Senior Finance & Administrative Associate

JOB DESCRIPTION

Position title:          Senior Finance & Administrative Associate

Reports to:               Country Director

Location:                  Abidjan

Deadline:                 31 July 2023                                           

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa is a not-for-profit organization registered and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with teams in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Zambia. TaRL Africa began as a joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL in 2019, with the goal of supporting governments and organizations across Africa to accelerate children’s foundational skill learning using the evidence-based TaRL approach. TaRL Africa's mission is to support every child across Africa to build foundational skills for a better future. We support governments and organizations in over 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to design, deliver and scale impactful TaRL programs while learning and sharing how the approach can be improved for different contexts. Together with partners, TaRL Africa reached over four million children with TaRL programming by 2022.

About the TaRL Programmes in Côte d'Ivoire (CIV)

The Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA) has been working hand-in-hand with TaRL Africa since 2018 to adapt, pilot and scale the TaRL approach in the country. The Programme d'Éducation Ciblé (PEC) was co-developed with MENA to ensure its integration into the system from the outset and sustainability. It targets children in grades 3 to 6. PEC was piloted in 50 schools in 2018-2019. During this period, it was independently evaluated and has been ranked as the best program to improve basic skills of childrens in Côte d'Ivoire. Following this ranking, MENA decided to extend the PEC to 200 schools in 2020, and to 1000 schools in 2021. Currently, PEC is indicated in the MENA’s single program called PNAPAS (Programme National d’Amélioration des Premiers Apprentissages Scolaires), which will guide the educational actions in the next years.

Role Summary

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa seeks a Senior Finance and Administrative Associate to support the country's programme operations in Côte d’Ivoire (CIV). The role will report to the Country Director, with indirect reporting to the Finance & Operations Director, and is responsible for supporting finance and administrative operations (including HR related tasks). This involves establishing and maintaining efficient administrative systems and control mechanisms to support the smooth running of office operations and ensure compliance with administrative, human resource procedures and financial processes.

Duties and responsibilities

• Support the day to day operational, financial, and administrative operations (including processing staff requests related to programme operations).
• Review accounts payable including invoices, Requests For Payments, and travel expense reports.
• Ensure compliance with financial internal controls and ensure that transactions are processed and assets managed in accordance with the TaRL Africa financial and operational policies.
• Ensure expenses are authorized and processed in accordance with agreed procedures for both TaRL Africa and donors.
• Support the office audits and, financial risk management and fraud prevention issues.
• Develop and maintain effective office systems (e.g., IT support, office maintenance, fixed assets, supplier contact), ensuring these are consistent with TaRL Africa’s operating requirements.
• Handle procurement processes and ensure that processes are in compliance with TaRL Africa and donor regulations with vendors to answer questions and resolve issues.
• Manage vendor relations from the procurement process to payments.
• Review advance requests and advance surrenders in the ERP.
• Assist the Country Director with assembling annual and project budgets and forecasts in accordance with the annual planning cycle for the country and central offices.
• Review monthly bank reconciliations.
• Maintain the accounting reporting process, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of ledgers and all supporting documentation and compliance with finance and procurement regulations.
• Consolidate finances and produce monthly, quarterly, and annual financial management information and reports for the country office.
• Liquidity management at the country office level.
• Monitor cash position including preparation of funds requests on a timely basis to ensure sufficient funds for the country office.
• Review and reconcile monthly payroll and process the payroll payments for the country office.
• Review the In-country fixed assets register (both manual and system versions).
• Coordinate internal and external audits and ensure that audit recommendations are implemented.
• Carry out a monthly financial analysis of consumption rates and share recommendations with the Country Director and program team for discussion and action.
• Manage the finance and logistic teams in the country.
• Offer on-the-ground assistance for human resources (HR) activities within the country.
• Any other duties as may be assigned by the line manager.

Required minimum Skills and Competencies:

• At least 5 years’ experience in Finance, Operations and Office Administration management ideally for a non-profit organization.
• A degree in Finance, Accounting, Management, business administration or any relevant field.
• Should be Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
• Experience in setting up new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
• Experience in book-keeping and computerized accounting systems.
• Experience in making improvements to financial systems an aptitude for this work is an advantage.
• Experience in periodic financial reporting for management purposes and donor reporting.
• Ability to think critically and analytically, and identify and troubleshoot potential issues before they arise.
• Positive team player with interest in people management and development.
• Ability to learn and use new technologies.

TaRL Africa Values

1. We put children’s learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.

How to apply?

Please fill in APPLICATION by 31^st July 2023. Only applications submitted through the form will be accepted. Please note that, due to the large volume of applications, we will only be able to respond to short-listed applicants.

TaRL Africa is an equal opportunity employer and committed to having a diverse workforce.