Finance Officer (Sokoto) at Plan International

Role Purpose

• The "Extending women’s leadership in maternal health for improved TB detection and management in Sokoto state" program is an 18-month gender transformative initiative aimed at improving detection, treatment and reporting of Tuberculosis among the marginalized and vulnerable women, adolescent girls and children in households of Sokoto state of Nigeria.
• The project is aligned with the UN’s Every Woman Every Child global strategy, and will help to drive progress towards reaching targets within Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5. The project is being implemented with funding from Stop TB reach and in collaboration with Plan international Canada.
• The project will be implemented by Plan International Nigeria in Sokoto state in collaboration with the Sokoto State Ministry of Health, Sokoto state TB and Leprosy Control Prrgram, local CSO partners and other relevant national and local stakeholders.
• The purpose of this role is to provide timely, accurate financial information and ensure that financial expenditures are in line with specific FAD/donor requirements. The role’s support is to this project in Sokoto state.

Role Dimension

• Communicates within Plan International Nigeria and with partners and related government institutions.
• The post holder will contribute towards 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 the Project.
  • Reporting – Support financial reporting on the Project.
  • Payments – Support payment processing on the project
  • Area of Responsibility – the TB REACH Project in Sokoto state.

Key Roles/Responsibilities
Capacity Building and Support:

• Provide technical assistance in terms of accounting (use of SAP or any ERP), 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 and capacity building of partner/grantee organizations.
• Review partner budget 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 all Purchase requisitions and Purchase Orders to ensure right WBS codes used.
• Review Partners/grantee liquidation and recommend for approval.
• Conduct and document regular partner visits to ensure compliance with grant agreement.
• Work with Audit unit to ensure compliance and address potential audit risks.
• 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 financial related performance measurement indicators and liaise with project management 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 used the standard reporting templates and formats for their reports.
• Support the CO in recharging costs to the project.
• Fulfill Plan’s Child Safeguarding 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 supervisor.

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 2 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.
• Creates strong sense of purpose and commitment within own part of operations and with stakeholders.
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity.
• Provides good and adequate support to enable programmes to meet it’s agreed financial and program outcomes.
• Actively seeks for support in addressing difficulties in execution of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and Organizational development.
• Sound judgement and decision-making in complex situations.
• Strong emotional intelligence including self-awareness.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Very strong commitment to continuous learning.

Note: People from/based in Sokoto are highly encouraged to apply.