Background

The Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) is a Programme implemented by the Government of Afghanistan through the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOIA) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, and with funding from 17 bi-and multilateral donors. The Programme was established in 2002 to provide a funding channel for the international community to support the establishment of the ANP (Afghan National Police), particularly through the transfer of funding for ANP and prison guard salaries.

In 2011 the project expanded to include the provision of policy advice and capacity development support in the areas of institutional development of the MOIA; prison and police professionalization, and improvement of police service delivery. A new phase of the Programme containing two separate projects under a joint governance arrangement will be launched to be implemented in three phases between 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2016.

Project 1 will continue to support capacity development of the MOIA in order to ensure that the MOIA independently manages the function  - human resources, finance and ICT - related to payroll operations to enable the transition of payroll management functions to the MOIA by 31 December 2016.

Project 2 will focus on police professionalization and on institutional development of the MOIA through two components. Component 1 supports the training of the ANP and the professionalization in civil policing by introducing best practices and international standards in community oriented policing, human rights standards and gender equality. Component 2 improves the MOIA´s capacity for reform and assist in building accountable and efficient management and oversight capacities.

LOTFA which is the largest project supported by UNDP globally, is located the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Kabul, Afghanistan

This position is in Project 1 – Payroll Management. The payroll volumes are significant, amounting to about 170,000 personnel and with an annual value in excess of $ 550 million in 2015.

Organizational Context:

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Unit and the day-to-day coordination with the Programme Officer, the Project Manager is responsible for ensuring the direction of project activities and the achievement of project targets and results. S/he plans project activities and inputs, manages the day-to-day implementation of the project and supervises project experts and personnel.

The Project Manager supervises a team of international and local project professional and support staff. S/he works in close collaboration with the UNDP CO Programme, Strategy, Results and Communications, Operations and Security Teams and maintains effective working relationships with project IPs, donors and other partners such as UN agencies.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Ensure the direction of project activities and the achievement of project targets and result;
• Lead and effectively manage operational aspects of payroll payments within LOTFA;
• Ensures effective monitoring and oversight of the payroll payment process;
• Ensures systematic capacity building of the MOI in the area of payroll management.

Ensures the direction of project activities and the achievement of project targets and results, by focusing on the following results:

• In accordance with the Project Document and in close coordination with IPs and the project specialists, plan and develop project Annual Work Plans (AWPs) and establish Annual Targets according to UNDP CO timelines. Ensure that AWP activities suggested are in line with the overall direction set by the Project Document and lead to achievements of project targets and results;
• Oversee and coordinate development and formulation of detailed implementation plans, procurement and human resources, communication and risk management plans for the Project. Coordinate and ensure timely updates of all planning instruments in close collaboration with relevant CO units;
• Ensure implementation of activities as per AWP and agreed deadlines as well as according to detailed implementation, procurement and HR plans. Identify bottlenecks and develop solutions. Regularly meet with IPs and other project counterparts.
• Assess project impact and oversee the appropriateness and accuracy of methods used to verify progress and results;
• Establish adequate monitoring procedures and systems throughout project activities in close collaboration with the CO Results Team. Ensure that adequate systems are in place to gather data and information for project monitoring and that systematic monitoring of project progress against targets is undertaken, including regular field trips for monitoring purposes;
• Manage the accurate and timely high-quality results reporting on the progress of the project and achievement of annual targets to the Project Board and donors. Ensure that donor and UNDP reports are prepared according to UNDP’s SOPs, quality standards and in line with the contractual obligations to project donors. Ensure that all internal and external reports are submitted by deadlines;
• Coordinate and prepare ad hoc thematic and substantive reports/analysis/briefs;
• Implement project communications activities in close collaboration with the CO Communications Team;
• Organise and participate in project level coordination meetings and/or technical working groups as per project document and AWP. Share information on technical project-related issues with donors, other partners and stakeholders;
• Implement project governance arrangements. Ensure organisation of Project Board meetings and ensure timely preparation of agenda, background materials to agenda items and minutes as per CO SOPs;
• Immediately escalate issues with potential to impact UNDP´s effectiveness, financial soundness or reputation to the Programme Team and CO senior management. Ensure that UNDP´s corporate interest and rules are guarded at all times and that appropriate action is taken to immediately address problems and challenges.

Leads and effectively manages operational aspects of payroll payments within LOTFA, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Ensure strategic payroll planning and direction of payroll payment and verification operations;
• Manage the payroll for LOTFA and assumes accountability for the finalization of monthly payroll according to established schedules, monthly payroll results, review of payroll performance and follow up on clearance of validation/exception reports to confirm the integrity and consistency of the payments made with the data within the HR system of MoI;
• Identify and drive process improvement initiatives to create an efficient and scalable payroll support structure;
• Implement accountability for financial transactions and establish documentation for business processes, accountabilities, authorities, and responsibilities. Establish standards and best practices including developing and updating policies, procedures and workflows;
• Effectively partner with Human Resource and Finance departments of the MOI to ensure positive collaboration efforts to provide efficient payroll operations, including working with the MoI to ensure that Positions Management data are correctly reflected in the HR system;
• Maintain and supervise the maintenance of payroll records and databases to ensure efficient responses to all payroll related requests;
• Ensure development and implementation of complementary procedures that will guide relationships with the Minister of Interior, Deputy Ministers of MoI, as required;
• Maintain a comprehensive audit trail of the processes and procedures undertaken by the LOTFA payroll team, and ensure its availability for review by management, internal or external audit;
• In collaboration with MoI and Ministry of Finance, formulate and establish a payroll security policy and procedures for monthly payroll audit and reconciliation;
• In collaboration with IT dept and MoI, oversee the configuration, maintenance and evolution of the HR data and its consistency with the payroll system.

Ensures effective monitoring and oversight of the payroll payment process, focusing on achievement of the following results: 

• Identify and manage risk within the payroll payment and verification processes, and identify, design and implement additional internal controls as needed;
• Review all payroll and account reconciliations, including taxable wage-base reconciliations and year-to-date deduction reconciliations, as well as the Monitoring Agent reports, and undertakes research and analysis as necessary and applies findings.
• Promptly and proactively design and implement improvements in processes, procedures, systems and policies to address identified weaknesses;
• Work constructively with the Fund Financial Fiduciary Management Unit in the UNDP Country Office to assist in identification and management of financial risks and implementation of financial oversight of the Project;
• Facilitate the internal and external audit processes, and respond promptly to internal and external audit observations.
• Apply lessons learned to the payroll payment and verification processes, and incorporate these lessons learned within the capacity building mechanisms of the MOI;
• Routinely monitor financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions, and investigates anomalies or unusual transactions. Informs UNDP of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained. 

Ensures systematic building of capacities of MoI through Project activities, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Ensure that the Project systematically builds capacities of Implementing Partners through introduction of innovation and best practices, access to knowledge and expertise and promote their application to project implementation;
• Coordinate the advisory activities of the project technical staff. Ensure that technical outputs are provided according to plans and up to highest technical standards. Review and clear technical outputs for quality;
• Establish, maintain and facilitate strategic dialogue between project staff and Government officials at central and local levels, partners, donors and other stakeholders in project´s area of work;
• Provide technical advice, draft papers/briefs/proposals in project´s technical focus;
• Provide capacity building support and guidance towards enabling the MOI to improve its administration of the payroll with a view towards its future transition to the MOI;
• Ensures the existence of good quality training and other capacity-building resources;
• Proactively seek technology developments and productivity improvements to continuously increase service levels, organizes workshops to create and refine payroll processes;
• Promote teamwork, information sharing and collaboration within the Project Team and between the Project Team and the CO Programme Team;
• Promote skills development of project staff through coaching and mentoring;
• Ensure capturing and disseminations of lessons learnt during project implementation.

Impact of Results:

The key results have an impact on the overall effectiveness of UNDP´s development results in Afghanistan. The efficient and timely achievement of project´s results will strengthen UNDP’s position as a strong and reliable development partner in the country. The effective and efficient delivery of payroll to security sector staff will have an impact of the stability of the country. Capacity building of MoI will contribute towards Government being able to assume payroll management in near future.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Promotes ethics and integrity and creates organizational precedents;
• Builds support and political acumen;
• Builds staff competence and creates an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Builds and promotes effective teams;
• Creates and promotes environment for open communications;
• Leverages conflict in the interest of UNDP and sets standards;
• Shares knowledge across the organization and builds a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Functional Competencies:

Expert knowledge of Own Discipline

• Possesses expert knowledge of advance concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines and in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
• Applies knowledge to support the Project´s objectives and to further the mandate of UNDP;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in the area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates expert knowledge of the current programme guidelines and project management tools and manages the use of these regularly in work assignments.

Development and Application of Organizational Standards

• Ensures compliance with the organizational standards for audit, monitoring and evaluation and results-based management and promotes and monitors their application;
• Promotes a culture of accountability;
• Develops, disseminates and promotes the use of sound methodologies and tools;
• Analyses audit, evaluation and policy applications review results, extracts key elements and prepares proposals to address areas of weakness in performance.

Client orientation

Meeting long-term client needs

• Anticipates constrains in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
• Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients;
• Consults with clients and ensures their needs are represented in decision-making processes;
• Advices and develops strategic and operational solutions with clients that add value to UNDP programmes and operations.

Building strategic partnerships

Building strategic alliances

• Identifies and prioritizes opportunities and obstacles in the political scene to advance UNDP´s agenda. Identifies common interests and carries out joint initiatives with partners;
• Makes effective use of UNDP´s resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships;
• Builds partnerships with non-traditional sectors by translating UNDP´s agenda into messages that reflect the pertinence of their values and interests;
• Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations;
• Leverages the resources of Governments and other development partners.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University Degree (Masters) in Business and Administration, Finance/Accounting, or a relevant discipline;
• Preference will be given to candidates with a professional accounting qualification certificate from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy (CA/CPA).

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years relevant experience in enterprise-level financial management; with experience in oversight of large-scale, geographically dispersed budget and payment operations;
• Of which, a minimum of two years in a payroll management role within a large organization with multiple disbursement locations.  Civil service payroll experience is highly advantageous;
• Demonstrated experience in public financial management reform initiatives and/or projects;
• Demonstrated experience in managing large-scale multi-million dollar pay budgets;
• Demonstrated experience in capacity building of institutions in the developing country context is a requirement. Experience in post conflict countries is highly desirable;
• Excellent understanding of payroll processes, systems and practices including review and approval of accounting entries, payroll reconciliation and verifications, as well as employee entitlement and benefit plans and payroll taxes;
• Prior work experience in development projects in the UN or other multi-lateral organizations is an advantage;
• Experience in the usage of both manual and automated reconciliation processes, systems and software packages.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Application:

• Interested and qualified international candidates should apply on-line through the UNDP Jobs site at UNDP Afghanistan Vacancy Announcement and please ensure that to fill up and upload Personal History Form-P.11 which is available at UNDP Personal History Form (P.11 Form) .
• Incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date will not be given consideration. Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

• For more detailed information about UNDP Afghanistan please visit our website at www.undp.org.af.   
• Successful candidates must be prepared to start work within 6 weeks of the offer of appointment.
• Qualified female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

• Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.