| Description |
Position: Middle-East Desk Assistant
Country: France
City: Clichy-la-Garenne (Hauts de Seine (92))
SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL is a French humanitarian organization which provides aid and assistance to victims of war or natural disaster. For over 35 years the association has focused on meeting three vital needs – water, food and shelter – by carrying out emergency programs followed by longer-term reconstruction projects. Whilst fully respecting the assisted populations’ customs and culture, SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL’s programs are implemented through the joint expertise of over 2,000 employees. Solidarités International is currently present in Africa (Central African Republic, Cameroun, South Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo), in Asia (Bangladesh, Myanmar), in Haiti, and in the Middle-East (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen).
The internship will take place within the Middle-East Desk, as part of the direction of operations (30 persons – also including 4 geographical desks and a technical department). The Middle East Desk is in charge of following the missions in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen and is comprised of: a Desk Manager, a Program Manager, a Project Development and Accountability Manager, a Logistics Manager, a Supply Manager, two Finance Managers, a Regional Access and Security Advisor, and a Regional Wash Specialist. The Middle East Desk Assistant will work under the joint supervision of the Finance Managers, the Program Manager, and the Project Development and Accountability Manager, and will take part in regular weekly and monthly meetings.
MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERNSHIP:
- To assist in the execution of accounting and financial management tasks;
- To assist in program and grants management functions including the planning, review and submissions of proposals and reports, and the regular updating of trackers and other follow-up tools;
- To ensure proper filing, archiving and centralization of program, grants and finance documentation;
- To facilitate communication between missions and HQ on program, grants and finance related matters.
DUTIES:
Accounting and Financial Management (50%)
Accounting
- Support the finance managers in all missions-related accountancy tasks
- Check the analytical and accounting allocations for all missions
- Assist missions’ administrative and financial coordinators in:
- The analytical allocation HQ produced invoices for missions purposes
- The analytical allocation of salaries/indemnities, insurance fees, flight tickets and other travel expenses of the expatriates
- Contribute to the accounting year end and mid-year reporting
- Learn to use accounting software like SAGA (mission) and Navision (HQ – for extraction only)
- Contract parameters (Excel file) check
Financial management
- Support missions: daily management of administrators’ queries
- Contribute to the missions’ budget follow-up check
- Contribute to the budgetary check of proposals to donors
- Contribute to the validation of the missions’ interim and final budgetary reports to donors
- Assist in the preparation of financial audits if any
- Contribute to the validation of cash flow forecasts
Program and Grants Management (50%)
- Assist with the planning, review, and submission of project proposals, modification requests, and reports, contributing to the submission of quality proposals and reports to donors; and providing translation support when necessary;
- Assist with the regular updating of trackers and other follow-up tools at mission and HQ level, including grants, reporting and donor relations follow-ups, project sheets, and upcoming deadlines tracker, contributing to deadlines monitoring and timely submissions to donors;
- Assist with the collection, management, and dissemination of grants management information and tools including donor guidelines and templates, , contributing to compliant development and implementation of projects.
As part of the above:
- Ensure proper filing, archiving and centralization of program, grants and finance documentation;
- Facilitate communication between missions and HQ on program, grants and finance related matters.
OUTCOMES OF THE INTERNSHIP:
- Discover how a NGO Headquarters works;
- Understand the relationships between the Field and Headquarters;
- Put project cycle management into practice;
- Understand the relationships between the different humanitarian actors;
- Develop knowledge of humanitarian donors’ requirements;
- Develop program, grants management and finance related knowledge and skills;
- Discover the functioning of a mission and its specific constraints;
- Discover the various working positions in the field.
- Master’s degree in a relevant field (for instance international development, humanitarian action, international relations, political science, project management, business or financial management, WaSH or agronomy studies);
- Excellent written and spoken English and French;
- Strong attention to detail, and excellent analytical, writing and synthesis skills;
- Accounting and financial training is not essential, but a facility with numbers and a strong willingness to learn is required;
- Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office, and especially of Excel, Word, and online research tools;
- Proactive and critical mind;
- Ability to organize and plan effectively;
- Interpersonal skills and diplomacy;
- Ability to work under stress;
- Genuine commitment to the principles and work of SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL.
– Intern with a mandatory internship agreement.
– Legal bonus of 15% of the current hourly social security ceiling.
– The bonus is calculated pro rata to the actual hours of attendance over the month. (On average 1 month = 154h, or 22 days of 7h/day)
– Public transport 50% covered by SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL
– Restaurant tickets at 8.90 € / effective day of training, with participation of SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL at 60%.
Please send your CV and Cover letter (both in English) to: Assist.Desk.Pink@solidarites.org no later than Sunday 1 December. Applications will be reviewed the week starting 2nd December; technical tests and interviews will take place the week after. We’d like the successful candidate to join our team Mid-December 2019 or early January 2020. |