Finance and Grants MANAGER

Finance and Grants MANAGER

Position Description

Location:                           Dare salaam

Position Status:                Full-time, Regular

Salary Level:                     7

Current Team Member:     None

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps(Tanzania) is implementing a multi-year, conflict prevention and stability programme funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Collective Resilience Against Violent Extremism (CREATE) engages local and national governments, local civil society organizations and communities to mitigate the drivers, enablers and narratives of violent extremism in East Africa through support to policy initiatives, community engagement, and support to national civil society organizations in order to prevent the recruitment of vulnerable individuals by violent extremist organizations. The programme works in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda, through strategies adapted to the context and opportunities in each country to advance research, legislation and field implementation of activities

General Position Summary

The Finance and Subgrants Manager works under the guidance and supervision of the country Coordinator and with direct interaction with the CREATE Program lead, Managers, Consortium Members and the Mercy Corps Finance Team. The F&S Manager is expected to be an integral part of the senior management team in-country and work closely with the management, technical and operations field and country teams in Kenya and Tanzania.

Essential Job Responsibilities

FINANCE

• Support the Country Coordinator Lead in managing all financial operations of the project, including accounting and reporting, cash management, and budget management.
• Manage financial operations and financial reporting of CREATE.
• Provide monthly management reports to the Country Coordinator in Tanzania, Program Director/Program Lead and Programme Managers, including expenditures by fund and country, sub grantee reporting and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner.
• Ensure that the project financial operations are in compliance with all CSSF and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Ensure that monthly transactions are reviewed and entered in the General Ledger accurately and on timely basis.
• Assist with monthly review and reconciliations of balance sheet accounts (receivables, payables, advances, bank & cash reconciliations, etc.) and all the CREATE related expenditures.
• Review payment documents, national staff payroll and other supporting documents ensuring their compliance with the local laws in country, donor regulations and MC Tanzania internal policies.
• Be prepared to respond to any budgetary and financial inquiries from the donor, consortium members and Mercy Corps senior management within East Africa and home office in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Prepare monthly cash flow projections and request funds from the country office.
• Provide financial advisory on overall strategic programme decisions.
• Review and track expenses and proper documentation as per Mercy Corps procedures and donor requirements for record keeping and accountancy.

GRANT MANAGEMENT

 The Finance and Grants Manager is responsible for conducting pre-award assessments, post award management and close outs for CREATE subcontracts and sub awards. S/he will also support efforts to build the capacity of downstream partners to meet finance and compliance requirements of Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), so that these partners develop professional personnel and systems. The Finance and Grants Manager is responsible for review of financial files/records both soft and physical to ensure that partner files are up to date

Essential Job Responsibilities

Process

• Conduct day to day management and administration of the CREATE grants function and partner management
• Propose revisions to grant processes and procedures based on experience and lessons learned and coordinate proposed changes with the Team Leader, Contracts Director and Finance and Sub-Grants Manager.

Pre-Award

• Participate in the solicitation and selection of sub recipients and subcontracts, working closely with the technical team to identify potential areas of support, eligibility and evaluation criteria
• Work with selected grantees to ensure budgets are in line with program activities and that costs are reasonable, allowable and allocable.
• Conduct due diligence assessments on all grants including business feasibility, evaluate environmental requirements and pre-award assessment of financial responsibility to ensure sub recipients have the capacity to comply with the terms of subcontract agreement, is free of conflicts of interest and are eligible organizations.
• Assist with drafting and reviewing of sub-contract agreements, ensuring use of correct agreement templates, standard terms and conditions are included, follow up with both Mercy Corps and partner signing and ensure that a fully executed subcontract agreement is filed by both Mercy Corps & partner
• Develop financial monitoring plans for partners

Post-Award

• Conduct post-award trainings for the sub-recipients on grants administration, applicable donor regulations and reporting requirements.
• Identify sub-recipient/grantee capacity building needs and provide technical assistance where needed and trainings to assure compliance.
• Conduct financial monitoring office visits to ensure that the use of funds and the activities performed are in compliance with the terms and conditions of the subcontracts.
• Review sub-recipient/grant financial reports for accuracy and completeness and regularly monitor their budgets vis-a-vis financial reports
• Review sub-recipient/grant funds requests for accuracy and completeness and process payments/reimbursements as appropriate.
• Maintain complete and accurate files for all sub-recipient/grant files as per the Field Finance Manual.
• Review and post the financial reports in Navigator ensuring they are reconciled to partner financial reports regularly.
• Review status of subcontracts reports ensuring milestones in Navigator are up to date
• Serve as primary point of contact for all correspondence and notifications to partners.
• Facilitate sub-award modifications
• Maintain a log of details of all CREATE partners including name of sub-contractor, contact details (including address, email, telephone and contact names), types of services provided and duration of sub-contract
• Monitor grantee assets by ensuring that grantee assets are reported on and disposed of in accordance with donor rules
• Facilitate sub award modifications

Close-out

• Review final financial reports for accuracy and completeness
• Conduct final funds reconciliation and liquidation of sub-contracts
• Participate in final close out reviews
• Review consortium partners and downstream files to ensure that partner records are complete
• Follow up on asset disposition ensuring that all assets purchased by the partners with CREATE funds are disposed of in accordance with donor rules
• Prepare final Close-out checklists and notification to consortium and downstream partners

Other

• Responsible for the preparation of monthly and quarterly reports for grant activities that feed into the CREATE report.
• Ensure that project activities comply with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures, as well as Donor rules and regulations.
• Maintain relationship and effective communication with partners
• Participate in the development and implementation of the project’s annual work plans.
• Support Finance team with other grants or finance sector activities.
• Coordinate expenditure verification and project audits and follow up on management decisions regarding audit findings ensuring these are documented and communicated to the partners
• Ensure that field staff are familiar with grants management procedures.

• Provide regular reports on CREATE, issues and risks, recommendations and mitigation measures that need to be considered for operational adjustment.
• Work with Mercy Corps team members and sub grantees management teams to conduct ad-hoc audit review of CREATE Tanzania operations.
• Coordinate CREATE expenditure verification and project audits.
• Other financial and sub grant tasks as required.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting

• Work with the CREATE Senior Management, M&E and finance team members to ensure that CREATE deliverables are aligned with value-for-money objectives and that financial milestones are proportionate to programme milestones.
• Provide financial perspective in management and decision-making to enhance CREATE Mercy Corps’ adaptive management.

Program Support Operations:

• Ensure that CREATE financial systems are efficient and are based on smooth-running infrastructure that facilitate timely and efficient program implementation. Provide regular review of field operations to ensure cost-effectiveness and provide guidance on improved operational practices for value-for-money.
• Registration of the country office updated, and Tax returns done accurately and promptly.
• The Tanzania country office is compliant to all the country/Government rules, laws, and regulations

human resources

• Day to day running of Human resources and compliance
• Create a work atmosphere conducive for professional growth and development of personnel at all levels by implementing and ensuring all staff are effectively using the performance planning and management system, establishing performance expectations, and regularly providing constructive feedback.
• Promote accountability by conducting staff annual performance reviews with direct supervisees and ensuring that supervisory staff do the same.
• Contribute to country team building efforts and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.

Organizational Learning 

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Security:

• Work with field office management teams to establish financial reporting and management systems that ensure the safety and security of CREATE financial resources including cash assets and records.

• Conduct yourself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
  to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility

Finance Assistant

Accountability

Reports directly to: Tanzania Country Coordinator

Works directly with: Program Director/Team Lead, Contracts Director, Finance and Compliance Director, Deputy Team Lead Program Managers, Country Finance/Grants Teams, Program Teams, Implementing Partners and HR and Operations departments.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Do This
• A Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics or relevant field; advanced degree preferred.
• Professional accounting certification.
• At least five (5) years of demonstrated professional experience managing grants, subcontracts, procurement and compliance with donor regulations, preferably Donor-funded projects.
• Strong accounting skills and experience in management of the general ledger, journal entries, payables and balance sheet.
• Demonstrated experience applying clauses and negotiating without heavy management oversight including developing amendments and modifications as a result of negotiations.
• Experience providing capacity-building training to staff and local organizations.
• Proven abilities in analytical, excel and reporting skills.
• Required competencies and skills:

1. Grants Administration

• Knowledge and application of best practices in grant management.
• Demonstrated knowledge of financial and management systems, regulations and reporting requirements. Evidence of ability to be creative and flexile within those requirements.
• Analytical capabilities with accounting procedures and processes for structuring projects.
• Knowledge of grants management software and information technology skills.

1. Management and Communications

• Ability to communicate technical, budgetary and program details to staff, grantees and applicants.
• Ability to design and implement effective workflow processes and procedures.
• Capability to foster an atmosphere which recognizes and respects cultural and individual differences.

Success Factors

The Finance and Subgrants Manager will have proven abilities in analytical and reporting skills with sound judgement in regards to budget, financial analysis and manage of program issues. S/he will have the ability to communicate and interact effectively across diverse program teams and support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful information.

Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit a cover letter, detailed curriculum vitae (CV) listing three professional referees (including a recent supervisor) to [email protected] on or before Friday 12th August, 2022 by 6.00pm. The email subject line must clearly show the job title. Applications without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified. Please do not attach any certificates.

(Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We will only get in touch with shortlisted candidates)

NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process

WE ENCOURAGE QUALIFIED CANDIDATES TO APPLY.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

TO APPLY CLICK HERE