FINANCE AND PROCUREMENT MANAGER at Fairtrade Africa

ABOUT US

Established in 2005, Fairtrade Africa (FTA) is a member of Fairtrade International and the umbrella network organization representing Fairtrade-certified Producer Organizations in Africa and the Middle East. It has four (4) regional networks – Eastern & Central Africa; Southern Africa; West Africa; and the Middle East & North Africa. FTA currently represents 1,354,294 farmers and workers in 660 producer organizations spread across 28 countries in Africa and the Middle East by providing services to them that contribute to the improvement of their livelihoods.

ABOUT THE ROLE

FTA is looking to hire a Côte d’Ivoire (CDI) based Finance and Procurement Manager for the Livelihoods Ecosystem Advancement Programme. The Livelihoods Ecosystem Advancement Programme (LEAP), aims to address the root causes of market failures which keep Ivorian cocoa farmers in poverty traps. The programme will deliver tailored interventions across three key areas: cooperative strengthening; access to finance; and income diversification. By the end of the programme, it is anticipated that over 5,200 Ivorian cocoa farmers will benefit from increased incomes. The programme will also test and seek to understand which interventions and/or a combination of interventions drive farmers closer to reaching a living income in CDI.

The Finance & Procurement Manager will manage finance, administrative, procurement, logistics, and human resources functions for LEAP’s programme office, ensuring smooth and effective operational support for technical activities. S/he will promote strong collaboration between technical and operations staff, as well as with remotely based members of the broader Fairtrade Africa regional teams, United Kingdom, and project donors. We are looking for a candidate with experience working on large donor-funded programmes, ideally with more than one funder. The candidate must have excellent experience in financial management, procurement, compliance and administration systems and support the LEAP Programme management team in ensuring operational objectives. The candidate should have experience in line management and will manage the operational team of the LEAP project. The candidate will allocate 80% of his time to the LEAP and 20% to regional core activities.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Finance Management & Compliance

• Ensure effective planning and budget management and compliance with FTA, FTF (Fairtrade UK teams) and donor standards and procedures.
• Lead on the development of and ensure LEAP financial reporting systems and deadlines are in place and meet organizational and donor standards
• Monitoring income and working with Workstream Leads to review plans and expenditure against budget.
• Set up systems and ensure compliance with all FTA and donor policies and procedures for financial, grant management, and reporting in collaboration with the FTA Programme Manager.
• Undertake compliance checks and ensure all relevant policies and procedures are implemented effectively across all LEAP operations
• Ensure the LEAP team and partners adhere to all compliance requirements from FTA, FTF and donors through developing guidelines, leading training and having calls with partners or grantees
• Maintain oversight and monitor day‐to‐day financial management including financial transfers, payments, banking, reconciliation, invoicing, debtor management, bookkeeping, retirements, and petty cash
• Engage, support and when designated manage compliance initiatives and audits as prioritized by FTA, FTF or donors
• Initiate and monitor MoUs, consultant contracts and agreements with external suppliers/partners as well as manage supplier/partner relationships to ensure effective delivery of contractual commitments for producers.
• Ensure that funders are kept informed as required about financial activities, deliverables, and service outputs.

LEAP Programme Support

• Lead on the management of premises and facilities, procurement, communication, IT systems, logistics, and office supplies.
• Support Project Manager to develop an Internal Control System and tools for timely budget tracking to avoid over- and/or under-spending
• Support the technical teams with developing accurate financial forecasts for their work plans, as well as working closely with programme staff on value-for-money calculations.
• Line management of two administrative staff (one finance & administration officer and one administration officer)
• Lead the management of all project logistics and operations with the support of the administration officers
• Consolidate financial reports based on information from project partners to be submitted to the donor as per the reporting schedule, as well as cash-flow projection.
• Lead on the writing and contribution to the successful submission of donor financial and narrative reporting, and the fulfilment of compliance and visibility requirements
• Contribute to ensuring the project develops and delivers against its work plan, by supporting the financial management of the project (in collaboration with the Programme Manager and Workstream Leads).

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Financial Management or related field.
• Certified Accountancy qualification

Experience and Knowledge

• At least 5 years of operational management experience, including budget management, compliance systems, supplier and contract management.
• Experience in finance – including the processing of expenditure (invoices and receipts – including thorough proof and accounting validation), cash flow control, book-keeping, payments etc.
• Experience in providing Finance and Project Management support to the donor-funded project including project budget monitoring, reporting and forecasting.
• Experience in managing individuals and teams.
• Experience in grant management and compliance with partners
• Understanding of the NGO sector, working with donors and related HR and legal requirements

Skills

• Professional background in Financial Management / Accountancy
• Good command of spoken and written English and French
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact with individuals across multi-functional disciplines, international colleagues and a wide variety of stakeholders
• Excellent numeracy skills and attention to detail
• MS Office applications especially Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Excellent oral and written communication
• Conflict resolution skills
• Excellent organizational skills