NetherlandsRedCross recruits 01 Finance Delegate Central African Republic

NetherlandsRedCross recruits 01 Finance Delegate Central African Republic

We help to strengthen resilience of vulnerable people exposed to hazards and crisis situations and we respond to disasters and conflicts to save lives and alleviate suffering. In the Netherlands with more than thirty thousand volunteers and internationally through technical assistance, supplies and money. Together we act before, during and after disasters to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people.

We do this without regards to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinion. Our seven principles guide our humanitarian work: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

The International Assistance department is responsible for all Netherlands Red Cross international support for victims of disasters and conflicts and for vulnerable people exposed to hazards.

The International Assistance department has opened a vacancy for a Finance Delegate.

Position title:                    Finance Delegate

Duty station:                    Bangui, Central African Republic

Time period:                     12 months

Starting Date:                   April 2019

Status:                                Single posting

Purpose of the position

The main purpose of the position is to monitor, support and check financial processes for NLRC supported projects in Central African Republic.

Background

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked nation of 4.6 million people as of 2014, at 622,984 square kilometres, bordered by Cameroon to the west, Chad to the north, Sudan and South Sudan to the east, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo to the south. CAR is administratively divided into 16 prefectures (French: préfectures, and the capital city of Bangui, which is an autonomous commune. Each prefecture is governed by a local assembly called General Council (Conseil Général), presided by a Prefect (Préfet). The prefectures are further subdivided into 71 sub-prefectures. Since independence in 1960, CAR has three tumultuous decades of misrule – mostly by military governments.  Civilian rule was established in 1993 but lasted only a decade. Then followed another decade of instability and violence, which have severely impacted on its socio-economic development so that it ranks only 185 out of 187 in the UNDP Global Human Development Index. virtue of its geography and history, At least 08 armed groups are involved in the CAR crisis: In December 2012, the Séléka armed alliance began to advance across CAR in opposition to then-President François Bozizé. On March 24, 2013, Séléka fighters entered Bangui, effectively seizing control of the country and triggering a period of widespread violence. For the first time since independence, a force stemming from the Muslim population of the north and east of the country held the reins of power. The ensuing clashes between Seleka and anti-balaka forces generated strong intercommunal tensions that were exacerbated by the instrumentalization of religion, societal fractures and collective fears, reviving traumatic memories of the pre-colonial slave trade era. The CAR crisis has transitioned from a protracted forgotten crisis characterized by chronic underdevelopment and localized emergency situations, into more recently (2013), an acute humanitarian emergency affecting the entire population.  Following a transitional government period, CAR held presidential elections in December 2015 and February 2016—electing Faustin-Archange Touadéra as president. President Touadéra assumed the office of the presidency on March 30, 2016.  As of September, the security situation throughout CAR remained volatile, with continuing attacks against civilians, humanitarian workers, and peacekeeping forces. While relief agencies are working to assist conflict affected populations, ongoing insecurity and logistics constraints impede humanitarian operations, particularly in more remote areas of CAR. This internal conflict has resulted in increased displacements, systematic violation of human rights, including gender based violence include rape and forced sexual acts, physical and domestic violence, discrimination between wives in polygamous families, deprivation of food and clothing, female genital mutilation and witchcraft and disruption.

CAR is still facing both natural and manmade disasters. The first type of disasters is geophysical (landslides), hydrological (floods), climatological (bush-fires), meteorological (violent winds) or biological (epidemic outbreaks – cholera, measles, rabies meningitis – and insect/animal plagues – monkey pox). The second type of disasters in CAR is caused by humans: displaced populations, and road transport accidents. The humanitarian situation remained dire. As of October 2018, 636,489 Central Africans were internally displaced and 576,884 were refugees (mostly in neighboring countries). The security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) has affected the economic situation to a point that its comes to a slow-down of self-reproduction, what means a high dependency on importation even for stable food. The spontaneous return of a small number of internally displaced persons due to an improved security situation caused renewed intercommunal tension in some areas, especially in the south-western part of the country. Humanitarian access to affected people remained constrained by logistical and security challenges, with recurrent attacks on humanitarian actors. Attacks by and hostilities between armed groups, in addition to conflicts related to transhumance, caused new displacements.

The Netherlands Red Cross in Central African Republic

The NLRC supports the Central African Republic Red Cross (CAR RC) through a programmatic partnership, with longer term development assistance through two main projects: Response Preparedness funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Future Generation project funded by the Dutch radio 3FM. The first project focuses on enhancing preparedness of the National Society CAR RC to respond to future disasters with an aim of having by the end of  April 2020 the impact of disasters on  37, 500  vulnerable people in CAR reduced. The second project addresses the social cohesion theme with specific attention to youth. The overall aim of the 3FM project is by the end of 2018, 5,000 youth are more resilient to the consequences of conflict and able to shape their personal and economic development.In addition, NLRC supports the CAR RC with strengthening its capacities to effectively provide services to the most vulnerable communities and assists the partner in the  coordination within the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and other stakeholders.

A new project will be submitted to The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs focusing on livelihoods and basic needs for the youth: By 2020, 5000 vulnerable youth are economically and socially integrated through economic empowerment, first aid trainings promoting peace due to trainings in 7 principles, Conflict management, social cohesion and SRH (including SGBV awareness). Awaiting the answer from the donor and the start of the project, NLRC is starting resourcing for the project and the aim is to recruit a financial delegate for this project who could support as well for the other projects. The aim is to ensure good financial management for this mission in CAR. CAR RC has limited experience with external donor reporting, and lack of qualified personnel to ensure compliance with procedures and identify irregularities. The Finance Delegate key role will be to provide capacity building to NLRC and local staff based in-country as well as supporting the National Society in setting up financial procedures, capacity building and financial knowledge empowerment.

Position in the organization

The Finance Delegate reports to the Country Representative in CAR  with continuous alignment with the  Financial Controller based in the Netherlands. The Finance Control unit sits within the International Department of the NLRC. For matters relating to security and other issues relating to deployment in CAR, the Finance Delegate reports to the Country Representative in CAR.  The Finance Delegate works together in day to day operations with CAR RC, NLRC Project Delegates, Country Representative and local staff. Close cooperation & frequent communication with Project Administration, Desk, Financial Control at HQ is also essential.

Summary statement and responsibilities

• Monitor and ensure that the financial management at field level is carried out in accordance with NLRC guidelines, the agreed contractual conditions, MoUs, applicable local laws and other regulatory requirements.
• Capacity building: Assist CAR RC in their financial administration, suggest improvements in procedures and practices (improving the financial procedures/collaboration between NLRC and CAR RC cash advances, signatures, delays to close advances, etc… Supporting CAR RC in revising their Admin/finance/purchase procedures and supporting the local financial assistant in her daily tasks/capacity building) including on job training and quarterly meetings
• Work with the local financial and administrative officer and train on the execution of the project administration at field level.
• Support the monthly financial reporting to NLRC for the project(s), in coordination with the country representative/project manager, to steer and manage the project funding.
• Review the reported project expenditures including balance report and procurement table, provide feedback to country and NLRC HQ teams.
• Verify the project administration assuring this is audit proof, including reconciliation with the financial administration of the sister NS and that payments can be made according to plans.
• Ensure that the annual financial report to the partner organisations is correct & complete and verify that supporting documents are complete and in compliance with NLRC procedures and donor requirements, and ensure coherence with the narrative reports.
• Train the NLRC Project Delegates & local finance staff in the NLRC procedures for: internal control, financial planning, budgeting, budget revisions. Winpaccs Cost Control: encoding of vouchers and variance analysis; forecasting, cash request and reporting requirements.
• Monitor the budget of the delegation and the project(s), and ensure accurate accounting, authorisation and internal control procedures. Investigate and address significant variances.
• Provide an end-of-mission report with findings, recommendations and action plans to the Project Managers/budget holders to follow up by Country Representative and desk.
• Any additional assignment upon request.

Requirements/Qualifications

Key qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Finance Administration, or other relevant degree
• Seven years of experience in financial management, accounting and control also managing and empowering finance teams
• At least five year experience in working for a humanitarian aid organisation outside of Europe
• Knowledge of Winpaccs Accounting and Cost Control preferable, or willingness to complete the relevant training
• Experience in preparing budgets, cash flow statements and financial plans
• Experience in developing financial reports, and provide support to ensure consistency with narrative reporting
• Experience with donor formats and requirements
• Strong communication and training / coaching skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including experience and proven competence in preparing financial reports and explanatory notes on deviations
• Experience in problem identification and solution analysis
• Excellent practical computer skills (including excellent command of Excel spreadsheets and accounting software, as well as strong competence in Windows, Word processing, internet and email)
• Fluency in French and English is required.
• Preferably experience in working for the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement.

Key competences

• Able to work in a team
• High degree of integrity, discretion, and personal conduct
• Flexible and adaptable to changing working conditions
• Self-motivated, with good judgment and initiative
• Ability to manage broad responsibilities with attention to detail
• Good interpersonal skills
• Stress resistant
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Hands on mentality

We offer

• A full time appointment (based on 40-hour work week) for 12 months.
• A flexible and human centred working environment in an international environment with a variety of international organizations.
• Well balanced employment conditions with space for initiative and development.

Applications:

Please send your resume in English and letter of motivation with reference to Annemieke van Teeffelen before March 17th by uploading your cover letter and resume through the following link: https://werkenbij.rodekruis.nl/en/Vacancy/Apply/125098

For more information about the position, you can contact Wbeaineh@redcross.nl or Skeizer@redcross.nl

For more information of the work of the Netherlands Red Cross please go to www.rodekruis.nl.  and www.rodekruis.tv.  NLRC on Facebook: Facebook.com/rodekruis  and Twitter: Twitter.com/rodekruis

Acquisition for this vacancy will not be appreciated