Finance and Operations Coordinator At Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, the private sector, media, and other key stakeholders.

Established in 1986 as a technical capacity-building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees.

ADPC Strategy 2030 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change, and regional cooperation.

For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress due to the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long-term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 percent of GDP.

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift toward policies and institutions that enable climate-resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent, as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households, and the private sector, and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock.

C. About CARE for South Asia

ADPC is implementing a five-year project titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia (CARE)” with financial support from the World Bank Group. The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans, and investments.

Until now, a considerable amount of effort has been taken through the provision of advisory services for policy and investment interventions, promotion of Climate Resilient Design and Standards for the South Asia Region, and Implementation Support to Climate-Risk Management Solutions for Participating Countries in the focus sectors of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilient Transport Infrastructure, and Climate Policy, planning and finance sectors in the three project countries of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. This initiative was successful because of close engagement and collaboration with over 35 government stakeholders across the three project countries.

D. Statement of Intent

Financial management and operations play a vital role in satisfactorily implementing all the required components as planned within the fiscally agreed-upon budget. The Finance and Operations Coordinator will support the PIU in providing timely and reliable inputs for financial management and project operations and ensure consistency and compliance with ADPC’s administrative and fiduciary requirements.

The consultant will be based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Note: It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, ratherto highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

E. Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant shall be responsible for:

Operational

• Assist in maintaining a database and log of key project documents on a weekly basis
• Support in routine correspondence between project team, internal and external organizations and for making international and local travel arrangements, assistance in travel advance settlement
• Support the team in organizing key regional events under the project by looking after the logistics and key government protocols
• Maintain the CARE for South Asia PIU email and make correspondence in close coordination with the Project Manager
• Assist in reviewing various operational documents vis-à-vis the format and policies (internal and WB)
• Coordinate with PIU, ADPC Finance and Sectoral teams on a periodic basis to manage the operational, budgeting and planning, expenditure processing, financial reporting, fund management and accounting a record management aspect.

Budgeting and Planning

• Assist the CARE Project team in preparing the budget forthe annual Work Plan of the CARE Project. Prepare CARE Project’s annual cash plan on the basis of the annual work plan.
• Coordinate with PIU and ADPC Finance to help prepare realistic cash forecasts on a quarterly basis in close coordination with sector specialists and submit them to the WB for advance and replenishment of advance.
• Update the trend analysis on expenditures on a monthly basis using the existing system
• Support the PIU in preparing annual and quarterly disbursement forecasts for all components of the CARE Project in line with the project’s procurement plan and work plan/cash plan.

  Funds Management

• Coordinate with PIU and assist ADPC Finance to ensure that the Special Accounts established for the project are administered in accordance with WB requirements.
• Assist ADPC Finance in preparing and processing withdrawal applications in accordance with the Bank’s Disbursement Guidelines & Procedures for drawing funds from the assignment accounts opened for each component.
• Support PIU and ADPC Finance to track funds and follow up with the World Bank to ensure the availability of funds.
• Assist ADPC Finance to reconcile project records with WB Client Connection records relating to disbursements from the WB grant periodically and at least quarterly.

Accounting and Record Management

• Assist ADPC Finance in ensuring up-to-date maintenance of adequate registers, books of accounts, and records in appropriate order and format to meet the government and donors’ requirements and facilitate classification and analyzing the financial information to monitor the project’s progress.
• Support PIU in preparing supplementary record which provides timely and up-to-date financial information on contracts.
• Assist PIU and ADPC finance in maintaining an imprest of petty cash and ensure separate petty cash books and petty cash vouchers are maintained.

Expenditure Processing

• Support in applying pre-audit checks on all payments before payment from the assignment accounts, including budget availability, sanction of competent authority and compliance with applicable financial rules & regulations.
• Assist in managing financial aspects of the contracts under implementation, including payment terms, purchase orders and variation orders.

Financial Reporting

• Support PIU and ADPC Finance in preparing quarterly financial summaries and submit them to Project Director in time for review and approval.
• Assist in preparing ADPC annual financial statements ensuring that a separate note on CARE for South Asia is included in the financial statements.
• Prepare periodic financial reports as needed and specified for the CARE Project.
• Support the PIU in ensuring that all the financial reporting requirements of the project are complied with.

Perform any other task related to the position assigned by the Project Director.

F. Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• An internationally recognized professional accounting qualification (ACCA/CA/CPA) or an advanced degree – Master’s or equivalent – in Management or Business Administration or Financial Management or similar would be preferred.
• Three to five years of relevant work experience after acquiring the stipulated qualification is required. Prior experience with donor-funded and public-sector projects will be accorded due weightage.
• Demonstrated experience in operations and general project administration
• Experience in event planning and management
• Experience and working knowledge in managing project budgets and monitoring;
• An internationally recognized professional accounting qualification (ACCA/CA/CPA) OR an advanced degree – Master’s or equivalent – in Financial Management or similar would be preferred.
• Excellent English language writing and communication skills
• Excellent computer skills including MS Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

G. Reporting Relationships

The consultant will report to the Project Director and work closely with the Project Manager and other members of the PIU and ADPC Finance.

H. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be for 8 months.

I. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.