Budget & Programming Officer, NOA, Baghdad, Iraq

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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 or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity, and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change. In 2022 WFP supported 711,635 people in Iraq. Through providing food for vulnerable people, skills to build futures, and enhanced social protection, WFP is helping the Government of Iraq build people’s food security and resilience. For more information, see wfp.org/countries/iraq and ar.wfp.org/countries/iraq.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The Budget and Programming Officer role provides a range of specialized support for efficient planning, monitoring, and analysis of project operational and financial performance to enhance the optimal use of resources. The role reports to the WFP Iraq Representative and Country Director

JOB PURPOSE

The Budget and Programming Officer (BPO) at NOA level is involved in budget and programming activities, analytical work of moderate complexity and support for the collation, maintenance, analysis, and reporting of information to maximize the effectiveness of resource management in partnership with relevant stakeholders and managers, both inside and outside the Country Office, applying best practices and approaches.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Budget Planning and Management

• Lead the development and revision of budget plans under the various IRM structures i.e. Country Strategic Plans (CSPs), by coordinating the budgeting processes, ensuring compliance with WFP standards, budget and programming policies and procedures.
• Lead/manage the preparation and review of various corporate budgets such as the Management Plan and the Country Operations Management plan (COMP), coordinating inputs from various units as required.
• Guide the development and implementation of policies and procedures for budget and programming activities, ensuring that objectives are achieved in compliance with corporate and functional strategies.
• Monitor ongoing performance against budget for WFP operations, through various financial analyses and provide expert advice on budgetary adjustments as necessary to budget owners for optimal resource utilisation and in adherence to available guidance and policies.
• Actively engage in the preparation of funding proposals, advocating for prioritization of resources by activity and modality as necessary, against operational shortfalls and in close collaboration with Activity/SO managers.
• Coordinate project closure activities including CSPs, ensuring that follow-on operations are available in a timely manner to receive potential resource transfers for their timely start, and actively propose solutions to identified issues that risk timely closures.

Pipeline Management

• Coordinate the matching of commodity pipeline requirements with sourcing options in collaboration with Supply Chain and Programme teams, building and maintaining productive partnerships at the operational level to ensure timely shortfalls coverage.
• Guide the CO team in monitoring the resource pipeline across all transfer modalities (Food, Cash Based Transfers, Capacity Strengthening and Service Delivery) to maximize operational effectiveness, following standards and processes, and providing advice on resource allocations based on severity of pipeline shortfalls using relevant pipeline management tools.
• Convene and lead a monthly, cross-functional, pipeline working group, (across Field Offices as needed), that proactively discusses resource availability and upcoming shortfalls, recommending timely mitigation measures.
• Review and manage Advance Financing requests as a way of meeting pipeline needs and maximize the utilization of the contributions with shorter validity, in close collaboration with the Programme and Partnerships teams and RB/HQ.
• Participate in meetings with internal and external stakeholders to discuss the utilization of incoming contributions, as well as support the process of developing funding proposals, ensuring appeals are made against critically underfunded activities, in line with donors’ interests, and CO priorities.

Funds, Performance Management, and Reporting

• Manage the programming of received funds in a timely manner, according to prioritized operational needs, submitted funding proposals, donor conditions and restrictions, and in close collaboration with the Partnerships teams.
• Monitor the use of fund sub allotments as per available procedures and guidelines, to avail funds to spending units for timely commitment.
• Convene and lead the CO Resource Management Committee (RMC) as per agreed timelines, presenting resource analyses and delivering recommendations on how to prioritize available and incoming resources against the Country Portfolio Budget (CPB) implementation plans, flagging potential surpluses, deficit and unspent balances and recommending corrective action.
• Monitor and advise on the utilisation of funds (unprogrammed, unallocated, unobligated, unspent amounts, surpluses/deficits), advance financing repayment, loan and borrowing/repayment, approaching grant validity issues, and alert fund managers appropriately, providing timely recommendations on possible corrective actions.
• Guide and advise spending units on the use of specific contributions to the CPB, e.g. grant relevant contributions to ensure timely and correct use of availed resources in line with approved proposals to enable further reporting against original budgets.
• Coordinate the preparation of interim, progress and final reports as stipulated in various contribution agreements between WFP and specific donors, particularly for those locally negotiated contributions in close collaboration with RB and HQ counterparts as required.

Global Commodity Management Facility Management (GCMF)

• Contribute to the setup of a GCMF supply-line in the CO as required.
• Guide the management of the facility, contributing to knowledge transfer about the facility, demand and/or replenishment analysis and facilitate decision making when multiple CSPs, and/or Activities compete for the same stocks.

Other

• Lead data analysis efforts and innovatively develop varying reports, to meet varying requirements and audiences and enable informed decision-making, ensuring consistency of information presented to senior management and external stakeholders.
• Guide and support the development and improvement of systems, techniques, tools, processes, and procedures to better monitor, manage and report on WFP budgets and resources.
• Develop the capacity of WFP staff in budgeting, fund management, operational planning, and performance reporting, through coaching around the regular day-to-day transactions as well as developing, updating and delivering training using available materials, manuals and guidelines.

• Document internal business processes, develop Standard Office Procedures (SOPs), and training packages on resource management matters, and provide on boarding briefs to newcomers in the CO team.

• ​​​Represent the unit at internal meetings/committees/working groups as required, to obtain and provide information from a budget and resource programming perspective.

• Perform other relevant duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or other relevant fields. Or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:At least three (3) years of postgraduate professional work experience in the following areas:

• Translating operational requirements into financial information.
• Preparing budgets and reports for management.
• Reviewing plans and budgets, monitoring financial progress of the projects, reviewing donor reports, and facilitating donor and internal audits.
• Previous experience of managing grant cycle.

Prior experience in a UN organization would be highly desirable.

Knowledge & Skills: Comprehensive analytical skills and advanced level of knowledge in applications such as Excel, PowerPoint, and SAP.

Language:Fluency in both spoken and written English and Arabic (level C) is a must

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Internal Controls & Risk Management: 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 and Reporting: Analyses budgets and forecasts to support the development of recommendations for senior leadership on financial and business planning 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: Applies knowledge of WFP’s performance management system to manage resources and relationships to undertake monitoring actions or deliver straightforward evaluations of operations, programmes, or processes to WFP monitoring and/or evaluation quality standards.

Programme Knowledge: Applies knowledge of WFP programme and supply chain principles to develop and/or review project budget plans

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Position Title: Budget & Programming Officer

Contract Type: Fixed-Term

Grade: NOA

Duty Station: Baghdad

Salary: Starting at USD 3740 per month.

Medical Plan: International valid medical plan for the staff member, spouse, and dependents children under 18 years

Annual leave: 30 working days per annum

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Applications close on 24th April 2023

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Qualified women and people with physical impairments are strongly encouraged to apply.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

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.