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We are International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI), a global consulting firm working some of the most complex and impactful development problems worldwide. We work on programs that help government agencies, private companies and donors improve the lives of others. At IBTCI you will be part of an inclusive team that provides expert solutions and advice to understand and address critical problems while giving you opportunities to succeed and grow.
Assignment Title: USAID/AFR Development Program Advisor (Budget)
Department/Location: ISPI / USAID/AFR South Sudan
Technical Point of Contact: ISPI Project Manager
Type: Consultant
Classification: Consultancy
Category: Ongoing Project
Clearance Required: USAID Facilities Access
Overview:
AFR’s Mission in South Sudan is to integrate humanitarian and development assistance to promote household and community resilience, putting communities at the center of the development process to address their own challenges and develop resilience to future shocks. With a budget of $98 million in development assistance and over $700 million in humanitarian assistance, the strategy focuses on delivering multifaceted assistance to South Sudan’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach counties. USAID assistance to the people of South Sudan is delivered through non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, and private-sector partners. This position manages only development assistance, including PEPFAR.
The South Sudan Mission is seeking a Development Program Specialist (Budget) to support the Program Office. Program Office work is high volume, fast-paced, highly visible, and critical for the overall reputation of the Mission. The Program Office carries out a variety of analytical, reporting and program tasks and produces high quality products within short time frames. The USAID Development Program Specialist (Budget) must be familiar with all aspects of the office. They guide the Mission in all aspects of the program budget development and implementation and serve as the prime counterpart to Washington D.C. budget offices.
The nature of the position requires that the incumbent be highly knowledgeable in international development principles and approaches, as well as USAID development principles and budget management practices. This position is a senior-level position with responsibilities that are complex, multi-sectorial and mission wide.
The Mission is in the process of hiring a direct hire employee for this position. The contractor will be expected to fill this role until the new hire is brought on-board while training someone from the Financial Management Office to serve as a Budget Specialist backup in the future, and then to train the newly hired employee.
The consultant will not perform other inherently governmental functions or duties (e.g. will not serve as AOR/COR or supervise staff), but rather will advise, mentor, and facilitate as appropriate on the performance of inherently governmental functions on the part of the South Sudan Mission.
Responsibilities
DUTIES AND DELIVERABLES
Program Budget Planning and Management
Under the leadership of the Program Officer, the incumbent manages USAID/South Sudan’s annual program budget across all U.S. foreign appropriations funding accounts (ESF, DA, GHP-State, GHP-USAID, and other foreign assistance accounts as applicable). They are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Mission’s program budget, regularly monitoring the status of all available funds and obligations and participating in the preparation for quarterly financial reviews. They work with the technical and support teams to develop the master budget for the entire Mission as well as additional foreign assistance money not managed by USAID. The Agency’s Development Information System (DIS) serves as a tool for ensuring that all USAID mechanisms are sufficiently funded, and that planned and actual obligations are accurate and easily available to all staff. They track USAID/Washington Africa Bureau allowances to the Mission, coordinating with the Mission’s Financial Management Office as needed and support the tracking of all directives and earmarks. They maintain appropriately organized electronic files on at least five consecutive funding years (past, current, and future years) at any given time on the shared drive. They advise American, third-country nationals and FSN personnel in projecting budget forecasts and management.
They assists technical officers in tracking their projects’ historical budgets and developing future year budgets to ensure that each activity is allocated sufficient funding for proper implementation; providing/validating budget and financial information for funding actions such as new projects or incremental funding and ensures that all are of high quality, conform to the USAID ADS, and fit within the Mission’s program budget plans; and ensuring/training staff on compliance with USAID’s forward-funding policies and other budget regulations. They liaise with the Financial Management Office, Office of Acquisition and Assistance, and Technical Teams to identify any issues for portfolio and financial reviews.
USAID Official Documentation and Information Management
With limited oversight, the incumbent leads the coordination, preparation, and submission of budget documentation for the annual operational plan, Congressional Budget Justification and Mission Resource Requests, as well as other requests for future year money. The incumbent drafts both required and ad hoc reports for the Africa Bureau and ad-hoc reporting for the Program Office, Mission Director, Africa Bureau, and U.S. Embassy. Such reports might describe the budgetary aspects of achieving joint U.S.-South Sudan program activities and objectives. Reporting requirements often shift (according to the requestor and ultimate external audience) and require careful analysis and reasoned arguments for highly complex situations, where clarity of written communication is very important. In consultation with the other Program Office staff, the incumbent develops various computer-generated analyses of program trends, using mapping, graphic or other special computer programs as necessary to explain USAID/South Sudan with the other Program Office staff, governments, NGOs, contractors, other donors and clients to ensure accurate and up-to-date data.
Within the term of this assignment, the incumbent will be expected to deliver:
- Complete and accurate information on the program budget responsive to annual budget cycle requirements and data calls.
- Development of a Master Budget as well as related documents to manage and allocate related US Foreign Assistance funds.
- Up-to-date and accurate tracker of USAID/Washington Africa Bureau allowances to the Mission.
- Handover of all up-to-date electronic files.
- Accurate and timely elements of the Operational Plan, Congressional Budget Justification and Mission Resource Requests, and other related reports and documentation.
- Consultation on budget forecasts as needed.
- Trained OFM counterpart and newly hired staff on all of the above.
Qualifications
QUALIFICATIONS, EDUCATION, and/or EXPERIENCE
Required:
- Education: A Bachelor’s degree in relevant subject area (e.g., mathematics, business, finance, accounting, or public administration).
- Work Experience: Five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in development-related project budgeting required. Experience working for an international organization, with a significant amount of that experience gained from working in developing countries.
- Language Proficiency: Level VI (fluent) in both spoken and written English.
- Job Knowledge: A thorough and complete knowledge and understanding of how to plan, implement and monitor a large, highly complex budget portfolio is required. Must have the knowledge of the USAID ADS, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Foreign Assistance Framework, and US Government regulations.
- Skills and Abilities: Strong analytical capabilities, careful attention to detail, and accuracy in budget planning. Strategic thinking skills with the ability to link the qualitative aspects of projects/programs to the quantitative aspects of the budget, which is important in planning and justifying funding requests. The candidate should demonstrate the ability to work independently as well as cooperatively and work well under pressure. Discretion and tact are helpful qualities. Strong verbal and written English skills are required. Superior skill using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets is essential and required to accomplish everything outlined above. Experience writing formulas and creating pivot tables is required. Experience with PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and Access databases is required.
Preferred
- Prior experience working as a USAID Budget Specialist position and familiarity with USAID systems (FACTS Info, GLASS, Phoenix, ) policies and procedures.
Supervisory Responsibilities: This position does not have supervisory responsibilities.
Travel: International travel may be required within Juba, South Sudan.
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
About the Organization:
IBTCI has been in business since 1987. We specialize in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL), Institutional Support (IS), Financial & Risk Management (FRM), Supply Chain Management & Procurement (SCMP); Social & Behavior Change (SBC) and Capacity Building. We provide these services across many sectors including, but not limited to, agriculture, resilience & food security, conflict & crisis, democracy & governance, economic growth & trade, education, energy & Infrastructure, environment & climate change, global health & WASH and humanitarian and disaster assistance. At IBTCI, our colleagues are encouraged to collaborate and be part of the solution while getting the tools and guidance needed to grow and support our clients’ missions.
IBTCI is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all persons without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identification, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran, or any other classification protected by applicable anti-discrimination laws. We prohibit and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment. VEVRAA Federal Contractor.
If you are an applicant with a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability, or unable to use the online application system and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact the Talent Acquisition team at TalentAcquisition@ibtci.com (Do not send your resume to this account, for consideration please apply in our career page, https://careers.ibtci.com/jobs).