Senior Finance and Budget Officer - ADEA at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/133
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL5
Position N°: 50069728

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department

• The African Development Bank hosts ADEA in Abidjan, provides its legal status and also ensures its fiduciary responsibilities.
• By the hosting Memorandum of Understanding ADEA’s Executive Secretary reports administratively to the Vice President, AHVP. Established in 1988 initially as a framework for better coordination among development cooperation partners, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) has come to represent a genuine partnership between African Ministries of Education and external partners.
• Its mission is to serve as an open and flexible pan-African organization that informs and facilitates the transformation of education and training to drive Africa’s accelerated and sustainable development.
• It has also developed into a network of policy-makers, educators and researchers and, based on its capacity to foster policy dialogue, a catalyst for educational reform.
• Since its inception, ADEA has acted on processes that have had a profound impact on policy-making in Africa through policy dialogue supported with research and analytical work, capacity building, advocacy and networking.
• ADEA works in different areas of education, including higher education, technical and vocational skills development (TVSD), early childhood development (ECD), teaching profession, books and learning materials, education statistics covering education management and policy support, peace education, education for sustainable development, and communication for education and development.
• ADEA is recognized as a pan-African organization that has a continental voice in education development, and the capacity to bring together the major players of the continent on policy issues in education.

The Position

• ADEA’s core business is education development in Africa where it has a continental voice and the capacity to bring together the major players of the continent on policy issues in education.
• The objective of this position is for the incumbent to provide leadership in budgeting, financial and administrative matters to facilitate efficient and cost-effective implementation of ADEA’s core business functions.

Duties and responsibilities
Reporting  directly to the Executive Secretary, the Senior Finance and Budget Officer will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

Budget Planning and Implementation:

• Develop and provide appropriate guidelines to the Secretariat, ICQNs and Task Forces to enable them to prepared detailed annual budgets for their activities;
• Coordinate the preparation of  the annual budget, on the basis of ADEA’s integrated work program for the review and approval by ADEA’s Executive Committee and Steering Committee respectively;
• Implement the allocation of  annual funds to individual units at the Secretariat, ICQNs and Task Forces according to the approved budget;
• Set up and update ADEA’s budget system within Enterprise Resource Planning/SAP (ERP/SAP), in collaboration with AfDB;
• Monitor ADEA’s overall budget implementation, advice on budget imputation; and issue monthly and quarterly internal reports.

Financial Management:

• Provide necessary advice and guidance to the Executive Secretary, to the Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQN) and Task Force staff, and partners on the application of financial rules and regulations;
• Maintain ADEA’s accounts in full compliance with the financial regulations contained in the Memorandum of Understanding which ADEA signed with AfDB;
• Prepare and provide accurate financial accounts for  the annual external audit exercise and provide auditors with all relevant information necessary to carry out their assignment;
• Maintain a consistent oversight of ADEA’s  income and expenditure in SAP and in bank accounts, and ensure correct and up-to-date accounting;
• Certify payments and debits of purchase orders, liquidation and obligation processes;
• Certify and monitor payments of invoices, and coordinate disbursements to ICQNs, Task Forces and partners based on contribution agreements;
• Verify financial reports received from ICQNs and Task Forces and partners on disbursed funds; and certify financial reports to development partners and to external auditors; 
• Prepare  detailed financial analysis on income and expenditure for the Executive Secretary’s annual reporting to the Steering Committee;
• Provide relevant financial data to the Resource Mobilization and Partnership Officer, in aid to proposals writing, negotiation and negotiation with donors.

Administrative Role:

• Oversee  and provide guidance to ADEA staff on the host institution’s human resources policies, rules and regulations that are applicable to ADEA;
• Oversee and maintain relationship with the various departments (CHIS, CHGS, PSEG, CHHR, PGCL, CHLS, etc.) of the African Development Bank that provide ADEA services.
• Provide an oversight on the management of missions and compliance with host institution’s directives on class of travel by staff and consultants.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

•  Hold at least a minimum of a Master’s degree in Accounting, Finance or related discipline and internationally recognized professional certification such as Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Chartered Accountant (CA).
• Have a minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional work experience in accounting, budget planning and  execution, and financial management;
• Must have a deep understanding of accounting principles, financial concepts and transaction processes; and a solid knowledge of internal controls and risk management principles;
• Experience in grants management and an understanding of the kind of reporting required by development agencies and donors; 
• Reliable, trustworthy and able to present accounting and financial simulations clearly and transparently;
• Ability to articulate a clear strategy for cost effectiveness and for ensuring financial stability in program management;
• Ability to manage multiple and competing  demands and priorities as well as capacity to work under pressure to meet  tight deadlines;
• Integrity, credibility, diligence, attention to detail and innovativeness, and ability to operate in an automated accounting environment;
• Ability to prepare, present and discuss financial statements is an asset.
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Experience in the use of accounting and financial software and also Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, etc.) including advanced spreadsheet and database packages are vital while experience with SAP is desirable.