Partnership and Finance Coordinator

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

ROLE PROFILE

Dimensions of Role:

The Partnership and Finance coordinator is responsible for coordinating with the partners, ensures legitimacy of the expenditures incurred, and assists Project Manager in ensuring expenditures are within approved budget. Ensures that Plan financial policies and procedures are applied efficiently and effectively and that all partners and Project Manager adequately understand and follow these policies. Ensures that Partners maintains a high standard of accounting and financial controls as well as financial records and supporting documentation. Ensures financial compliance, by conducting regular financial reviews, budget and expenditure monitoring, financial reporting, and records management. Facilitate documenting partnership commitments with the appropriate agreement and contract. Develops and regularly updates the Partnership Portfolio and corresponding data management on partnership agreements and financial documents.

Key Tasks and responsibilities

• Support Project Manager in preparation and monitoring of programme budgets (operational budget and Budget versus Actuals) and phasing of budgets.
• Provide continuous oversight of compliance to donor procedures and requirements throughout the project cycle, from start-up, implementation and closure by conducting regular audits at appropriate stages of the project
• Provide training and ongoing support to relevant stakeholders including Grant funded project team members, Plan field office and partners on understanding donor financial compliance, identifying financial risks and other best practices related to financial management and ensuring compliance requirements are understood and adhered to at all levels.
• Work closely with project team and partners to prepare donor financial reports and/or audit and organize trainings/capacity building sessions.
• Contribute to the effective and efficient cash-flow planning and management.
• Monitors whether appropriate due diligence is carried out on all potential partners, including financial capacity assessment.
• Monitors actions taken to address weaknesses identified through partner due diligenceVerifying all partner and capacity building training related payment request, ensuring that all supporting documents are attached as per Plan International policy and donors’ requirements, authorized by the budget holder, and ensure no double payment is made.
• Assist partners in month end closing, reporting process and in preparing monthly financial reports.
• Ensure that all Partner’s financial transactions is updated and filed properly on daily basis and easily accessible.
• Assist in the preparation of monthly budget monitoring and accurate donor reports in accordance with the specified format within the agreement timeframe in coordination with programme.
• Consolidate monthly cash requests for the partners.
• Remind Partner on their monthly cash requests for submission to the Finance Coordinator in a timely manner.
• Review and verify the integrity of the accounting entries in the cashbooks submitted by the Partner before posting into SAP.
• Support the Partners in ensuring accounting systems, policies, procedures and internal controls are properly understood and undertaken.
• Support the partners in ensuring clear internal audit trails for external and internal audits for Plan International.
• Facilitate the sharing of learning, based on best practices within the organisation as well as on best practices from the sector generally
• Support Partners in safeguarding financial resources and records
• Assist in financial audits as and when required.
• Ensure that Partner maintain Fixed Assets register and reconciled with the Logistics record.
• Assist in conducting partners’ appraisal and review of finance report from partners to ensure compliance with Plan International and donor’s standards and guidelines.
• Support the development and implementation of capacity-building programs for both staff and the partners to strengthen financial and administrative compliance

Dealing with Problems:

• Complexity of problems handled & the degree of investigation, analysis, & creative thinking required to solve them.
• The job requires contribution to the decision-making on the basis of assumption and experience, as little hard information will be available. Decisions need to be context specific and there will often be no precedents to draw upon.
• Decisions may affect the lives of thousands of disasters affected children, millions of dollars, security of staff, and the profile of Plan across the humanitarian sector and across media.
• Excellent and creative leadership skills will be utilized to make strategic choices on responses with limited resources and with possible resistance from colleagues as is often the case in emergency response work  
• He/she should be able to work under pressure and accept travels and stays in often austere areas.

Communications and Working Relationships:

The Partnership and Finance coordinator should maintain a good collaboration and communication with technical and financial partners at both in and external levels.

Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours Required to Achieve Role’s Objectives:

Knowledge

• BAC+3 or Bachelor Degree in accounting, finance, management, economics
• At least 2 years’ experience in a similar role
• Good experience in the financial project reporting requirements

• Excellent written and spoken skills in English and French

• Calm and positive under pressure and able to work in difficult situations;

• Have a practical and relevant experience in the interventions in emergency contexts;
• Have a good editorial capacity (capacity of drafting of reports);Know how to use the computer and master standard software (Word, Excel…); 
• A knowledge of the intervention area would be an asset;
• Good knowledge and understanding of humanitarian principles and established international child protection standards;
• Experience in the Far North of Cameroon is an asset.

Skills

• Good analytical and interpersonal skills (open minded, pragmatic, diplomatic…)
• Skills in participatory assessment.
• Ability to work independently and as a team player who demonstrates leadership and is able to support and train local staff and also able to work with displaced persons and communities in a sensitive and participatory manner.
• Well-developed written and oral communication skills. Able to communicate clearly and sensitively with internal and external stakeholders as a representative of Plan International. This includes effective negotiation and representation skills.
• Commitment to child protection, gender equality and participation. Familiarity with project management and development sector donor requirements would be an asset.

Behaviours: 

• Commitment and adherence to humanitarian values and standards, cross-culturally agile
• Aware of own strengths, weaknesses and pro-active in using feedback and self-development
• Works with trustworthiness and integrity and has a clear commitment to Plan International’s core values and humanitarian principles
• Resilience/Adaptability and flexibility: Ability to operate effectively under extreme circumstances including stress, high security risks and harsh living conditions. Works and lives with a flexible, adaptable and resilient manner.
• Awareness and sensitivity of self and others: Demonstrates awareness and sensitivity to gender and diversity. Have experience and the ability to live and work in diverse cultural contexts in a culturally appropriate manner. Has a capacity to make accurate self-assessment particularly in high stress and high security contexts.
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive under pressure.
• Preparedness to live and work in uncertain security environments.
• Experience working in conflict or emergency-affected areas (or other situations where insecurity and corruption can be big issues)
• Organised, methodical and meticulous
• Commitment to and skills in capacity building – together with the ability to assess and coach others.

Physical Environment and Demands:

Ability to work under pressure and in remote areas and in zones were security issues is a concern.

Level of Contact with Children:

Low contact:     No contact or very low frequency of interaction

Low contact- the job responsibilities of this position does not require the post holder to have any one-to-one contact with children on a daily basis. There would be occasional contact with children and it is expected that children shall be protected at all times.

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

1. Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
2. Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
3. Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
4. Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
5. Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organization for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

1. Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
2. Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
3. Focuses resources to drive change and maximize long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
4. Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

1. Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
2. Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
3. Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
4. Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

1. 1. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
   2. We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
   3. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

We strongly encourage female applicants.

Location: Maroua

Closing Date: 18th September 2022

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.