Senior Finance and Contract Officer
GIZ- Internal/External Vacancy Announcement #180/2017
GIZ-SURED-ISFM
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development policy objectives. GIZ promotes reforms and change processes. In Ethiopia, GIZ has been working for more than 50 years in bilateral cooperation on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and on commission of the Ethiopian government and international donors.
The Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP) is one of the Flagship programs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Ethiopian government. It has been designed under the long-term (2009-2023) Ethiopia Strategic Investment Framework for Sustainable Land Management (ESIF) and the Agricultural Sector Policy and Investment Framework (PIF). Both are designed to strengthen domestic and foreign support as well as planning of investments that contribute to Ethiopia’s agricultural growth and development agenda for addressing issues related to the existing challenges related to land and water resources.
GIZ has been supporting the implementation of SLMP since 2008 in different forms in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray regions. Starting from 2015, GIZ SLM has increased its geographical coverage and included three additional regions, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and Southern Nations Nationalities Peoples’ Region.
GIZ-SURED (Sustainable Use of Resources for Economic Development 2018–2020) will be focussing on the economic development and sustainable utilization of rehabilitated areas.
GIZ’s global programme, “Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security” implements two projects in Ethiopia, the “Integrated Soil Fertility Management Project (ISFM+)” in the highlands and the “Afar Soil Rehabilitation Project (ASRP)” in lowland areas. ISFM+ is a component project of GIZ-SURED while ASRP is part of the GIZ programme “Strengthening Drought Resilience of the Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Population in the Lowlands of Ethiopia”. With complementary funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a new project entitled “Supporting Soil Health Interventions in Ethiopia – SSHI” aims at providing proof of concept for the impact of leveraged geo-spatial soil, agronomic, and health data on transformational agricultural development. The SSHI project operates under the ISFM+ project and will be implemented with the support of national and international consultants, in close collaboration with government and NGO partners, most importantly the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) and the newly established Ethiopian Soil Resource Institute (ESRI).
GIZ seeks an experienced and qualified Senior Finance and Contract Officer to facilitate and manage administrative (finance, procurement) processes as well as contractual agreements for the ISFM+ and SSHI projects.
Position: Senior Finance and Contract Officer
Remuneration: As per the GIZ scale
Application deadline: January 10, 2018
Place of Work: Addis Ababa
Tasks
Management responsibility
§ Manage staff in accordance with GIZ management principles and guidelines to promote a sense of corporate identity, enable employees to carry out tasks independently and create scope for developing creativity and innovation
§ Manage and coach staff, thereby ensuring the provision of cost-effective services
§ Carry-out annual staff assessments for staff members who report to him/her
Professional advisory tasks
§ Identify the need for external support and advice
§ Contribute to the implementation of project coordination and planning processes
§ Coordinate the design, preparation and implementation of workshops, seminars and other events
§ Identify administrative bottlenecks and develops alternative management options
§ Supervise the financial and budgetary activities of the projects.
§ Monitor real accounts (Cash and Bank accounts) of the projects
§ Prepare financial statements, and analyze variance in the budget along with narrative description of budgetary implementation and advise the management on its implication together with possible courses of action
§ Contribute to the development of public-private partnership initiatives
Management and coordination tasks
§ Prepare ToR for national and international consultants and ensure the timely finalization of the corresponding contractual agreements
§ Initiate and follow-up on national and international procurement processes as well as financing agreements, service as well as local subsidy contracts
§ Manage and coordinate outsourced audits of Implementing Partners (sub-grantees)
§ Respond to queries from donors, sub-grantees and auditors and prepare the required documents, where appropriate, delegate tasks to other staff members
Knowledge management
§ Ensure documentation and provision of the resulting knowledge to partners and donors, specifically BMGF and BMZ.
Required qualifications, competences and experience
Qualifications
§ Degree in business administration or finance or similar area
Professional experience
§ At least 5 years’ professional experience in a comparable position with management responsibility
Other knowledge, additional competences
§ Very good working knowledge of ITC technologies (email, internet) and computer applications (e.g. MS Office)
§ Fluent written and oral knowledge of English, basic knowledge of German a plus
§ Ability to motivate, coach and support staff
§ Strong result-orientation and proven ability to work independently
§ Team player