Budget & Programming Associate

Finance & Economy

Overview

Provide specialized support for efficient financial planning and analysis.

You have:

• Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area is desirable.
• Has assisted with the preparation of complex financial documents.
• Has supported the performance of budget analyses.
• Fluency in both oral and written communication in English language. Fluent knowledge of Russian is an advantage.
• Experience of working with SAP is desirable.
• Experience of working in Tableau is desirable.
• Strong analytical, written and oral communication and interpersonal skills, ability to plan and organize work with minimum supervision; ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Despite the economic growth of the last decade, the level of food insecurity has been stagnant over the past five years in Armenia. Although the situation is improving for a large share of the population, those worst off are being left behind, demonstrating significant disparities and uneven territorial development in Armenia.

In response to these challenges, WFP Armenia Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019 – 2024, building on past and current experience gathered in the implementation on its flagship activity since 2010, foresees significant strategic investment in the establishment of a comprehensive and strategic response to food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty. The four main pillars of WFP’s CSP 2019 – 2024 will be the continuation of its school feeding programme with a clear handover strategy for a full ownership of the programme by the Government of Armenia by 2023; the establishment of effective and sustainable, nutrition sensitive food value chains; support the Government in tackling malnutrition; and emergency preparedness and response. Capacity strengthening will be a cross-cutting effort at all level and will be key to ensure sustainability of the programmes and activities.

In light of implementation of the above-mentioned range of activities, and in addition to this the rapidly evolving and ongoing current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as considering the growing workload in funds management and budgeting, WFP Armenia is in need of Budget and Programming Associate.

We are therefore seeking a candidate to perform a range of funds management, budgeting, financial reports and models development tasks to support accurate implementation of WFP policies and procedures and facilitate the effective funds management for the different activities and the overall Country Office.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

- Review of budget plans, monitoring and analysis of project financial performance and make recommendations in compliance with WFP financial policies and procedures and best practices to support financial analysis and optimisation of resources.

- Provide comprehensive analysis on fund and grant balances to support maximum fund utilization and decision-making process, prepare periodic and ad hoc reports for internal and external stakeholders.

- Contribute to pipeline management facilitating efficient monitoring to prevent and address pipeline breaks and maximise operational effectiveness.

- Enter project budget plans and revisions in the corporate systems, to ensure data is timely and accurately captured enabling easy access to information and supporting planning and decision-making.

- Compile data and provide comprehensive analysis, maintain accurate records and files and prepare periodic and ad hoc reports for further reviews, to support accuracy and efficiency of information presented to internal and external stakeholders.

- Contribute to the improvement of internal processes, enhancement of corporate systems and design of tools, to facilitate the overall planning, expenditure forecasting, and budget management and monitoring of resource utilisation.

- Develop dashborads and reports and maintain communication with a number of stakeholders to facilitate project fund management, clarify discrepancies and optimize use of resources.

- Provide assistance in ensuring that the use of all WFP resources is in conformity with approved CO strategic plans/project plans, WFP rules and procedures, and donor funding agreements.

- Prepare Monthly Closure reports, monitor open items and notify relevant people to take actions.

- Review financial reports and perform financial spot checks for cooperating partners and prepare recommendations for process improvement.

- Provide guidance and trainings to the staff and cooperating partners on budget planning, funds management and reporting.

- Contribute to developing financial models and analytical tools.

- Replace finance assistant in facilitating payments in his/her absence.

- Assist in ensuring compliance with WFP rules and procedures, check processes and come up with recommendations.

- Follow standard emergency preparedness practices, to ensure WFP is able to quickly respond and deploy needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.

- Perform other related duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area is desirable.

Experience:

• Has assisted with the preparation of complex financial documents.
• Has supported the performance of budget analyses.
• Previous experience of pipeline data collection is desirable.
• Experience of working with SAP is desirable
• Experience of working in Tableau is desirable

Knowledge & Skills: Preparation and management of budgets, monitoring of budgets/resource plans/pipelines/supply chains, budget/allotment related issues. Strong analytical, written and oral communication and interpersonal skills, ability to plan and organize work with minimum supervision; ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines. General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures is desirable.

Languages: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English language. Fluent knowledge of Russian is an advantage.

JOB PURPOSE

To provide a range of specialised support for efficient planning, monitoring and analysis of project financial performance to enhance optimal use of financial resources.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field.
• Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports.
• Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work.
• Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team.
• Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field.
• Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfill the needs of internal and external partners.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level Internal Controls & Compliance Utilizes understanding of risk management approaches and internal controls to monitor projects and programmes to confirm regulatory compliance and ensure data integrity. Performance Budgeting, Analysis & Reporting Analyzes budgets and forecasts to support the development of recommendations for senior leadership on financial and business planning matters in accordance with Value for Money principles. Resource Management Monitors trends in staffing and resource usage to anticipate and escalate potential issues to programme leaders. Performance Management Displays sufficient understanding of WFP performance management system to gather relevant and accurate information from internal and external sources for inputs to monitoring and/or evaluation processes. Supply Chain and Operations Knowledge Demonstrates basic understanding of WFP programme, implementation, and supply chain principles (including project modalities & structures).

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract Duration: 12 months with possibility to extend

Applications must be submitted online through WFP e-Recruitment System.

Internal WFP staff can access the VA through the internal WFP CAREER page via the link: http://newgo.wfp.org/services/e-recruitment

Make sure that you answer all mandatory questions accurately and to upload your updated CV in English.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

The successful candidate will have to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 to be able to perform his/her duties. The UN strongly recommends UN personnel, and their dependents receive a COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved by WHO.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application not later than Wednesday, 23 March 2022.

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: wfp.org