Regional Finance Officer, based in Senegal, Dakar.


Description
REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.
IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.


Mission
We are currently looking for a Regional Finance Officer to support our team in Senegal.
Starting Date: ASAP


Country profile
The office in Senegal will be a regional office with no in country operations for now. This office will serve 4 functions:

• Provision of technical backstopping and surge capacity
• Hosting of staff from country missions facing administrative and security constraints
• Providing Project Development & Finance support to all countries in the region
• Engagement with regional counterparts for fundraising and advocacy purposes
• Harmonisation of research and consolidation of analysis


Functions
The Regional Finance Officer will be responsible for ensuring high quality & accurate financial reporting and sound financial management of the IMPACT-managed activities, as well as for providing oversight to the finance teams in the countries where IMPACT operates. The RFO supports country teams, notably the REACH dedicated Finance Officers (FO), in ensuring effective and timely financial management of the IMPACT-managed programmes and assists the Country Coordinators in ensuring effective and timely financial management of the country offices.
The RFO report directly (hierarchical line) to the global Head of Finance (HoF), who (in consultation with Country coordinators) will task him/her and monitor his/her performance.
When supporting a given country team (as decided by the HoF), the work of RFO is also overseen by the Country Coordinator for all delivery (output) matters (i.e., financial reports, budgets, advice to local management, priority of tasks, training to staff etc.). The RFO will liaise on regular basis with ACTED Finance team as IMPACT/REACH is hosted by ACTED in the field.


Responsibilities
Financial Management and Reporting
• Proactively support REACH dedicated Finance Officers in preparing quality program budgets and timely submit financial reports to IMPACT HQ in accordance with IMPACT and donor specific guidelines.
• Prepare and maintain country annual accounts in accordance with IMPACT’s Financial Policies and procedures.
• Support the country offices to prepare the annual budget and revised forecasts on an accurate and timely basis as well as the calculation of shared support costs
• Prepare any regional budgets and forecasts as required, including the mapping of phasing of the multi-country programmes
• Prepare all financial donor reports in the region thanks to an access to IMPACT’s global accountancy systems and ensure submissions to donors are completed on a timely and accurately basis.


Financial Monitoring – Country Programmes
• Undertake visits to Countries to help ensure quality is maintained in all aspects of financial management;
• Review the monthly reporting tools prepared by each country office
• Coordinate and facilitate internal and external audits for country offices, as needed;
• Provide a gap fill service for the financial management of country programmes as required due to staff absence from leave or resignation.
• Serve as surge capacity resource in finance upon request.
Financial Monitoring – Regional Budgets and Multi Country Programmes
• Provide timely and accurate financial monitoring reports for the regional and MCP budgets
• Assist the Regional and MCP budget holders with variance and burn rate analysis on a monthly basis
• Ensure timely and accurate preparation of MCP external donor financial reporting
• Financial Systems Development & Capacity Building
• Assess the capacity of current country finance teams and make recommendations about training needs, organizational structure, and staffing changes;
• Develop training for finance staff, as well as program and other staff, on financial processes and the importance of financial compliance;
• Work with the IMPACT HQ to improve financial systems in the region and assist in introducing change where requested as part of the global improvement to provide timely and appropriate financial information to senior management team, project managers and budget holders;
• Provide suggestions and inputs to the continuous development of the financial administration procedures, routines, and SoPs



Profile
• Professional/academic qualification in finance or accounting (Master degree, audit or relevant field)
• Relevant experience of minimum 2 years in finance management and programming in an international NGO or International organization in the region
• Experience in preparing budgets, cash flow statements and financial plans.
• Experience in preparing narrative and financial reports.
• Demonstrated excellent knowledge of accounting software – SAGA / SAGE;
• Strong competency in Microsoft Office package;
• Good supervisory skills and communication skills;
• Good interpersonal communication and relationship building skills;
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced and dynamic environment;
• Attention to detail and a proactive, problem-solving approach are required;
• Prior team management experience required;
• Fluency in English and effective communication skills are required;
• Ability to travel internationally 30-40% and/or the ability to undertake temporary duty assignments to support country offices.


Compensation and benefits
For this position, salary between 1’980 CHF and 2’040 CHF monthly (before income tax), etc as well as a monthly living allowance of 300 USD
NB – IMPACT salaries are strictly determined by our salary grid depending on the grade of the position and the level of education of staff. A location-dependent security and/or isolation adjustment is then applied as a recognition that some staff are required to work in difficult places where living and working conditions are much more difficult than elsewhere.

• Accommodation and food provided in a guesthouse. Depending on the country situation, a contribution to a housing allowance of up to 75% of country-specific benchmark can be considered instead.
• Enrolment in Swiss private pension fund (Swisslife – approx. 9.975% of staff gross salary), health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance
• Accompanied status does not apply to this position.
• Flight tickets every 6 months & visa fees covered (in-country travel costs and professional expenses are fully covered)
• Contribution to the luggage transportation: between 20 and 100 kgs, depending on the length of the contract (+ luggage and personal property insurance)
• Annual leave of 36 days per year. Public holidays of the country of assignment. Family/compassionate leave when applicable.
• Predeparture induction – 3 days at IMPACT Initiatives’s HQ in Geneva + one week pre-departure training in ACTED HQ in Paris, including a 4-days in situ security training;
• IMPACT prioritizes the psychological safety of its staff and the health insurance provided covers, among others, up to 1000 € per year of psychosocial counselling fees