Background

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDCs). With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. This last mile is where available resources for development are scarcest; where market failures are most pronounced; and where benefits from national growth tend to leave people excluded.

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization.

By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty with a focus on reaching the last mile and addressing exclusion and inequalities of access. At the same time, UNCDF deploys its capital finance mandate in line with SDG 17 on the means of implementation, to unlock public and private finance for the poor at the local level. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile, UNCDF contributes to a number of different SDGs and currently to 28 of 169 targets.

Since 2008, UNCDF has been supporting digital finance with significant success, with digital finance currently the largest part of its inclusive finance portfolio. This includes digital innovations linked to on an off-grid energy, agriculture, employment, health and transport. UNCDF is also host to the Secretariat of the Better than Cash Alliance, a partnership of governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth.

With 60 professionals with strong digital finance experience across the globe and with several hundred projects in digital on-going, UNCDF is one of the leading development agencies in digital finance with a mission and expertise to reach very low-income customers in some of the world’s most difficult markets. UNCDF’s digital team and resources are currently spread across several programmes and UNCDF is in the process of consolidating its financial and technical resources to create a comprehensive team of experts in various domains to drive its newly-launched Digital Finance strategy “Leaving no one behind in the digital era”

Based on this experience UNCDF started in 2017 to expand the scope of its programmatic agenda to go beyond digital finance. Through the “Leaving none behind in the digital era” strategy, UNCDF is supporting, through its digital finance interventions, the emergence of inclusive digital economies. The strategy recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the SDGs aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies for the following reasons:

• The value of DFS is not obvious, especially to poor and vulnerable populations, as it is not closely linked to their ability to respond to their specific constraints and needs around agriculture, education, health, energy and other key aspects of their daily lives.
• New innovative services should be developed to address these unmet needs. Innovation will not come from traditional providers but mainly from a range of new players (entrepreneurs, start-ups in various sectors, and platforms like Facebook, Grab, WeChat, etc.).

UNCDF's “Leaving no one behind in the digital era” strategy intends to move its focus on only digital finance (DF) to digital economies builds upon and constitutes a logical integration of UNCDF interventions in financial inclusion and digital, developed over many years. The legacy of UNCDF intervention programmes was built through a range of country/regional programmes and global thematic initiatives, which has established a very strong reputation for UNCDF vis-à-vis donors and peers.  

Position Context:

From 2021 onwards, UNCDF is launching a 4 year program in Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean that contributes to the deployment of digital finance solutions at the scale and speed necessary to deepen financial inclusion, accelerate economic recovery from COVID-19, and to make economies and societies more resilient to external shocks. The program will be implemented in 4 regions (West & Central Africa, East & Southern Africa, Pacific and the Caribbean) and has a strong regional and global advocacy component.  The program will leverage existing teams at country, regional and global levels for the implementation and to achieve our objective.

UNCDF requires an Administration and Financial Analyst (Service Contract) to support the programme implementation in Gabon, working under the supervision of UNCDF Regional Digital Hub Manager, P5 based in Dakar, Senegal. 

The Admin & Financial Analyst will play a critical role in supporting the workflow of the team. He/She will support key functions such as procurement, admin support, budget revisions and reporting, as well as all clerical and support staff roles for the programme in accordance with UNCDF/UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedure and applicable rules and regulations. 

The Admin & Financial Analyst will work in close collaboration with the operations and programme staff in other UNCDF offices/teams such as headquarters/ Office of Finance and Management Services’ regional and HQ colleagues, Procurement and Operations colleagues and will lend support in the management of contracting, vendor management and budget-related issues. 

The role will be based in Libreville, Gabon with in-country travel as permitted and necessitated. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions: 

Under the supervision of the Regional Manager WCA, the Admin & Financial Analyst will: 

• 1. Provides effective administrative management and logistical support;
• 2. Supports programme financial resources management;
• 3. Supports the management of procurement processes related to programme implementation; and
• 4. Supports the management of resources mobilized by the programme. 

1. Provides effective administrative management and logistical support focusing on the achievement of the following results and work products: (30%):

• Ensuring smooth running of daily operations in the office; 
• Preparing and monitoring budget forecasts, cost allocations, and expense reports;
• Planning travel, including the quarterly travel plan, travel requests, UNDSS requests;
• Arranging travel and hotel reservations, preparing travel authorizations, processing requests for visas, passports and other documents;
• Coordinating visa approvals and travel authorizations issued by the government counterpart in close collaboration with UNDP Visa Unit;
• Processing travel expense claims (TEC) by preparing and collecting supporting documents, ATLAS voucher transactions, DSA calculations, approval obtainments;
• Coordinating new personnel arrangements such as requests for organizational email accounts, ID cards, vendor forms;
• Translating and preparing official documents as necessary;
• Creating requisitions in ATLAS;
• Requesting payments (against Purchase Order (PO) / contract/ agreement, and non-PO payment vouchers), and dispatching the same;
• Requesting certificates of payment from consultants and preparing payment requests;
• Assisting the Project Manager to resolve questions related to budgets, payments, procurement and resources;
• Maintenance of the internal expenditures control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in ATLAS;
• Maintaining records on assets management and preparing reports;
• Preparing logistics for programme meetings, workshops and seminars;
• Developing and maintaining the filing system, ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials;
• Organizing shipments, customs clearance arrangements, preparing documents for shipments and mail (received and sent);
• Translating simple correspondences, as needed; and
• Supporting the programme in the management of knowledge sharing events and logistics related the knowledge management and communication activities. 

2. Supports programme financial resources management focusing on the achievement of the following results and work products (30%):

• Full compliance with UN/UNDP/UNCDF rules, regulations, and policies on financial activities, financial recording/reporting system and audit recommendations;
• Routinely monitoring financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions, and investigating anomalies;
• Checking that requisitions, POs and vouchers are adequately labeled; and
• Supporting as needed in the projects’ audit and controlling the follow up.

3. Supports the management of procurement processes focusing on the achievement of the following results and work products:+ (25%):

• Coordinating procurement and recruitment processes including drafting terms of references (TORs) and contracts in close collaboration with HQ Management Support Team and UNDP Procurement Office;
• Acting as a liaison with UNCDF programme support, operations and finance units.  Managing programme procurements with technical input from the team, determining procurement strategy and requirements and implementing procurement according to UNCDF policies;
• For local procurement – developing requests for quotes (RFQs) from local vendors and local consultants, obtaining quotes, evaluating and proposing vendors for selection. Monitoring procurement with other UNCDF units to ensure timely advertising and collection of quotes. Verifying vendors’ eligibility and ensuring they are in the UNCDF ATLAS system. Verifying quality and receipt of goods;
• For international procurement – proposing strategies for procurement with team input. Developing and maintaining the UNCDF expert roster for the programme. Monitoring international procurement with UNCDF HQ to ensure Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are adequately advertised and responses collected. Assisting in the evaluation and finalization of the selection reports;
• Preparing supporting documents for contract approval and case submissions to the Contract, Asset and Procurement Committee (CAP) and Advisory Committee on Procurement (ACP);
• Managing contracts through the monitoring of contract expiration, the on-time renewal of contracts, and/or the tracking of deliverables;
• Preparing inter-office memorandums, justification notes, and other supporting documents as necessary for procurement matters;
• Managing the Uganda-programme procurement plan and coordinating the timely procurement of services and goods;
• Supporting in the development and management of supplier rosters, the elaboration of supplier selection and evaluation, and quality and performance measurement mechanisms;
• Managing the relationship with all programme vendors and consultants. Soliciting necessary forms and information, requesting evidence of completed tasks.  Ensuring that consultant evaluation forms are solicited upon completion of work and results are analyzed; and
• Timely payment for services and goods rendered.

4. Supports the management of the resources mobilized by the programme focusing on achievement of the following results and work products (15%)

• Analysis of information on donors’ funding;
• Tracking of and reporting on mobilized resources;
• Reviewing of contribution agreements, managing and monitoring contributions in ATLAS;
• Advising programme staff on donor reporting requirements; and
• Monitoring financial reports to be submitted to donors.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• First University degrees (Bachelor) in Finance, Business Administration, project management or equivalent required, and/or accounting certification preferred, but not a requirement. Masters/Graduate degree preferred but not required.

Experience:

• Minimum three years (with Masters), or five years (with Bachelor Degree) of relevant experience in project/Programme management, budget administration, accounting, finance, operations, audit or related fields required;
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office package such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Skype is required;
• Specialized training in office management and administration is highly desirable 
• Hands-on experience with UN ATLAS system and UNDP Procurement process and Policy is preferred.
• Knowledge of UNDP/UNCDF programs in financial inclusion is an asset.
• Past work experience with the UN agency and/or international organizaton is considered an asset;
• Previous work experience in Gabon is highly desirable;

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in French with effective written and oral communication skills required.  
• Knowledge of English with good written and oral communication is required.