Finance and Grants Officer Job at Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-profit organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and enable children to prepare for - and respond to - crises and adversity. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination.

We are recruiting to fill the position below: 

Job Position: Finance and Grants Officer
Job Location: Mubi, Adamawa

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this role is to provide timely, accurate financial information and ensure that Grants expenditures are in line with specific FAD/donor requirements. The role’s support is to the BMZ Projects.

Dimension of Role

• Communicates within Plan International Nigeria and with partners and related government institutions.
• The post holder will contribute towards grant and financial management of the office and programmes, interfacing with both operational and programme team members.
• The post holder will also contribute towards the organisational development of Plan Internationals implementing partners.
  • Budgets - Monitor the budget of all BMZ Projects. 
  • Reporting - Support financial reporting on the BMZ Projects.
  • Area of Responsibility - All the BMZ Projects.

Key Roles/Responsibilities
Programme development & Quality Management   
Grants Administration: 

• Assist with the grants set-up in SAP.
• Support the full cycle of grants management activities beginning from pre-award assessments, monitoring/compliance visits and close-out procedures.
• Track grantee contractual obligations, e.g., pre-award conditions
• Support the Finance & Grants Manager – Humanitarian and project managers to prepare the annual grants budgets for all BMZ projects.
• Support the KP06 budget preparation and periodic upload in SAP.

Capacity Building and Support:

• Provide technical assistance in terms of accounting (use of SAP), financial management, financial policy formulation, and systems of internal control to all partners/grantees to ensure compliance in terms with donor rules and regulations.
• Support the assessments of partner/grantee organizations as directed by the Finance & Grants Coordinator and the Finance & Grants Manager-Humanitarian.
• Review partner budgets and provide assistance and guidance where necessary including the monitoring and interpretation of project budgets versus actual expenditures.
• Support, train staff and partners on donor policies, rules and regulations.
• Facilitate timely partner advance request and liquidation in SAP.
• Review Partners/grantee liquidation and recommend for approval.
• Conduct and document regular partner visits to ensure compliance with grant agreement.
• Ensure receipt of timely and accurate accounting and financial reports from partners.
• Monitor the partner burn rate and offer timely advice to the partner and programs team for prompt action and decision-making.
• Monitor and track grants related performance measurement indicators and liaise with Finance & Grants Coordinator to implement strategies to improve performance.
• Explain donor requirements and organizational financial policy & procedures to staff and ensure compliance.
• Prepare and review on a monthly basis, donor-specific bank reconciliation statements and receipts/deposits reconciliations.
• Support the preparation of financial reports based on donor requirements.
• Ensure proper filing (electronic and hard copy) of grants financial reports.
• Periodically update the financial reporting matrix.
• Ensure that partners use the standard reporting templates and formats for their reports.
• Prepare monthly BMZ Projects burn rate - expenditure traffic tracker.
• Prepare monthly BMZ Projects cost recovery tracker.
• Support the preparation of all BMZ Projects funding/grant tracker.
• Prepare all BMZ Projects expenditure tracker. 
• Support the CO in recharging costs to BMZ Projects.
• Fulfill Plan’s Child Protection Policy at all times.

Travel Advances:

• Ensure that filing of travel advances, per diem calculations and travel reconciliation forms are reviewed;
• Ensure that all travel and purchase advances are liquidated on time.

Others:

• Perform any other project related duties as specified by the Finance & Grants Coordinator and/or the Finance & Grants Manager-Humanitarian.

Communications and Working Relationships:

• Working contacts inside and outside the organization; include the purpose and level (high, medium, low) of the contact
• Prepare and submit relevant financial reports for domestic and international consumption using SAP.
• Provide timely responses concerning queries linked with relevant projects and the BMZ Projects.
• Provide support to Plan International Nigeria’s BMZ Projects programme delivery and resource mobilization.
• Work with other members of the Finance and Humanitarian units to ensure effective and efficient programme delivery.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in donor funds grants administration.
• Experience working with sub-grantees required.
• Fluency in local language and English required.
• Preferred qualifications: knowledge of and experience with the key donors in the industry is strongly preferred.
• Experience providing capacity development assistance to sub-grantees strongly preferred.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Excellent and demonstrable experience in grant and financial management.
• Knowledge and understanding of Nigeria’s policy environment
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including good listening skills, influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Capacity to build and maintain relationships and to work effectively in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment respecting diversity.
• Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.