Finance and Administrative Officer

الوصف الوظيفي

Preliminary Job Information

Job Title : FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
Country & Base of posting : OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, RAMALLAH OFFICE
Duration : 5 MONTHS
Creation/Replacement : Replacement for maternity leave
Starting date : 1st November 2016

General Information on the Mission

Context

GVC – Gruppo di Volontariato Civile, is a non-governmental, secular, and independent organization, founded in Bologna in 1971. We are active in international development aid projects with complex action strategies: from humanitarian aid to populations suffering from conflicts and natural disasters to reconstruction, hygiene, and food security; from rural development to education, to the protection of women's and children's rights.
In over forty years of activity, GVC has operated in all parts of the world, carrying out thousands of projects. We collaborate with public institutions, cultural associations, cooperatives, and Italian and European NGOs, organizing seminars, conferences, exhibits and festivals, laboratories in school and training courses for teachers. We produce educational materials and carry out communication activities on sensitive issues such as differences, human rights, women's issues, sustainable trade, and biodiversity.

BACKGROUND: since 1967, occupation and political stagnation have directly affected the socio-economic situation of the Palestinian population in the West Bank. The movement restrictions policy are severely limiting Palestinians’ access to essential services and markets, and leading to serious and negative impact upon all aspects of their lives, and mainly their livelihoods.
Palestine is a sui generis case for aid delivery and cooperation, due notably to the occupation and the fragmentation of the territory. Efficiency and performance of development cooperation continue to be challenged by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, in all sectors NGOs are involved in. Palestine is divided into the Gaza Strip (under the control of de facto authorities not recognised by the international community), East Jerusalem (a de facto annexation by Israel also not recognised) and the West Bank (over which the Palestinian Authority (PA) has entire control only on Area A, i.e. 18% of the West Bank). The PA has therefore only a very limited authority, both in terms of territory and legal jurisdiction.
The situation of the PA remains challenging, with the persistence of a systemic fiscal crisis and crisis of political legitimacy following the suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2007 and the absence of national elections subsequently. In July 2013 direct talks were resumed between Israelis and Palestinians in the context of the Middle East Peace Process with the ambitious aim of achieving -agreement on all final status issues within nine months. The failure of the peace talking and the operation “Protective Edge” leaded to a more tense escalation, for which international NGOs are challenged to respond with innovative and sustainable cooperation strategies.

GVC’s development strategy in the country
The consolidation of the PA institutional infrastructure open to foster democratic participation of civil society, through the improvement of representative processes and the implementation of specific effective tools to promote dialogue. These criteria should lead any kind of intervention, preparing both decentralized institution and civil society to better advocate for a final recognition of Palestinian statehood.

GVC focuses strategically on 4 main sectors for its development program, namely:
-Food Security
-Local Development and Governance
-Integrate Water Resource Management
-LRRD: Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development

Job Description

Tasks and Responsibilities

General Administration

-Monitor running cost of country office and decentralized offices in accordance with the internal control rules and procedures;
-Ensure compliance of administrative documents;
-Control of Country Office cash management;
-Supervise decentralized offices cash management;
-Implement central office and supervise decentralised offices petty cash process
-Ensure a proper filing of all administrative documents
-Ensure correct reporting from partners, the compliance of their reports and documents submitted with donor rules and GVC rules;
Budget and Planning
-Contribute to improve internal budget processes by monitoring the accuracy and timeliness of budget setting processes to identify areas for improvement;
-Support in monitoring expenses of core budget and report to the Finance and Admin Manager about any modification;
-Supervise regular update of financial information (i.e. payment table) by decentralized offices;
-Report monthly on the status of the budget implementation compared to forecast to the Finance and Admin Manager;
Procurement
-Collaborate to a proper implementation of country and decentralized offices procurement of works, goods, services, property and equipment according to the GVC’s rules and procedures and in compliance with procurement table;
-Collaborate with administrative staff of decentralized office to prepare and update procurement tables;
-Monitor the proper filing of procurement procedures;
Procedure
-Ensure implementation of operational and financial procedures and methodologies for Country and decentralized offices
Audit Process
-Prepare information and be reference person for financial audit at local level;
-Prepare information and be reference person for yearly financial audit on general accounting for local authorities;
Financial Reporting
-Produce annual financial reports;
-Produce financial reports to donors;
Accounting
-Ensure regular day-to-day operations in the full spectrum of accounting services for country and decentralized offices, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, application of cash receipts, accounts reconciliation, billing, monthly closing of accounts, bank reconciliation, preparation of management reports, consolidation, forecasting, year-end closing of accounts and reconciliations.
Human Resources Management
-Ensure compliance regarding contracts, payroll, tax, health insurance, work insurance, end of service, employee benefit;
-Monitor staff compliance with GVC rules and regulations and Palestinian Labor law, i.e. preparation of timesheets, annual leave, sick leave and any other relevant issue, and report

Report to

-Finance and Administrative Manager

Accountable to
-Finance and Administrative Manager

Works in coordination with
-Local Finance and Admin Officers
-Area Managers
-Project Managers

Duty Station
Ramallah, Ad-hoc travels in West Bank

Core and Functional Competences

Required knowledge and skills

-Bachelor degree in Accounting, Finance or Economics or related field
-Proven previous experience in Accounting (2-3 years)
-Previous experience in NGO

Required Personal Characteristics

-Ability to think strategically and conceptually and to translate these into concrete results.
-Ability to identify, initiate and maintain good relationships with partner organisations, donors and national authorities including building professional relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers / leaders.
-Proven organisational skills and ability to effectively manage multiple tasks while fostering quality, team spirit and positive working relationships with colleagues.
-Strong interpersonal relationships and demonstrated ability to leverage business networks and partnerships for continued growth.
-Fluency in written and spoken English
-Ability to work under pressure.
-Demonstrates integrity by modelling the NGO values and ethical standards.
-Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
-Treats all people fairly without favouritism
-Computer skills, in particular MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Project.

Application process

Starting date: 1st November 2016
Application: Interested candidates should send their CV to: