Under the overall authority of the Director of the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) and direct supervision of the Finance and Administrative Officer, the incumbent shall serve as Administrative Assistant in the Administration unit and shall assist in the execution of the administrative functions of IICBA in ensuring application and compliance with the rules, regulations, policies and practices of UNESCO are in place.
General Accountabilities:
Act as certifying officer up to the authorized level delegated by the CFO. Responds to queries and advises the various project teams, officers, managers and staff on application of organizational rules and procedures governing all functional areas under the post’s responsibility (i.e. budget and finance, physical assets, logistics and safety). Undertakes specialized support activities in these functional areas and provides senior level support to Office management.
Briefs project staff on general administrative matters and practices. Advises and assists project officers in office management and participates in meetings on day-to-day finance and administrative matters. Assesses utility of guidelines and procedures, identifies areas where current procedures prevent effective/ timely project and programme delivery, proposes changes and recommendations in keeping with the rules and regulations.
Provides regular and ad hoc financial and budgetary support to all programme staff to support informed decision making.
Regularly interacts with Office staff (Head of Office, programme and administrative staff) and with colleagues from HQ ADM corporate services (BFM, HRM, OPS) and regional/ cluster office, as applicable.
Contacts with beneficiaries, suppliers, UN agencies and local authorities are for the purpose of collection and exchange of information on the status of various transactions and for follow-up of issues.
Finance & Budget Accountabilities:
Provides financial accountability and control with respect to the funds administered by the Office establishing and maintaining ledgers and accounting records for various project accounts. Ensures correct and timely analysis, reconciling, investigations and reporting of project accounting data.
Assists the Project Officers and Coordinators and other project staff in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions; provides inputs into the preparation of allotments; monitors budget implementation/expenditures to ensure that they are within authorized level and in compliance with rules, regulations and procedures. Analyses project expenditure patterns and recommends reallocation of funds as necessary. In Collaboration with the AO, Certifies disbursements up to an authorized level. Administer day to day project budgetary issues and advises project officers accordingly.
Reviews and reconciles various clearing accounts to ensure proper balances relevant to project budget. Verifies various accounting transactions and checks bank statements against disbursements to ensure correctness of computations. Processes and monitors payments, verifies contract’s invoices against the goods and services provided relevant to extra budgetary projects. Prepares regular expenditure schedules/statement and quarterly/ year-end/ biannual statements for all project and programme under IICBA.
Liaises with project officers and other professional staff on the preparation of project financial statements and improvements to the quality of project financial reports. Monitor and advise on the financial status of projects and programs.
Programme Responsibilities:
Coordinate with programme assistant and help in the implementation of activities and ensuring documentation process for contracting, payment process and vendor creation are complete.
Assist programme and programme assistants in organizing meetings and events by arranging meeting facilities, travel arrangements and protocol related tasks. Assist missions of IICBA staff with travel arrangements, visas and other necessary related tasks.
Education:
Secondary education in business administration, accounting or related field
Work Experience:
At least 5 years of professional experiences in the domain of finance and/or administration at national or international levels.
Skills And Competencies:
Work involves provision of specialized administrative support services covering a series of financial, budgetary, including maintenance of project accounts, calculation and compilation of financial data as well as generation and preparation of routine reports.
While work objectives and methods are well-defined, there is a requirement to exercise judgement and to consider the intent of transactions, to identify anomalies, inconsistencies and errors and determine the corrective actions to support sound financial, budgetary and HR practices normally reviewed for accuracy and compliance with the established practices, procedures and instructions.
Independently processes a series of financial, budgetary and other administrative records.
Good knowledge of mechanisms of project management.
Excellent sense of communication, including capacity to draft correspondence with external partners.
Organizational and coordination skills, as well as ability to take initiatives.
Sense of confidentiality, discretion, tact and diplomacy.
Language:
Excellent knowledge of English and the working language of the the duty station.
