professional recordMinimum of 3 years work experience in a manufacturing, supply chain or other environments that has provided excellent skills in building and managing enduring and value adding budgeting and forecasting systems with ability to communicate and work with non finance managers and staff in a rapidly growing companyExperience of financial reporting and consolidation in a complex multinational organization, or of the internal or statutory audit of such organizationsExperience of working with medium to high exposure of business analysis, communication and support for large and fast growing profit oriented organizations.High integrity, IT literacy and excellent attention to detailPeople skills and superior presentation abilities is a major requirementExcellent awareness of current technical accounting and reporting requirements and the ability to apply these requirements in a pragmatic and commercial mannerAbility to plan and manage own workload and coach/mentor team members in order to harmonize work flows and meet tight deadlinesExcellent spreadsheet skills and proficiency with Microsoft Dynamics (Navision) version 2009Ability to use initiative and creative thinking to anticipate issues and develop common sense and practical solutionsProactive and self motivated with excellent communication skillsConfident and flexible team player with great ability to work closely with non finance team members within a multicultural environmentA “finisher” with the genuine drive and commitment to produce the highest quality work and to deliver technical expertise at all timesPassionate about children and education in Africa.