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Malawi: Resident Finance & Administrative Manager

Job Description
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) seeks a Resident Finance & Administrative Manager (RFAM) to manage the financial, administrative, and logistical aspects of NDI’s office in Lilongwe, Malawi. The RFAM will be supported by a local accountant and a subgrants officer, and will report to the Resident Director in Lilongwe.  The primary responsibility of the position will be to oversee the finance and administration of NDI’s Malawi Civil Society Program in coordination with the Institute’s headquarters in Washington, DC. The RFAM will manage the accounts, oversee all aspects of accounting, overseeing the daily operations in Malawi, monitor field expenses against budgets for multiple grants, report to the program and financial management teams in Washington, DC, and ensure compliance with DFID and U.S. government financial/programmatic reporting requirements and NDI policies and procedures.  As the manager of administrative and logistical issues, the RFAM will work closely with relevant staff to coordinate internal office operations, serving as the communications liaison between the Malawi office and NDI’s Washington, DC headquarters (especially its Accounting and Operations Department) on matters relevant to this position.  The position is available immediately.

Background

For the past 17 years, NDI has assisted all segments of Malawian society to participate more fully in their nation’s developing democracy. Throughout this period, the Institute implemented a broad range of programs including voter and civic education, political party, parliament and civil society strengthening. During Malawi’s first multiparty elections in 1994, and again in 1999, the Institute provided technical assistance to political parties and CSOs, including the Malawi Elections Support Network, Public Affairs Committee, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, and joint Church/Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Consortium for voter education and election monitoring.  In 1999, the Church/NGO Consortium conducted a parallel vote count (PVT) during the presidential election, enabling it to project the final results within 72 hours of the close of polling.  In an effort to enhance the credibility and transparency of the 2009 elections in Malawi, NDI worked to expand the capacity of established civil society organizations to employ advanced techniques in systematic election monitoring.  The Institute’s upcoming work in Malawi will focus on assisting national level and local community based partner organizations to promote civic and voter education in anticipation of local government elections.
Required Skills
Finance (85%)
  • Provide oversight of financial operations for the program;
  • Develop and maintain financial management systems, providing adequate segregation of duties;
  • Respond to questions about financial issues from accounting and program staff, and assist in resolution of complicated accounting problems;
  • Monitor program expenditures, monthly field expenses including budget to actual expenses, and reporting on financial results and cost projections to Resident Director in Malawi and Washington, DC;
  • Improve, as needed, accounting and financial systems in consultation with the management teams in Malawi and Washington, DC;
  • Manage all aspects of accounting for field offices in Malawi, including the direct supervision of national accounting and subgrants personnel;
  • Train NDI’s field office accounting staff and subgrantees’ accountants in NDI’s policies and procedures, donor grant compliance requirements and bookkeeping and internal controls;
  • Oversee compliance with internal controls and accounting procedures;
  • Ensure that all financial and accounting reports are prepared and submitted in a timely manner;
  • Assist in implementation of accounting procedures and training of accounting staff, including travel to field offices as needed;
  • Ensure compliance with national laws, NDI and donor accounting, administrative and reporting requirements;
  • Support the disbursement of subgrants to local CSO partners as necessary;
  • Oversee Quicken file and preparation of monthly financial reporting package due to NDI-DC;
  • Oversee payment requests and management of cash accounts;
  • Oversee preparation of monthly spending estimates and initiate drawdown requests to NDI-DC;
  • Oversee preparation of monthly field cash reconciliations;
  • Serve as a liaison to local financial institutions;
  • Review work of staff accountants in accordance with donor regulations and NDI policies;
  • Communicate with NDI-DC on financial issues as required;
  • Support financial management restructuring and reconciliations as needed;
  • Reviews subgrant budgets and proposals, and evaluating subgrantees’ financial systems and internal controls to assess risks and develop appropriate monitoring procedures in consultation with the Subgrants Department in DC;
  • Serves as the liaison between the field office and the DC office on subgrant matters;
  • Monitor and ensure timely submission of reports by the subrecipients;
Administration (15%)
  • Support the Resident Director in coordinating NDI programs and day-to-day internal operations of the NDI-Malawi office;
  • Liaise with NDI’s DC-based Southern and East Africa team and administrative departments to ensure all significant administrative issues are communicated and that all follow-up is performed as requested;
  • Ensure compliance with national laws, NDI organizational policy, NDI and donor administrative and reporting requirements, as well as appropriate implementation of field office policies and handbook;
  • Work with program staff to determine current and projected recruitment needs and assist in hiring, training and supervising local staff;
  • Act as back-up to members of management team when they are not present.
Required Experience
  • Bachelors Degree in finance, accounting, business administration and/or a related field;
  • Minimum of eight (8) years in financial management, accounting, and/or administration, preferably for an international CSO working with USAID and/or DFID funding;
  • Thorough knowledge of budgeting, budget oversight, generally accepted accounting principles and the practical application of financial systems;
  • The ability to design and implement accounting systems suitable to a challenging and volatile environment with unreliable and sometimes nonexistent infrastructure;
  • Previous experience with international grants administration preferred;
  • High level of attention to details in all aspects of work responsibilities;
  • Strong written and verbal communications skills combined with the ability to work collaboratively with Washington-based finance staff as well as program staff other offices;
  • Experience with word processing and spreadsheet software (Microsoft Word and Excel preferred);
  • Experience with database creation and management;
  • Ability to analyze and interpret governmental and organizational rules and regulations;
  • Living/working experience outside of the US preferred;
  • Ability to manage cash on a daily basis and accurately predict future cash needs;
  • Ability to read and interpret government and organizational rules and regulations;
  • Capacity to identify essential elements of complex accounting issues;
  • Working knowledge of PC-based software; proficiency in Windows and Microsoft Suite;
  • Working knowledge of Quicken and Excel;
  • Capacity to work both independently and as a member of a team.
Comments
This is a non-dependent post. Salary is commensurate with experience.
NDI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Job Location
Lilongwe, MALAWI 

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