Finance Officer ( Cash Based Transfer)

The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetime. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

The WFP Regional Bureau for Eastern and Central Africa (RBN) is based in Nairobi and provides strategic direction, technical guidance, resource mobilization and management support to WFP operations and activities in nine countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.

To support the stewardship of WFP’s resources, monitoring budgets, forecasting, analysing, reporting and providing core administrative support to enable effective management of funds, and ensure assistance to beneficiaries is undertaken in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Education: Advanced University degree in Finance, Business Administration, Accounting or related fields, or First University degree in the same subject(s) with additional years of related work experience plus membership in an international recognized professional accountancy body such as Associated of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPA) or equivalent.

Experience:At least 5 years of progressively responsible postgraduate professional experience in finance.

Language: Fluency in oral and written English and an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is required. 

• Experience in roles with great independence, decision making authority, supervision of staff and managing complex budgets
• Experience in contributing to the development of financial risk management policies and procedures on embedding value for money through advice on financial assessment, reporting and accounting
• Experience in working with financial services providers (for example banks, micro financing institutes or mobile telecommunication companies) on delivery of services to clients or beneficiaries
• Experience in undertaking risk assessments of financial services providers and provision of guidance on risk mitigating factors
• Previous experience working with Cash Based Transfer intervention in the humanitarian sector is desirable
• Professional experience in financial services industry is an advantage.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• In-depth knowledge of payment infrastructure
• Training and/or experience utilizing computers, including word processing, spreadsheet and other standard WFP software packages and systems, including SAP and other ERP systems;
• General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures

• Ability to prioritize work and handle multiple tasks within tight timelines;
• Ability to provide technical and strategic advice to managers on Cash Based Transfer transfers processes
• Ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with different stakeholders within and outside the organization
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under supervision;
• Ability to draft clear concise reports on key issues and decisions within the delegated area of responsibility.
• Ability to carry out the relevant financial sector assessments and analysis

 Under the general supervision and guidance of the Senior Regional Finance Officer, the Finance-Officer (Cash Based Transfer) will be responsible for the following key duties:

• Support corporate finance and Cash Based Transfers (CBT) strategies by contributing to the development of policies and procedures for Country Offices in consultation with relevant divisions in HQ (Rome, Italy), participating in key programmatic initiatives, and embedding value for money in these initiatives through advice on financial assessment, reporting and accounting.
• Lead Regional Bureau finance support on the implementation of CBT interventions, and compliance with WFP standard procedures and processes.
• Undertake oversight and support missions as appropriate and assist in clarifying and improving proper application of CBT established policies and procedures and prepare comprehensive reports on findings with improvement action plans.
• Undertake comprehensive CBT related risks analysis of operations in the region, providing conclusions to management to enable them to make informed decisions and minimize financial risk exposure to the organization.

• Support and guide Country Offices on financial sectorial assessments such as the Macro and Micro Financial Assessments.
• Lead coordination efforts and end to end guidance between HQ and Country Offices on financial services provider contractual agreements.
• Lead regional finance CBT emergency capacity augmentation through deployment to provide surge support.
• Support the alignment of CBT activities with the Integrated Road Map, specifically the Financial Framework Review.
• Any other tasks that may be required to support the regional finance function.

December 4, 2020.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.