NGO JOBS

Organization: Search for Common Ground
Country: Central African Republic
Closing date: 11 Feb 2014

The Organisation
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC and a European office in Brussels, Belgium, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 500 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 39 offices in 26 countries, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. The organization is an exciting and rewarding place to work, with dedicated and enthusiastic staffs who love their work. You will be joining a highly motivated staff with a good team spirit and there will be opportunities to grow in the role.

Within Sub-Saharan Africa, SFCG works in sixteen countries: Angola, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Niger, Chad and Zimbabwe. Since 1997, SFCG has developed regional strategies to guide and strengthen national programmes to support achievement of SFCG’s mission. Since the end of 2012 SFCG has been implementing a program in the Central African Republic. In close partnership with Catholic Relief Services, SFCG is executing a large-scale three-year, three-country program to make communities more resilient with respect to the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army. The program is called “Secure, Empowered, Connected Communities (SECC) Program in Central African Republic and is financed by the American Government. Zemio is in a stable part of the Central African Republic, and security is ensured by Ugandan soldiers.

Summary of Position
The Finance and Administration Manager will be responsible for managing all SFCG finance and administration activities, consisting of 5 contracts from the American government and UN agencies.

Responsibilities
The main responsibilities of this post include the following:

Financial Management
1. Ensure good quality finance and administration systems as per the standard Search for Common Ground procedures and policies are functioning and maintained throughout the program.
2. Ensure correct account management for all grants in accordance with the grant agreement(s).
3. Supervise and provide training, where necessary, in finance and administration procedures to concerned SFCG staff members.
4. Supervise the use and understanding of the accountancy software by the concerned staff (local and international) in each field base.
5. Ensure that all members of the team are trained in and respect the Finance and Administration procedures.
6. Prepare monthly reports on expenditure against project budget(s) and send these together with scanned copies of original receipts and other expenditure-related documentations, including bank statements, cash and bank reconciliations, payroll to relevant SFCG teams at SFCG’s HQ.
7. Support the Country Director with ensuring compliance to all Grant agreements for financial reporting and procurement. This includes field level compliance to all legal aspects of the grant agreement.
8. On the basis of internal cash available and planned expenditure, send monthly cash requests for the program to SFCG HQ, with the approval of the Country Representative.
9. Responsible for salary / fee payments to all local team members including daily workers as required.
10. In collaboration with the Country Director, maintain available SFCG bank accounts in CAR.
11. Attend monthly finance and Administration meetings with other NGOs.

Administration
1. Follow up on all rental agreements for SFCG office(s), and vehicles, etc. and renew rental agreements when necessary.
2. When necessary, follow-up on SFCG’s registration in country with relevant government agencies and other local actors.
3. Assist in meetings (administration, security and Human Resource cluster, NGO forum etc) to represent SFCG when necessary. Minutes of meetings are to be written and shared with the Country Representative or as requested.
4. Assist the Country Representative with any other administrative tasks as required.

Human Resources
1. Directly responsible for all administrative aspects of local staff recruitment. This includes set up of non-technical job descriptions and assisting with the editing of technical job descriptions, posting adverts, organizing interviews, etc.
2. Ensure that standard salary scale and per diem polices are in place and updated regularly upon validation from SFCG management.
3. Ensure compliance with all local government taxation and labour regulations concerning employment contracts.
4. In collaboration with the Country Representative ensure that national staff adhere SFCG’s contracts, agreements, internal rules and code of conduct, including sexual harassment and whistle blower policy.
5. In collaboration with the Country Representative and other line managers, ensure that international team members respect internal rules and policies in relation to the management of national staff under their responsibility.
6. At the request of the Country Representative, provide finance, administration, HR and security support during field or assessment missions.

Reporting / Proposal Writing
1. Advise and assist the Country Representative in the creation of viable new proposals and budgets.
2. As required, assist the Country Representative and HQ grants team with budget reporting to donors so that these are prepared and submitted in a timely manner, as per the grant agreements.
3. Participate in the elaboration of regular internal situation reports (‘sitreps’) for subjects directly related to the responsibilities of the Finance and Administration Manager.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.

Minimum Qualifications
? Bachelor’s Degree in a related area with at least three (3) years of experience in administration of projects, finance and operations, preferably in the peace-building, development and/or related fields.
? Experience and proven track record in financial and human resources management, and administrative procedures and systems.
? Experience working in fragile environments.
? Dynamic, motivated and flexible leader with creative problem-solving skills.
? Knowledge of major donor rules and regulations, and the ability to manage multi-donor funding.
? Excellent managerial, interpersonal and networking skills, as well as the ability to conduct professional working relationships.
? Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Microsoft Excel.
? Ability to manage multiple activities at once.
? Spoken and written fluency in French.
? Strong oral and written communication skills.
? Entrepreneurial spirit; Creativity, Be proactive and work as team member.

Salary: Commensurate with experience and education, with excellent benefits

How to apply:

Please send a cover letter and resume to employment@sfcg.org or fax to +1 (202) 232-6718 with the subject heading: CAR Finance and Administration Manager. Please be sure to include minimum salary requirements (in currency figures) or current salary, projected start date (starting ASAP), and to mention where you found this posting. No phone calls please. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. Please see our web site www.sfcg.org for full details of our work. The deadline is February 11, 2014.