Budget and Finance Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved the Government of India’s GEF6 Green-Ag. The project is titled, “Green-Ag: Transforming Indian agriculture for global environmental benefits and the conservation of critical biodiversity and forest landscapes”.

Therefore, the project objective is to catalyze transformative change for India’s agricultural sector to support the achievement of national and global environmental benefits and conserve critical biodiversity and forest landscapes. The project is organized around two components. The first component strengthens the enabling framework and institutional structures to mainstream biodiversity (BD), sustainable land management (SLM), climate change mitigation (CCM) and sustainable forest management (SFM) policies, priorities and practices in India’s agricultural sector. The second component demonstrates replicable “Improved agricultural and conservation practices” for sustainable production, resilient livelihood advancements, habitat improvements, and delivery of tangible BD, LD, CCM, and SFM benefits.

The project works at the national, state and pilot site levels. The project’s five demonstration states are i) Madhya Pradesh, ii) Mizoram, iii) Odisha, iv) Rajasthan and v) Uttarakhand. Site-level project effort focuses upon high conservation priority landscapes (e.g. protected areas) within each of these states.

Reporting Lines

Under the direct supervision of the Project Director, Green-Ag Project and the overall supervision of the Officer-In-Charge, FAO Representation In India, the Budget and Finance Specialist will assist in all budget and financial matters of the project.

Technical Focus

Expertise in Accounting and Finance.

Tasks and responsibilities

The incumbent will undertake the following duties:

• Prepare and provide financial reports as per FAO requirements.
• Coordinate with the Budget and Finance Specialists of all the Operational Partners (OPs) for posting of all expenses along with supporting vouchers and documents.
• Scrutinize the vouchers and documents uploaded on the online accounting system of the project on a regular basis for approval of PD/ BH.
• Scrutinize the documents sent by the OPs for the release of funds and provide input to PD for the release of funds to OPs. Liaise with all concerned in an effective manner to get the timely release of funds to the OPs
• Prepare AWPB of NPMU in close coordination with all relevant colleagues of NPMU and in accordance with the project outputs for the year.
• Ensure preparation of vouchers for all the expenditures of NPMU and its timely posting in the GRMS of FAO
• Manage and monitor project monthly accounts in close coordination with the Project Director.
• Maintain inter-departmental linkages with FAO units for Donor liaison, Finance, Human Resources, and other units as required.
• Ensure that relevant reports on expenditures, forecasts, progress against work plans, project closure, are prepared and submitted in accordance with FAO and GEF defined procedures and reporting formats, schedules and communications channels, as required.
• Monitor the work and quality of deliverables of services provided by the Third Party Service Provider (especially financial Audit, spot-check, monitoring Agent activities etc.).
• Build capacities of Operational Partners Implementation Modality (OPIM) partners on FAO related forms, formats, processes etc.
• Ensure that Operational Partners (OPs) maintain records of supporting documents for each financial transaction to be made available to potential Resource Partners’ verification missions.
• Prepare financial and narrative consolidated reports for submission to GEF.
• Coordinate with vendors for obtaining quotations for procurement, AMCs (Annual Maintenance Contracts), printing and publication of documents, reports, brochures, photocopying and any other jobs.
• Manage GRMS for NPMU related financial transactions.
• Manage project financial records and monitor project accounts on a daily basis in close coordination with the Project Director and the FAO Country Office.
• Any other work assigned by PD/ AFAOR

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor level qualification in Accounting, Finance, Public or Business Administration, or related field.
• 4 years of relevant experience in in an accounting position with responsibilities as described above.
• Working knowledge of English (both written and spoken).
• National of India.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Good financial planning, budgeting and control capacities of complex field programmes.
• In depth knowledge and experience of UN and FAO (GRMS) accounting and auditing systems will be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of and experiences with UN organization and UN rules and regulations are other assets;
• Good communication, reporting and presentation skills in English (both written and spoken).
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams and handle stress.
• Good computer skills (Word, Excel, Power point, Project planning tools, ORACLE, GRMS etc.).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION