Finance and Grants Officer at Plan International

Location: Mubi, Adamawa

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this role is to provide timely, accurate financial information and ensure that Grants expenditures are in line with specific FAD/donor requirements. The role’s support is to the BMZ Projects.

Dimension of Role

• Communicates within Plan International Nigeria and with partners and related government institutions.
• The post holder will contribute towards grant and financial management of the office and programmes, interfacing with both operational and programme team members.
• The post holder will also contribute towards the organisational development of Plan Internationals implementing partners.
  • Budgets - Monitor the budget of all BMZ Projects. 
  • Reporting - Support financial reporting on the BMZ Projects.
  • Area of Responsibility - All the BMZ Projects.

Key Roles/Responsibilities
Programme development & Quality Management  
Grants Administration: 

• Assist with the grants set-up in SAP.
• Support the full cycle of grants management activities beginning from pre-award assessments, monitoring/compliance visits and close-out procedures.
• Track grantee contractual obligations, e.g., pre-award conditions
• Support the Finance & Grants Manager – Humanitarian and project managers to prepare the annual grants budgets for all BMZ projects.
• Support the KP06 budget preparation and periodic upload in SAP.

Capacity Building and Support:

• Provide technical assistance in terms of accounting (use of SAP), financial management, financial policy formulation, and systems of internal control to all partners/grantees to ensure compliance in terms with donor rules and regulations.
• Support the assessments of partner/grantee organizations as directed by the Finance & Grants Coordinator and the Finance & Grants Manager-Humanitarian.
• Review partner budgets and provide assistance and guidance where necessary including the monitoring and interpretation of project budgets versus actual expenditures.
• Support, train staff and partners on donor policies, rules and regulations.
• Facilitate timely partner advance request and liquidation in SAP.
• Review Partners/grantee liquidation and recommend for approval.
• Conduct and document regular partner visits to ensure compliance with grant agreement.
• Ensure receipt of timely and accurate accounting and financial reports from partners.
• Monitor the partner burn rate and offer timely advice to the partner and programs team for prompt action and decision-making.
• Monitor and track grants related performance measurement indicators and liaise with Finance & Grants Coordinator to implement strategies to improve performance.
• Explain donor requirements and organizational financial policy & procedures to staff and ensure compliance.
• Prepare and review on a monthly basis, donor-specific bank reconciliation statements and receipts/deposits reconciliations.
• Support the preparation of financial reports based on donor requirements.
• Ensure proper filing (electronic and hard copy) of grants financial reports.
• Periodically update the financial reporting matrix.
• Ensure that partners use the standard reporting templates and formats for their reports.
• Prepare monthly BMZ Projects burn rate - expenditure traffic tracker.
• Prepare monthly BMZ Projects cost recovery tracker.
• Support the preparation of all BMZ Projects funding/grant tracker.
• Prepare all BMZ Projects expenditure tracker. 
• Support the CO in recharging costs to BMZ Projects.
• Fulfill Plan’s Child Protection Policy at all times.

Travel Advances:

• Ensure that filing of travel advances, per diem calculations and travel reconciliation forms are reviewed;
• Ensure that all travel and purchase advances are liquidated on time.

Others:

• Perform any other project related duties as specified by the Finance & Grants Coordinator and/or the Finance & Grants Manager-Humanitarian.

Communications and Working Relationships:

• Working contacts inside and outside the organization; include the purpose and level (high, medium, low) of the contact
• Prepare and submit relevant financial reports for domestic and international consumption using SAP.
• Provide timely responses concerning queries linked with relevant projects and the BMZ Projects.
• Provide support to Plan International Nigeria’s BMZ Projects programme delivery and resource mobilization.
• Work with other members of the Finance and Humanitarian units to ensure effective and efficient programme delivery.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in donor funds grants administration.
• Experience working with sub-grantees required.
• Fluency in local language and English required.
• Preferred qualifications: knowledge of and experience with the key donors in the industry is strongly preferred.
• Experience providing capacity development assistance to sub-grantees strongly preferred.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Excellent and demonstrable experience in grant and financial management.
• Knowledge and understanding of Nigeria’s policy environment
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including good listening skills, influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Capacity to build and maintain relationships and to work effectively in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment respecting diversity.
• Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.