Background

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

  1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
  2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Office/Unit/Project Description:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UNDP’s partnership with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), in line with UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Strategy 2022-2025: Connecting the Dots, makes a vital contribution to UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs and the pledge to leave no one behind. 

As a long-standing partner of the Global Fund (GF), UNDP’s value proposition lies in providing an integrated package of development solutions to strengthen institutions to deliver health services. Through its contributions as an interim Principal Recipient (PR) and a provider of technical assistance to GF grants in countries more than 53 since 2003, UNDP’s provision of integrated policy, implementation and capacity development support to countries has yielded significant health and development results in challenging operating environments.

Proactive risk management and investing in sustainability are the cornerstones of UNDP’s portfolio management approach in supporting to countries with significant national capacity constraints to manage large-scale health programmes. UNDP has established a comprehensive risk management framework (RMF) to mitigate and manage risks, through specific implementation modalities and other targeted measures to manage risks effectively.  Based on demands from Country Offices, and building on the relationships, expertise, systems, partnerships, including across the UN family, and comparative advantage established through the GF partnership, the GPN/BPPS/Global Fund Partnership/Health Implementation Support Team (GF/HIST) is providing support to Country Offices through three overarching modalities: 1) the Global Fund portfolio, 2) health procurement and supply chain management support (PSM), and 3) other health implementation support beyond the Global Fund, including Gavi-funded activities. The GF/HIST provides its support through a country team approach to strengthen and integrate the different functional capacities (e.g., programmatic, procurement/PSM strengthening, finance, capacity development, SR management and asset management), leveraging technical assistance and policy support from the HHD Group and other GPN teams and advisory services from the Office of Audit and Investigations.

Institutional Arrangement:

The Finance Specialist will report to the Finance Specialist (New York) of BPPS/GFHIST 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the the Finance Specialist (New York), UNDP Bureau of Programme and Policy Support Global Fund Health Implementation Support Team (BPPS/GFHIST), the Finance Specliast will provide the technical financial expertise and  support the country offices and BPPS/HIST in the following area:

  1. Support Country Offices in the preparation of grant budget proposals, estimation and costing of detailed budgets in accordance with the donor funding requirements and with UNDP’s Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) to ensure high quality and complete budget proposals on time;
  2. Support Country offices in setting up initial budget and subsequent budget revisions for the GF projects in UNDP’s ERP system and conduct trainings for the UNDP GF project management units on the use of UNDP ERP systems;
  3. Review financial section of the grant agreements, annual workplan budget of UNDP project documents, Sub-recipient agreements, and other partnership contracts
  4. Support COs to prepare progress update reports and cash disbursement projection reports to the GF to ensure timely and accurate reporting;
  5. Regularly monitor financial performance of the GF projects during the project implementation and closure period in the area of revenue, expense, asset management  and SR management;
  6. Support Country Offices throughout the audit process ensuring effective planning, including timely follow up on audit recommendations and findings from the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI), the Global Fund’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), and Sub-recipient audit reports including, financial management, Sub-recipient management and asset management;
  7. Support in the analysis of audit and investigation recommendations and findings (OAI, OIG, Sub-recipient audits) with the development of action plans to address recurring issues in the areas of financial management, Sub-recipient management and asset management
  8. Contribute to innovative approaches in the project financial management, capacity building of finance colleagues in the country office in managing the GF portfolio;
  9. Document  best practices of GF financial management in UNDP Cos in order to develop a bite-size learning and training materials

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

 

LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively:

 

LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously

 

LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility

 

LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination

LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner

 

LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion

 

LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Competency

Name

Definition

Business Management

Project Management

Ability to plan, organi]e, prioriti]e and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Business Management

Risk Management

Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks

Business Development

Knowledge Facilitation

Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally

Business Management

Working with Evidence and Data Resource Management

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

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

Monitoring

Ability to provide managers and keystakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results

Finance

Accounting (General)

Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, frameworks, standards, regulations, policies and trends, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations

Finance

Financial planning and budgeting

Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP's long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analysing and reporting

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum Qualifications of the Successful IPSA:

Min. Academic Education

  • Master’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business or Public Administration or related field.
  • Professional accounting qualification from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy is a requirement or
  • Long-listed candidates may be required to take the Advanced UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

  • A minimum of 5 years of progressive relevant experience in the area of resource management of projects and financial reporting.

Required  skills and competencies

  • Strong understanding of the Finance and Accounting policies of UN or UNDP.
  • Experience in budgeting, costing and financial reporting of  donor funded projects.
  • In depth knowledge of the ERP Financials, Peoplesoft and any other corporate tools such as Hyperion or PowerBi.

Desired additional skills and competencies

  • Experience in developing grant budgets for development projects.
  • Work experience in a developing country.
  • Experience in the process of financial audits.  
  • Familiarity with Global Fund’s financial management systems, processes and reporting.
  • Experience in financial management of implementing partners or  responsible parties.
  • Experience in development of learning and training materials in the area of  financial management.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

  • Fluency oral and written French.
  • Working knowledge of English.