Internal and external VA: Budget Specialist (Polio), TA 364 days, Nairobi, ESARO

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 111,152 USD and 145,545 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a great future

There has been (WPV1) importation in the Eastern and Southen Africa region from an endemic country resulting in an outbreak in Malawi and Mozambique after being certified polio free. In addition, Circulating Vaccine Derived Poliovirus of Type-2 (cVDPV2) outbreaks continues in some countries including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea. Due to complex situations in these countries, children are more vulnerable to Type 2 disease than they were ever before. More areas may be affected by the disease resulting in outbreaks in new geographies.

New cVDPV2 outbreaks due to continued use of Sabin OPV2 are also expected and with the introduction of Novel Oral Polio Vaccine of Type (nOPV2) use, the trend is likely to decline. Hence, the ability of the polio program to respond more quickly and effectively to outbreaks anywhere in Africa over the next 12 to 24 months will remain a top global priority.

As a key partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), UNICEF has the mandate of providing technical assistance of high quality to the countries to ensure a fast and effective logistics and vaccine management support as well as demand creation and communication activities whenever a disease outbreak is confirmed. As stated in the GPEI’s current Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs version 4, 2022-2026), an RRT should be deployed to lead the initial response within 72 hours of poliovirus laboratory result notification. Critical to the success of any response activity is to ensure the disbursement of adequate resources at the implementation level and to support the country to account for the effective and efficient use of those resources.

How can you make a difference?

The incumbent will support countries in the ESA Region of UNICEF as guided by the needs of the RRTs and the polio epidemiology. The position is based in the Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya, with a high component of travel and will be subject to deployment to outbreak response countries anywhere across the Eastern and Southern African region on short notice.

Under the supervision of the UNICEF ESARO Regional Coordinator (Polio & SBC), and in close collaboration with the UNICEF/AFRO RRTs, the incumbent will be deployed to polio outbreak countries within the African Region, as a member of Team A, according to the RRT work plan and GPEI outbreak SOPs.

The Budget Specialist will support the RRT and countries offices in managing polio campaign resources provided by donors including the development of a consolidated outbreak budget for the outbreak response activities as per the outbreak SOPs. The Budget Specialist will also provide active support for budgetary monitoring, compliance with donors’ conditionalities and internal UNICEF rules and processes and other functions as required.

1. Support to financial planning and management

• Support the country team to develop consolidated outbreak budget for polio SIA rounds 0-2, as per the polio outbreak SOPs.
• Assist RRT and ESARO in the collation of data and analysis of Polio Grant/s and Progress Reports.
• Support RRT and ESARO in maintaining the Polio Grants overview table of project with income and expenditure/ disbursement, undisbursed balance vs. the grant age.
• Serve as the focal person for contribution management in all matters relating to the multiple number of contributions received by ESAR and RRT for Polio.

2. Support to financial Monitoring and Reporting

• Ensure preparation of accurate, complete and timely financial reports (including reconciliations); co-ordinate internal financial reporting deadlines and requirements for the programme. This will include planning deadlines, formats for information and consolidation of financial data for timely and quality reports submission with donors.
• Ensure compliance of project financial arrangements and reporting in line with UNICEF's and relevant donor regulations.
• Monitor project budgets versus actual expenditure; ensure that expenditure recorded meets donor requirements for eligible expenditure items and that the level of documentation meets their specified requirements and advice on budget performance and, if applicable, suggest budget revisions.

3. Control of Accounts

• Examine transactions (transfer, adjustments, reconciliations, reprogramming and liquidation) supporting documents to ensure the expenditure is reasonable and in accordance with policy
• Monthly review of terms of expenditure charged to the ESARO Polio Grants ensuring coding is correct and that any discrepancies are investigated and resolved.
• Verify and quality control of the reprogramming, extension and pull back cash requests submitted by teams and Countries Offices through UNICEF ESARO.
• Plan and monitor disbursements and control of appropriate use of Polio Grants (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity and ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.

4. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Keep up to date all polio grants income and expenditure budgets and supporting documents for each project component.
• Ensure compliance with the closure of projects, including final financial reporting, external audit, and updating UNICEF financial accounts.
• Periodically visit UNICEF COs to provide on-site face-to-face support to country colleagues and partners where required.
• Facilitate efficient communication and coordination between the COs, RO, and HQ finance teams.

Contribute to capacity building of country colleagues and partners and strengthen their management capacity by facilitating training, following the growth in the staffing structure and partners, providing one-on-one follow-up support and knowledge sharing

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Business Administration or Finance/Accounts Management; or a first university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and 2 additional years of minimum experience.

Experience

• At least five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national and international levels in in Finance and Budget Management and the development of donor reports and proposals.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is required.
• Experience in Polio Budget and Grant reporting would be an asset.
• Knowledge of Polio Donors procedures (USAID, Rotary, CDC, BMGF, NpT) would be an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a second UN and/or local working language of the duty station an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

[Remove below text if not a child safeguarding elevated risk role]

[If applicable] This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either: a role with direct contact with children, works directly with child, is a safeguarding response role or has been assessed as an elevated risk role for child safeguarding. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert diversity profile] are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.