Regional Head of Finance and Administration West Africa

Job posted by: Danish Refugee Council (DRC) - Denmark - Thu, 9 Oct 2014

Job Details:

Organisation: Danish Refugee Council (DRC) - Denmark

Deadline Sat, 1 Nov 2014

Job type: Contract

Location: Ivory Coast

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Introduction

DRC is a Danish international non-governmental organisation, which promotes and supports durable solutions to the problems faced by refugees and internally displaced people all over the world. DRC is present in more than 30 conflict territories around the world assisting displace people with shelter, food, income generating activities, legal aid and a wide range of other protection assistance.

As a humanitarian organisation working in some of the most challenging operational environments in the world it is of uttermost importance for DRC to work in compliance with the DRC Accountability and Quality Management system in the areas of Administration, HR, Finance and Procurement/Logistics. Smooth, reliable and effective operational systems are preconditions for DRC to maintain its position as a trustworthy and reliable partner for our donors and an accountable organisation towards our beneficiaries.

The position as Head of Finance and Administration (HoFA) in DRC is a cornerstone in keeping up the high quality in DRC’s operations.

 

DRC`s global strategy for organisational development includes a number of initiatives addressing preconditions for growth, the most significant being the issue of decentralisation. Under this heading compliance with DRC`s operational systems and reduction of errors are in focus, and the HoFAs are considered instrumental in keeping this focus. But focus is also on improving the systems and adjusting them to fit the operational reality that the DRC operations face. The HoFAs are considered equally important participants and contributors in this process.

 

Background

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) runs a regional programme in West Africa focusing on border areas between Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, South East Guinée, Mali and Burkina Faso that includes protection and emergency interventions as well as rehabilitation and recovery activities. In the coming three years, DRC will continue to focus on these areas.

 

The program currently has a regional office located in Abidjan-Côte d’Ivoire, a sub-regional office in Monrovia-Liberia and 5 field offices in the coastal zone. In the Sahelian is monitored from a central coordination office in Bamako. Ouagadougou is also a coordination office in Burkina Faso under the supervision of Bamako. 5 Field offices are implemented in the Sahelian countries.

 

The program receives funding from DANIDA, EC, ECHO, OFDA, Alwalheed, NOVO, SDC, UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF along with private contributions with a portfolio of around U$ 15 million. Presently the program is employing 30 expatriates and approximately 400 local staff.

 

 

Purpose

The Regional Head of Finance and Administration (RHoFA) will have overall leadership responsibility for DRC’s support operations (Finances, Logistics, Human Resources, Information Technology). S/he will play a critical role in the development and implementation of strategies necessary to further develop DRC’s program in the countries as the implementer of choice for the donors and government. The RHoFA will be a member of the Senior Management Team, with overall responsibility for the program support functions and capabilities in the organization expected growth. This position requires the demonstrated ability to develop long term vision and strategic planning, provide leadership for the organization’s operations, and a high level of financial and operation planning including capacity building of staff.

 

Specifically

  1. To manage, deliver and report on DRC’s current operations programme support in the region (Finances, Logistics, Human Resources and IT) through effective support for the implementation and delivery of successful programmes and partnerships and the resulting outcomes
  2. To establish a high performing operations team that supports and facilitates the building of a cohesive appropriate and transformative regional programme
  3. To refine, develop and improve operational approaches, compliance and systems, and supporting the Regional Director to build and deliver the most effective and sustainable interventions

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Key Responsibilities

Strategy Management and Development

  • Responsible for the strategic development, management and implementation of the support operations of the regional and all country programs consistent with DRC’s vision, mission and policies
  • Lead and work with the multidisciplinary team (in-house and in-country) to ensure strategies, business plans, and timelines are embraced and implemented
  • Provide legal, economic and political analysis as needed, to ensure DRC’s strategic positioning and compliance in countries of operation 
  • Contribute to the overall management of DRC

 

Programme Development & Quality Management

  • Ensure that global policies, standards and approaches related to support are met in all regional and country projects/programmes, including quality checks of support requirements in projects, proposals & reports
  • Ensure appropriate technical support is available to country and regional programs, in line with organizational priorities
  • Ensure standard approaches and learning across countries
  • Ensure support functions are effective and leveraged for maximum organizational impact

 

Funding and Finance Management

  • Ensure good planning and budgeting at regional and country levels and compliance to DRC and donor standards and procedures
  • Ensure compliance of the country programs, with all DRC and donors policies and procedures for financial, grant and asset management
  • Ensure support for country and regional teams in annual planning and review processes for budgets, logistics, HR, and IT
  • Manage the organizations risk by ensuring all relevant policies and procedures are implemented effectively across all operations and programs and communicate risk to the Senior Management team for decision making purposes
  • Ensure effective management of regional fiscal function and performance, ensuring compliance to policies of risk management and that risks are identified,  managed and mitigated against at regional and country level
  • Ensure agreed standards and indicators are being met across countries and financial input at country level is to organisational and donor standards, monitor country financial activity meets internal and external standards, set and monitor regional policies, procedures of financial management, and coordinate regional monthly reporting to HQ
  • Ensure internal and external financial reporting is completed on-time and to organisational and donor standards

 

Human Resource, IT and Logistics Management

  • Ensure regional and support country level structure and human resources to deliver organisational strategy and plans
  • Line-manage and support DRC’s Heads of Departments and ensure appropriate and effective performance management systems are in place in each of their teams.
  • Work with HR department to develop succession planning and staff development in each country.
  • Ensure implementation of HR policies and procedures at regional and country level, including compliance checking of recruitment and performance management of countries, provide HR management support to country programmes as appropriate,
  • Ensure consistency and legal compliance of country and regional staff terms and conditions and remuneration packages
  • Ensure appropriate levels of staff associations and representation at regional and country level and manage code of conduct reporting mechanism
  • Ensure regional and country compliance to  global policies and procedures (contextualise where necessary) for all support functions
  • Disseminate and support  global updates to policies and procedures
  • Provide regional procurement and logistics support to country programmes open and international tender and ensure effective supply chain for international procurement
  • Troubleshooting support to countries

 

Reporting Arrangements

Reports to the DRC Regional Director with technical communication with the Headquarters Finance Department. The RHOFA directly supervises the HR/Admin, Finance, Logistics/Procurement and IT managers who are based in the different country offices.  

 

Conditions Availability:                           1 December 2014

Duty station:                          Abidjan, Ivory Coast.  This is a non-family duty station.

Area of Operation:                 Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso,

Contract:                        1 year renewable contract.  Other employment conditions in accordance with the Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for Global Expatriates recruited by the Horn of Africa Regional Office or the DRC national staff salary scale, as relevant. This position is rated as A5 on the DRC Expatriate salary scale available at www.drc.dk

 

Person Specifications

  • Post graduate degree, in Social Sciences, International development, Project Management, and/or Public Administration, Financial/Business management, or other relevant field.
  • Minimum 10 years of senior leadership experience in operations management roles with at least 5 years of experience in the field
  • Strong operational management experience and capability (finance, people, fundraising), including geographically remote management)
  • Proven financial management, information management, and systems management experience
  • Proven management skills, including good programme and human resource development ability
  • Understanding of the countries in which DRC operates  and sensitive to the socio- cultural context
  • Demonstrable strategic thinking and leadership ability
  • Excellent analytical and critical thinking ability
  • Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills with a well-developed ability to motivate and persuade at high levels
  • Proven ability to lead and work effectively with others to achieve results
  • Understanding and experience of institutional fundraising
  • Fluency in English and French

 

Preferable:

Policy development experience desirable.

Regional Finance Director experience or equivalent would be an advantage.

 

General

Commitments:DRC has a Humanitarian Accountability Framework, outlining its global accountability commitments. All staff are required to contribute to the achievement of this framework into the work of DRC

 

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website www.drc.dk

 

Application process

Interested? Qualified candidates are invited to access the full job description and the requirements for this position under vacancies at www.drc.dk.  Please submit applications online using this link by 1. November, 2014

 

If you have questions or are facing problems with the online application process, please contact job@drc.dk

 

 

 

 

 



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