Project Finance Associate at UNDP

With proper and accurate project financing, the incumbent, supports the design, planning and management of the Jubilee Fellowship.  In doing so, s/he works in close collaboration with project staff, other staff of the Unit, operations team, Programme and projects staff in the CO and UNDP HQs staff for resolving complex programme and operations-related issues, ensuring successful CO performance in Finance.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The Project Finance Associate will be responsible for the following functions and tasks:

Summary of Key Functions:

• Support in project finance tracking and management.
• Ensure effective information management and reporting.
• Ensure proper financial tracking controls and risk management mechanisms.
• Ensure implementation of operational and financial management strategies and adapts processes and procedure.

Support in project finance tracking and management

• Provide financial analyses and reporting for resources ensuring full compliance with UNDP rules, regulations, policies, and strategies;
• Prepare cost estimates for different activities of the Jubilee Fellowship according to the needs of programme management;
• Monitor the financial performance of Jubilee Fellowship project activities;
• Support annual audits of the Principal Recipient (PR) and Sub-recipients (SRs) as required by UNDP and ensure that external auditors have all relevant information;
• Ensure that advance payments and direct payments are properly reviewed and recorded in a timely manner into Atlas;
• Follow up on the disbursement of funds to facilitate timely review of cash position to ensure sufficient funds on hand for disbursements.

Ensure effective information management and reporting

• Prepare regular analysis and reporting on the Jubilee Fellowship project funds and Country Office budget approvals, including on the delivery of programme activities;
• Support the preparation of annual project workplans, agreements, and budgets;
• Prepare forecasts necessary to support disbursements requests;
• Conduct verification and posting of disbursement requests, expenditure reports, and supporting documentation;
• Submit timely and accurate required financial reports to the donor, as relevant;
• Maintain information flows between non-finance actors to effectively link programmatic results to work plan expenditure and budgets agreed with the donor;
• Respond to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues or to provide information required.

Ensure proper financial tracking controls and risk management mechanisms

• Develop and support the PMSU to maintain risk management and mitigation approaches relating to finance;
• Design and implement effective internal controls and financial resources management system;
• Map, establish and maintain standard operating procedures in the project finance unit, implementing improvements where possible.

Ensure implementation of operational and financial management strategies, and adapts processes and procedures

• Full compliance of financial activities, financial recording/reporting system and audit follow up with UN/UNDP rules, regulations, policies and strategies; implementation of the effective internal control, proper design and functioning of the financial resources management system;
• Continuous analysis and monitoring of the financial situation, presentation of forecasts for development and management projects;
• Implementation of cost saving and reduction strategies in consultation with office management;
• Routinely monitors financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions, and investigates anomalies or unusual transactions. Informs supervisors and other UNDP staff at Headquarters of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained;
• Preparation of cost-recovery bills in Atlas for the services provided by UNDP.

Institutional Arrangement

Under the direct supervision of the direct supervision of the Project Team Lead (Jubilee Fellows Programme) with matrix reporting to the Operations Manager, the Programme Finance Associate will support and work in close collaboration with the operations and programme teams within the Country Office and the field office in Lagos.

Competencies

Core Competencies

• Achieve Result:  LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline;
• Think Innovatively:  LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements;
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback;
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible;
• Act with Determination:  LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident;
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships;
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Management: Operations Management

• Ability to effectively plan, organize, and oversee the Organization's business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner.

• Knowledge of relevant concepts and mechanisms.

Business Management: Customer Satisfaction/Client Management

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs.

• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.

• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests.
• Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Direction & Strategy: Strategic Thinking

• Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP's objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.
• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.

Business Direction & Strategy: Business Acumen

• Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome.
• Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization  and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks.

Business Direction & Strategy: Entrepreneurial Thinking

• Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP's organizational priorities and mandate.

Business Development: Communication

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media,  social media and other appropriate channels.

Business Development: Integration within the UN

• Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work.
• Knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Completion of Secondary Education preferably with specialized certification is required or bachelor’s degree in Business or Public Administration, Economics, Political or Social Sciences and other relevant fields is desirable.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years with Secondary Education or 4 years with Bachelor’s Degree of progressively responsible administrative or programme experience is required at the national or international level.

Required skills:

• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems and ERP financials, preferably PeopleSoft;
• Knowledge of UN/UNDP Financial Resource Management is desirable;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Working knowledge of UN principles, SDGs and international development in Africa;
• Demonstrate the ability to showcase cross-disciplinary and cross-functional experience and expertise.

Language:

• Fluency in spoken and written English.