CSS Program Economist for Myanmar At People in Need

Location: Thailand (Bangkok)/Cambodia (Phom Penh)

Starting date: May/June 2022

Duration: 18 months with a possibility of extension

Full time position

Position Summary

The Program Economist (PE) shares responsibility for the effective and efficient delivery of People in Need’s Civil Society support program (CSS) in Myanmar. Specifically, the role of the Program Economist is to manage overall program economy, partners compliance and subgrants management. Additionally PE will be accountable for overall CSS program financial management; reporting, posting of costs, budget amendments and forecast.

PE is the line manager to two Finance & Grants officers.

To perform this role PE will closely cooperate with CSS program director, Head of Systems and Operations (HoSO), CD, & HQ advisors.

Main responsibilities:

Compliance:

• Responsibility for CSS program economy and the identification of gaps, financial and procedural risks, and provision of appropriate solutions.
• Provide technical support and guidance to the finance & grants officers, to ensure sound implementation of PINs financial systems.
• Ensure standardization of processes/procedures related finance, & subgrants under different projects.
• Ensure proper partners assessments takes place prior to contracting. Ensure cooperation with program team to conduct the assessment using PIN partners assessment tool PAT.
• Acts as a focal point for Audits. Provides external auditors with all needed information/documents and comment on findings. Be present for meetings with Auditors where needed.
• Implement systems of oversight and prevention of corruption
• Responsible for CSS program compliance with PIN & donors’ rules in addition to local legal legislation rules & regulations.

Program Financial Management:

• Leads on the project budgets preparation, budget revisions, Budget consolidation and numerical checks
• Responsible for adherence to finance reporting deadlines
• Acts as a focal point in communications with the donors regarding financial compliance and budget management matters.
• Organize & lead monthly meetings to provide program management with information on overall budget burn rate, highlight any discrepancies, and suggests corrective actions.

Accounting:

• Responsible establishing sufficient capacities to guarantee accounting data quality as required by PIN internal rules and legislation (local as well as Czech);
• Follow up on the registration and posting of all transactions in timely manner
• Supervise the cooperation between finance & grants officer with HQ Accounting controller

Subgrants & cashflow:

• Implement PIN’s money transfer guidelines to ensure subgrants disbursement security & confidentiality.
• Responsible for subgrants installment planning (Frequency and size of the instalment & payment modality)
• Ensure supporting documents related to subgrants disbursement are in line with PIN’s guidelines for money transfers.

Partnership management:

• Organize and lead regular meetings with partners finance & project counterparts to discuss their spending, and forecast. Anticipate any discrepancies, suggest & follow up on corrective actions.
• Supervise the timely and correct submissions of all partner financial reports & the availability of supporting documents
• Responsible for guiding partners through audits

Archiving:

• Ensures that the overall projects and partnerships documentation (reports, forecasts, contracts, amendments and supporting documents, important communication) are properly archived in PINs archiving & approval system following the existing guidelines for CSS program.

For this position, we consider important:

• University graduate in finance, business or accounting study programs (possible exceptions for candidates studying this field at secondary level),
• Experience in a finance management
• Experience in managing subgrants in complex environment
• Keen eye on details and passion for working with numbers
• Advanced Excel skills (including Pivot Tables and other complex formulas)
• Strong training/coaching skills
• Ability to communicate clearly with different groups of people and to respect the different cultural background
• Ability to work independently and effectively
• Ability to deal with complex compliance agenda
• Responsibility, proactive approach, flexibility,
• Knowledge of SAP, MS Dynamics Nav or other ERP is an advantage

PIN Offers:

• Salary as per PIN scale: 2100 – 2200 EUR (depending on the seniority level) + 1200 EUR per diems
• Type of contract: consultancy contract
• Housing allowance
• Reimbursement of travel expenses with travel to the country of residence once per every 6 months of work
• Reimbursement of costs of visas and vaccinations; assistance with visa application procedure
• Medical helpdesk and psychological consultation available online
• Medical travel insurance
• 25 days of paid leave annually