UNDP Jobs - 58380- Finance Technical Specialist

Finance Technical Specialist

Location :

Vientiane, LAO PDR

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

06-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

One year (Renewable)

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Lao PDR has the unwanted distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in the world. More than half a million US bombing missions were carried out between 1964 and 1973, dropping more than 2 million tons of explosive ordnance on the country. This included over 270 million cluster sub-munitions, known as ‘bombies’ in Laos. Significant land battles also contributed large quantities of unexploded heavy bombs, rockets, grenades, artillery munitions, mortars, anti-personnel landmines, and improvised explosive devices. It is estimated that 10-30% of these bombs did not explode on impact, and remain active in and on the ground, still limiting physical safely and hindering socio-economic development some 40 years after the ceasefire.

Today, UXO constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as well as national plans to lift the country out of the list of “Least Developed Country” Status by 2020. In 2010, MDG 9 was adopted by the Lao PDR to “reduce the impact of UXO in Laos”.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) entered force on 1st August 2010 with Lao PDR as an initial signatory. Laos reinforced its commitment to the process by hosting the 1st Meeting of the States Parties in Vientiane in November 2010. The CCM commits Laos to clear all cluster munitions on its territory by 2020 although given the scale of contamination, this is an unlikely scenario.

National efforts to address UXO contamination were initiated in the mid 1970’s. Lao PDR began receiving international assistance in the 1990’s, first through specialised Non-Governmental Associations (NGO) and then through the United Nations. In 1996 the Government, with the support of UNDP established a national agency called UXO Lao. Eight years later a national strategic plan was adopted and the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) was established in 2006 to monitor its implementation and coordinate UXO activities in Lao PDR. In 2009 a revised strategy, “Safe Path Forward II 2010-2020” was developed and now guides the sector. These two organizations are the national elements of an overall programme that has broad involvements form the government of Lao PDR, International NGOs and civil society in Lao PDR.

The NRA has a staff of more than forty and is led by a Director and two Deputy Directors. It has nine unit including public relations and a Finance Unit. UXO Lao is responsible for technical survey, roving tasks, area clearance, and community awareness activities in nine of the most heavily contaminated provinces in the country. It is the single largest programme (with a staff of around 1,000) that UNDP supports in the Lao PDR. UXO Lao has an annual budget of around USD 8-9m from bilateral donors, primarily US and Japan, and from contributions via UNDP. Both the NRA and UXO Lao receive continued UNDP support through a “National Implementation Modality” (NIM) mechanism. For the latter part of 2014, the UXO sector suffered an ongoing financial shortfall which highlighted high levels of risk involved requiring effective management oversight.

The UXO programme supported by UNDP works in close alignment to the UNDP strategic plan priorities – particularly in the areas of resilience building, poverty reduction and support to the Millennium Development Goals (where MDG 9’s goal of reducing the impact of UXO is a crosscutting goal) and subsequent Sustainable Development Goals.

The NRA and UXO Lao intend on doing everything they can within the resources available to assist with this objective. UNDP will continue to assist the Government of Lao PDR to mobilise the resources required for this effort, and at the same time, to strengthen its oversight and operational role. Part of the framework for this work will be guided by the Capacity Assessment (CA) undertaken by the NRA and UXO Lao, with support from UNDP, in 2014. This CA identified a number of agreed action points to aid the further development of both organisations.

In this context, the Finance Technical Specialist is required to provide technical assistance to the NRA and UXO Lao to build its management and administrative capacity and monitor its finance, operations in close cooperation with NRA and UXO Lao's management teams, UNDP’s Chief Technical Advisor (CTA), and the UNDP UXO Unit.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Finance Technical Specialist will provide support to the NRA and UXO Lao in all matters relating to finance. He/She will work on a daily basis with the Finance Unit of both organisations. This work will be undertaken with a strong emphasis on developing the overall capacity of the NRA and UXO Lao to support more effective financial management.

The Finance Technical Specialist will report to and be guided by, the CTA to the sector. He/She will work on a regular basis with the UNDP UXO Unit in all matters pertaining to finance.

The Finance TA will assume the following main functions:

Provide advice and capacity building support to the Finance Units of NRA and UXO Lao in the area of financial management; S/he will work closely with all relevant NRA and UXO Lao staff and provide informal, formal and on-the-job training both at the national and provincial levels to ensure that they develop the necessary skills to perform their roles;
Help monitor the funding resources of NRA and UXO Lao in order to ensure that commitments are met and funds are utilised in accordance with donor agreements and agreed UNDP rules and regulations. Both organisations receive funding through both UNDP bilateral and governmental sources and the Finance Technical Specialist is expected to have an understanding of modalities and implementation of all mechanisms and access to financial information of all funds utilised by both organisations.

Technical Assistance and Capacity Building:

Provision of advice on policies and plans affecting NRA and UXO Lao financial operations, and delivery of knowledge and learning services to enhance efficiency in the use of funding resources, resulting in improved financial reporting and increased client/donor satisfaction;
Support both the NRA and UXO Lao in implementing the existing NIM Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) agreed between the Government of Lao and UNDP, especially in regard to finance, HR and procurement;
Provision of formal and informal training sessions and on the job training on finance applications and procedures for both organisations at national and provincial levels taking into account the needs expressed by both NRA and UXO Lao and with special emphasis on NIM SOPs;
Provision of technical assistance to the Head of both Finance Units including training, guidance, and coaching of the Finance Unit staff at the national and provincial levels in all phases of their work. This work includes payments, receipts, bank reconciliation, cash management, interest and petty cash management, budget variance analysis and donor financial reporting. Assistance to the finance staff with the use of their financial management software including exploration of additional modules and software competencies which may be of use to the programmes;
Provision of technical assistance to relevant units/staff on monitoring of procurement, including accuracy and appropriateness of the annual plan, compliance with UNDP NIM SOPs and best practice procurement processes, and timely receipt of programme equipment;
Provision of technical assistance to the Finance units in preparation of timely and accurate reports to NRA and UXO Lao management and the UNDP CO;
Provision of technical assistance to the Finance units in preparation of timely and accurate requests for quarterly advances to the UNDP CO;
The compilation and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices in programme management.

Financial Monitoring:

Monitoring of NRA and UXO Lao cash management processes, including liquidity management, risk assessment, timely accounting and reconciliation of all transactions, security for cash assets on site, and use of earmarked funds;
Routine monitoring and preparation of financial exception reports for unusual activities and transactions; investigations of unusual transactions; informing supervisors and UNDP CO on results of investigations;
Monitoring of donor agreements to ensure the programme meets financial and programme requirements of donor agreements, such as tracking to budget and variance analysis, tracking programme compliance with various reporting requirements, and ensuring the programme applies for budget and/or programme variances in a timely manner;
Regular reporting on delivery situation; ensuring timely reports are provided to CTA, directors of NRA and UXO Lao and the UNDP CO;
Elaboration of proper responses to eliminate deficiencies in budget management;
Regular analysis and reporting on the delivery situation; monitoring the programme’s compliance with UNDP Programmes and Operations Policies and Procedures;
Assisting in the provision of information, data and other documents needed for audit and other monitoring and evaluation purposes;
Support NRA and UXO Lao with follow-on activities following routine and non-routine audit or monitoring activities (annual/special audit/HACT assessments/spot checks) to ensure full compliance with UNDPs Nationally Implemented Mechanism requirements.

Other functions:

Provision of advice and support to NRA and UXO Lao staff for all matters related to the implementation of UNDP and NIM rules and procedures;
Provision of advice and support with regard to program procurement;
Provision of other ad hoc support when required by the project, the CTA or UNDP.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrate ability to work in harmony with staff members of different cultural backgrounds in a professional manner, especially in a mutually-supportive team environment;
Proven transfer of skills through capacity development in a development context;
Computer literacy, skilled in use of spreadsheets, presentation software, electronic diaries and specialist accounting software
Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
Development and Operational Effectiveness;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Demonstrate strong analytical and communication (written, verbal, and interpersonal) skills;
Ability to meet strict deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, Economics or related field.

Experience:

Minimum five years of experience in finance and sound financial management, including budget preparation, variance analysis and expenditure monitoring;
Proven experience of project financial reporting and proposal preparation, including project budgets.Understanding of basic accounting and the ability to manage accounting records using accounting software;
Proven experience in capacity development and training of national counterparts in the areas of finance management;
Knowledge of UNDP policies, programming and operational issues and UNDP experience is desirable. , experience with nationally implemented (NIM) projects an added value;
Understanding of UXO/mine action operations, regulatory functions and quality management concepts is an advantage.
Experience in donor relations is desirable;
Experience in Southeast Asia is an advantage;
Computer competency, skilled in word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software and electronic diaries (MS Office Professional);
Experience with AccPac general ledger module desirable;
Knowledge of ATLAS is an asset.

Language:

Strong working knowledge of English is required;
Knowledge of Lao is an asset. Willingness and ability to learn Lao language in absence of Lao language capacity is highly desirable.