Administrative and Financial Coordinator at Première Urgence Internationale

Starting date: 1st July 2021

Duration of Mission: 6 months

Location: Latin America

Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) is a Humanitarian, non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious international aid organization. Our teams are committed to supporting civilian victims of marginalization and exclusion, or hit by natural disasters, wars and economic collapses, by addressing their fundamental needs. Our aim is to provide emergency relief to uprooted people in order to help them recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency. The association leads on average 200 projects per year in the following sectors of intervention: food security, health, nutrition, construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures, water, sanitation, hygiene and economic recovery. PUI is providing assistance to around 6 million people in more than 22 countries – in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Europe.

Find out about our history and values

Crisis Context

Venezuela faces a major political, economic and social crisis with hyperinflation, acute scarcity of food, medicines and other basic goods. According the UNHCR, some 5.4 million Venezuelans have left their country and most of them are in Latin American or Caribbean countries.

The economic crisis in Venezuela has eroded the country’s health-care infrastructure and threatened the public health of its people. Shortages in medications, health supplies, interruptions of basic utilities at health-care facilities, and the emigration of health-care workers have led to a progressive decline in the operational capacity of health care. These limitations have disproportionally affected the most vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, elderly, people with chronic diseases and remote communities. The effect of the crisis on public health has been difficult to measure since the Venezuelan Ministry of Health stopped publishing crucial public health statistics in 2016. From 2012 to 2017, maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity increased by 66 % and 51% respectively, requiring the strengthening of sexual and reproductive health services. At the beginning of 2019’s rainy season, malaria and dengue outbreaks were reported in Táchira and Zulia, which remains a significant threat to bordering countries given the migratory movements. In Colombia, for example, by June 2019 133,078 malaria cases were reported in Bolívar, 38,947 cases in Sucre, and 20,401 cases in Amazonas. Between 2017 and 2019, most patients who were infected with HIV interrupted therapy because of a lack of medications. By September 2019 the number of measles and diphtheria cases dropped by 92.2 % due to vaccination campaigns held by international organizations, compared to 2018. For other health conditions data is not current available. For example, 70% of the deaths in Venezuela were due to non-communicable diseases by 2016, such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and chronic respiratory diseases. The number of preliminary tuberculosis cases date from 2018, when 10,575 new cases were reported.

Outbreaks and expanding epidemics of infectious diseases associated with declines in basic public health services are threatening the health of the country and the region. In Colombia, many of the 1.7 million Venezuelans have walked along the migration routes with no access to health services, which leads the most common conditions (dehydration, superficial wounds, waterborne diseases, etc.) to worsen and increases the risk of further complications. Furthermore, PWSN (such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, newborns and elderly people) and those with chronic health conditions are also unable to access to the medical treatment that their conditions require.

Our action in the field

Following many exploratory missions and the confirmation of a project submitted and validated, PUI aims to launch its humanitarian project covering health and MHPSS sector, as well as to develop its positioning and operational strategy in the country for 2021.

Responsibilities

The Administrative and Financial Coordinator is accountable for the sound financial, accounting and budgetary management of the mission as well as the management of human resources and the administrative and legal records.

Financial, budgetary and accounting management: He/She is responsible for all aspects relating to finance, including budgetary and accounting elements, as well as the mission cash flow.
Management of human resources: He/She is responsible for the administrative management of the local and international teams, for the definition/updating of procedures and HR management tools in accordance with labor regulations in the intervention country and the HR policies of PUI, and for the monitoring of risks linked to HR questions.
Administrative and legal management: He/She supervises administrative records and guarantees that the status and functioning of the mission are in legal accordance with the requirements of the intervention country.
Representation: He/She represents the association in its relations with partners, authorities and different local players for the financial, administrative, legal and human resources areas of the mission.
Coordination: He/She centralizes and diffuses information within the mission and to headquarters for all financial, administrative, legal and human resources aspects of the mission, and consolidates the internal and external reporting for these domains.

Specific Goals and Activities

1. ENSURING SOUND FINANCIAL, BUDGETARY AND ACCOUNTING MANAGEMENT FOR THE MISSION

Financial

He/She elaborates and updates monitoring charts to ensure the financial equilibrium of the mission and prevent risks. He/She analyses financial information, and shares his/her conclusions with the coordination team, the base managers and the appropriate technical managers, as well as with the audit manager at headquarters.
He/She ensures the implementation and correct use of financial, accounting and budgetary procedures and management tools throughout the mission. He/She is responsible for briefing new expatriates and local employees on these rules and organizes ad hoc training when necessary.
He/She ensures, amongst other things, that expenditure procedures are respected and implements an internal control system. He/She also participates in the validation of procurement files.
He/She is responsible for financial audits on the mission and supervises the transmission to headquarters of the necessary documents and information within the framework of headquarters’ audits.

Budgetary

He/She pilots the development of the mission budgetary framework for the year, and monitors/revises it at regular intervals, such as defined with the audit manager at headquarters.
He/She formulates project budgets within the framework of operations proposals (including budgetary narrative), respecting the procedures for each donor, in coordination with the coordination team and the appropriate field managers. He/She ensures therefore the cost coverage strictly linked to the proposed programs, but also to the fair distribution of mission operating costs throughout each project.
He/She prepares each month the budgetary monitoring for each project, which he/she communicates to the appropriate players in the mission and headquarters within 15 days following the end of the month, and analyses with them any discrepancies between forecast and actual figures.
He/She carries out budgetary projections at regular intervals in order to ensure the optimization of budgetary resources while respecting the eligibility and flexibility rules of each donor. He/She proposes where necessary budgetary adjustments, which could necessitate requests for contractual amendments. He/She takes into account the contractual timing required for presenting an amendment and ensures that all the documents are transmitted in due time to headquarters.
He/She ensures, throughout each project, that funds are correctly attributed, respecting the contractual framework in terms of eligibility rules (date, nature and procurement procedures) and reporting intervals.
He/She produces external financial reports for the donors that he/she transmits to the Head of Mission for transmission to headquarters with all the documents constituting the contractual report.

Accounting

He/She supervises the accounting assignment of transactions, ensures that expenditure is correctly assigned and carries out the monthly accounting closure having carried out all the necessary controls. He/She then transmits the monthly accounts to
headquarters in an electronic version as well as the paper accounting returns within 8 days following the end of the month.
He/She is responsible for the correct archiving of accounting documents according to the rules established by headquarters.

Cash Flow

He/She establishes the provisional cash flow with the teams and transmits to headquarters requests for transfers. He/She ensures that the amount of cash flow for the mission is sufficient for the requirements in the field over the period, taking into account possible donor payments carried out locally in these transfer requests to headquarters.
He/She is responsible for the bank accounts and funds for which he/she regularly controls the balances, and he/she organizes fund movements to the mission permanently mindful of the security of the transferred and stocked funds.

2. ENSURING THE GOOD MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL HUMAN RESOURCES FOR THE MISSION

HR Policy

He/She produces and proposes possible updates to the HR policy in terms of rules, procedures and tools, relating to recruitment, remuneration, administrative management, disciplinary aspects and the management of individual career paths within the organization.
He/she guarantees the application of this policy, once validated by the Head of Mission and Headquarters, and consequently monitors that the rules and procedures are known, understood and applied by all team leaders, and that the team leaders have all the tools required for their application.
In particular, he/she participates in the production and/or updating of the internal rules of procedure and is responsible for their correct application.

Administrative management, management of career paths

He/She participates in the validation of recruitment requests, contractual amendments (whatever the object: function, remuneration, hours, end date…), disciplinary sanctions and dismissal decisions.
He/She supervises the organization of recruitments (offer, candidates, and interviews) for his teams and can be called upon to participate for other departments.
He/She ensures the constitution of administrative files for the personnel, and monitors that employee documents are in accordance with working for PUI in the country.
He/She establishes personnel work contracts.
He/She defines the procedures and produces necessary integration supports for new employees.
He/She elaborates the remuneration grids (fixed and variable elements), defines the complementary advantage packages (compulsory or not: medical cover, per diem, insurance, travel expenses…) and ensures their implementation, once validated by the Head of Mission and Headquarters.
He/She supervises pay operations.
He/She monitors absences and particularly vacations.
He/She monitors the smooth running of the evaluation process for all the employees of the mission.
He/She identifies training needs and participates in making them materially possible.
He/She organizes and manages sanitary and medical repatriations in case of work related accidents with the field medical coordinator (if necessary) and the headquarters medical manager.
He/She responds to requests from team leaders, advises them and accompanies them where necessary.

Organization of work

He/She participates in the elaboration of staffing organization charts, is attentive to the coherence of team composition, in terms of task sharing and responsibilities, definition of hierarchical and functional links, job titles.
He/She elaborates the job classification grid, updating it when necessary, and monitors its strict application in the field.
He/She participates in the elaboration of job descriptions and validates them according to the classification grid.
He/She participates in the definition of Human Resources requirements within the framework of the drafting of project proposals and possible amendments.

HR risk management

He/She monitors salary costs, carries out financial projections, anticipates and alerts if necessary.
He/She ensures that the HR rules and procedures are in accordance with current employment legislation, ensures social monitoring and carries out updates where necessary.
He/She is responsible for defining and implementing appropriate work conditions, in particular concerning health and safety rules.
He/She anticipates and prevents social conflicts and participates in crisis management where necessary. Conflict prevention may require the organization of a personnel representation system, if inexistent.
He/She is attentive to the risk of abuses of authority (between local employees or from expatriates towards local employees, in whatever form) and reports all inappropriate behavior to the Head of Mission.
He/She is responsible for managing the files for all the personnel (on staff or not), the updating of data and their physical and electronic archiving.

3. ENSURING THE ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL MISSION PERSONNEL

He/She organizes and manages sanitary and medical repatriations with the field medical coordinator (if necessary) and the headquarters medical manager.
He/She supervises the organization of mission arrivals and departures (bookings, travel documents, transit, vacation requests, return sheet…) in coordination with the Head of Mission and headquarters.
He/She carries out the briefing for all expatriates arriving to the mission within his/her skill areas.
He/She participates in the definition of the monthly per diem amount and manages and/or delegates the per diem allocation and eventually salary advances in collaboration with headquarters.

4. ENSURING THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL MANAGEMENT OF THE MISSION

He/She organizes the legal protection for the mission, in particular by identifying one or more local partners capable of providing the necessary advice (lawyer for example).
He/She participates in the drafting of contractual documents for the mission (with the authorities, NGO partners, suppliers, insurers, vehicle and rented property owners…) and ensures their monitoring.
He/She participates in the administrative and legal monitoring of projects, in particular the implementation of the supply chain.

5. ENSURING THE CIRCULATION OF INFORMATION, THE COORDINATION AND THE REPRESENTATION FOR “ADMIN” QUESTIONS

He/She ensures an efficient circulation of information to field, capital and headquarters teams.
He/She drafts or participates in the drafting of internal activity reports for everything dealing with financial, budgetary, accounting, HR, administrative and legal management for the mission.
He/She ensures the administrative coordination at mission level by regular visits to the bases, controls, monitoring, training, etc…
Internally, he/she is the representative for PUI with the Personnel representative instances, either legally compulsory or not. He/She is also the representative for PUI for all the personnel for any question relating to Human Resources; as such, he/she ensures the communication of any decision or change in rules or procedures to the local teams and ensures that the necessary explanations are provided so that the appropriation is facilitated.
Externally, he/she represents PUI with the legal, fiscal and administrative authorities (Work inspectors, Tax office, collection organizations…). He/She develops and maintains relationships with partner entities, in particular within the NGO forum for coordination for everything dealing with administration, donors and human resources.

6. SUPERVISING AND MANAGING “ADMIN” TEAMS

He/She supervises all the admin team, directly or not. He/She drafts and validates job descriptions and carries out or delegates performance appreciation interviews. He/She animates work meetings, arbitrates possible conflicts, and defines priorities and activity timings.
He/She participates in the recruitment of members of the admin team.
He/She ensures and/or supervises continuous development training for procedures and tools of PUI for local and international members of the admin team, at the capital and on the bases.
He/She supports the Base Managers in their admin activities, in a functional and non-hierarchical relationship.
He/She elaborates the admin department action plan according to the objectives defined in the annual mission program

Profile

Training: Financial/accounting management

Experience:

Minimum 3 years experience in a Finance Coordination position for an INGO
Experience in human resources management
Experience in grants and audit management
Experience in dealing with local authorities and various partners

Knowledge and skills:

Knowledge of institutional donor procedures (OFDA, ECHO, AAP, UN agencies…)
SAGA

Languages: English and Spanish mandatory

Required Personal Characteristics;

Good stress management
Resistance to pressure
Analytical capability
Organized and methodical
Reliable
Strong sense of responsibilities
Strong listening and empathy skills
Ability to adapt, manage priorities and be pragmatic
Diplomatic and with a sense of negotiation
Good communication skills
Honesty and rigor

Conditions

Employed with a Fixed-Term Contract
Monthly gross income: from 2 200 up to 2 530 Euros depending on the experience in International Solidarity + 50 Euros per semester seniority with PUI
Cost covered: Round-trip transportation to and from home / mission, visas, vaccines…
Insurance including medical coverage and complementary healthcare, 24/24 assistance and repatriation
Housingin collective accommodation
Daily living Expenses (« Per diem ») of 470 euros
Break Policy: 5 working days at 3 and 9 months + break allowance
Paid Leaves Policy: 5 weeks of paid leaves per year + return ticket every 6 months