The Joint Peace Fund (JPF) is a multi-donor fund, established by international donors in 2015 to support Myanmar on the path to sustainable peace. The purpose of the JPF was to support national efforts to achieve a final and lasting settlement of ethnic armed conflict in Myanmar. Activities were focused on making the peace process itself more effective, supporting a more inclusive process, and paving the way to long-term peace by supporting political solutions to resolve decades of conflict.  This holistic focus – supporting a broad range of actors in the peace process from the negotiation of the top level leadership to community leaders working in villages in remote parts of the country - made it a unique project in terms of global peace support. With eight donors – Canada, European Union, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK, it represents a strong commitment to a peaceful future for all the many peoples of Myanmar.

The Myanmar peace process has been severely affected by the military takeover of February 2021 and its aftermath, which saw an ever-increasing spiral of violence descending upon the country, the appearance of numerous new armed actors, and a generalised civilian resistance to the military. 

The JPF is adapting to these evolving circumstances and will implement a revised strategy that will guide its work over the next few years. 
 Functional Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the JPF Fund Director, the Finance Senior Manager will be responsible for the following:

Operational Oversight:

• Lead the finance, grant and administration functions of the JPF.
• Lead implementation of operational aspects of JPF and UNOPS strategies. 
• Develop and implement a risk management plan to identify and manage risks across all implementing partners and attain a programmatic overview of risk exposure.
• Oversee the fund's fiduciary oversight mechanism, undertake assessments to identify and monitor risks and recommend and implement mitigation measures.
• Elaborate on and/or establish standard operating procedures and controls of the finance and grant workflow. 
• Take initiative to identify weaknesses, challenges, and legitimate solutions to simplify processes, design financial control tools and provide recommendations in compliance with broader UNOPS policies, rules and procedures.
• Support the Fund Director in the preparation and review of the annual work plan of the fund.
• Contribute to donor agreement updates and revisions.
• Coordinate the annual grant audit exercise and audits of IPs, conduct the quality checks of the audit reports, finalize UNOPS responses on the findings including through verification missions and resolve any IPs disagreements on the audit findings.
• Ensure compliance with UNOPS and Donors’ rules and regulations with respect to grant management and programme finance.
• Co-ordinate the annual audit of the fund and other verification missions, respond to the queries raised, and provide comments on the findings raised

Financial Management:

• Develop and implement a financial reporting and budgeting frameworks that facilitate better decision making and meets donors’ requirement 
• Advise Fund Director and the FB/WG on financial and grant management issues through a robust financial analysis and the grant data
• Develop tools and processes that are required for the continuation of delivery of  the fund’s grant and financial management responsibilities  in a highly volatile and complex operating context.
• Oversee fund’s financial planning, budgeting, monitoring and control of the fund. 
• Manage financial forecasting, reporting and updates for the FB and FBWG meetings.
• Perform robust cash forecasting to ensure liquidity is maintained at all times and funds are available for new commitments.
• Lead semi- and annual financial reporting obligations of the fund and contribute to the preparation of semi- and annual narrative reports
• Oversee and manage performance of the finance officer to ensure  maintenance of accurate and complete financial data of the fund including reconciliation, monitoring of expenditures against approved budgets and reporting on variances.
• Manage the donor contribution tracker, ensure timely submission of fund requests to donors and recording of the same in UNOPS ERP.
• Under the guidance of the Fund Director, develop and implement annual corporate KPIs (Delivery, NER, EA and ERA) of the fund and lead progress monitoring.
• Provide financial advice during the review of the JPF portfolio of grants.

Grant Management:

• Manage grant awards requests, drafting grant agreements and financial or other amendments thereof, using the approved templates ensuring that all agreements and amendments are constructed and issued in line with UNOPS legal and financial rules and regulations.
• Ensure quality control of grant expenditures by performing ongoing reviews, analysis and reconciliation of accounts. Investigation of discrepancies and initiation of timely corrective actions. Monitoring budgets in grant proposals and verification of their consistency with prevailing market rates.
• Manage Call for Proposals and advise on fee negotiation/cost as required.
• Verifications of reporting requirements and ensuring adherence to those requirements.
• Liaising closely with the Program and M&E teams on any delays, risks or other difficulties in grant management.
• Review payment requests and process payments based on the agreed payment schedules.
• Coordinate and monitor the grant closure process to ensure timely closure of all closed grants.

Capacity Assessment and Capacity Building:

• Oversee and suggest improvements for the review and update of the financial and operational capacity assessment approach of the FM, incorporating best practices and assessment tools.
• Ensure financial and operational capacity assessments of the IPs are conducted as necessary, and follow-up actions are managed and identified in the assessment reports.
• Coordinate IP capacity development and training in financial and organizational management.
• Manage day-to-day help and guidance to the IPs, coordinating with the Program Unit to ensure IP understanding of, and compliance with, financial and operational standards.
• Advise IPs in developing or strengthening their finance manuals and / or Standard Operating Procedures to guide their financial management and organisational activities and ensure accountability.
• Standardize, to the extent possible, IP capacity development efforts by UNOPS in Myanmar. 
• Conduct financial monitoring visits and prepare action plans for improvement.

Team Management: 

• Oversee and manage the work of Grants and Contracts team, finance officer and administration associate by establishing team objectives, key performance indicators and measurements, standards and expected results.
• Attract and retain talent and develop an agile and empowered team with the skills and competencies needed to ensure optimum performance and ability to respond to changing environment.
• Plan effectively and allocate resources to achieve goals and ensure the cost effective and appropriate use of resources in accordance with UNOPS standards of ethics, integrity and accountability framework.
• Promote teamwork and collaboration by providing the team with clear direction, objectives and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.
• Foster a positive work environment, respectful of both men and women, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed.
• Continuously assess team and individual performance and effectiveness and recommending changes and/or corrective actions in the team structure and/or operations to enhance and maintain effectiveness in changing environment.

Liaison & Coordination: 

• Liaison with PMO, Support Services and HQ team to solve financial, grant management, and administrative issues.
• Establish solid working relationships with key individuals across the range of implementing partners supported by the fund.
• Manage the information flows between the implementing partners and team through consistent and consolidated reporting using dashboards to provide a high-level overview of performance.
• Liaison with various units within UNOPS to facilitate delivery of the fund.
• Liaison with donors on financial matters and respond to queries from donors on grant and financial issues.
• Support the Fund Director in the preparation and coordination of Fund Board and Fund Board Working Group Meetings.
• Ensure smooth workflow and communication with Programme and Finance teams.
• Co-ordinate with MMCO procurement unit and the Programme team to ensure timely delivery of procurement cases.

Knowledge management and innovation: 

• Keep abreast of and incorporate latest/best practices, approaches and technology to enhance the programme delivery and results. 
• Institutionalise and share best practices and lessons for corporate development planning and knowledge building.
• Draft policy papers and/or recommend policy changes to align operations with changing environment.
• Lead the planning, implementation and organization of strategic capacity building of personnel, clients and stakeholders, especially in the field of grant management. 
• Coordinate with the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) for tailoring good practices to meet the specific needs of UNOPS Myanmar. 

 Education/Experience/Language requirements;

Education:

• A Master’s degree in business administration, finance, development studies or relevant discipline is required.
• A first level university degree (Bachelor's Degree or equivalent) in the mentioned subjects, in combination with 2 additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in project and financial management is required.
• Experience in fund / grant management operations is desirable.
• Prior experience working in Asia would be an asset.
• Experience in building and leading successful teams is an advantage.
• Good understanding of UNOPS Rules and regulations is an advantage.
• Experience in contract or/ and grant management would be an asset.

Languages:

• Full working knowledge of English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UNOPS language is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=26271#1