National Project Personnel - Administrative and Finance Specialist

Organizational Setting:

FAO Mongolia works with the vision "to be a leading, credible and responsive partner in ensuring food and nutrition security of the population". The office has been coordinating projects and programs in research, capacity building, natural resources management, technology transfer, food and agriculture policy, livestock production systems management, emergency and post-crisis management, forestry information, statistics, food security and nutrition, emergency response Finance, crop production system management, food quality, and safety, and climate change measures.

The project “Strengthening capacity in the agricultural and land-use sectors for enhanced transparency in implementation and monitoring of Mongolia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)” is funded by Global Environmental Facility’s Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT). CBIT aims to support developing countries to build institutional and technical capacity to meet enhanced transparency framework (ETF) requirements in the Paris Agreement. In Mongolia, the CBIT project will strengthen Mongolia’s capacities for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) in the agricultural and land-use sub-sector in order to help Mongolia meet its commitments associated with the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The project SCALA is designed to support transformative climate action in the land use and agriculture sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or enhance removals, as well as strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change in participant countries. Specifically, the program aims to support Mongolia to translate its NDC and/or NAPs into actionable and transformative climate actions in land use and agriculture with multi-stakeholder engagement.

Reporting Lines:

Administrative and Finance Specialist will work under the overall leadership of the FAO Representative in Mongolia, the technical guidance of the Lead Technical Officer and Forestry Officer in FAO RAP as well as the FAO Global CBIT team in FAO and the FAO-GEF Coordination Unit at FAO Headquarters (Rome) and in close collaboration with the CBIT National Project Coordinator and SCALA focal point of FAO, and the CBIT National Project Director at Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET).

Technical Focus:

The aim of the CBIT project is not to conduct activities that directly mitigate climate change or improve Mongolia’s climate-related adaption, but rather to enhance the quality of information related to those issues by aligning MRV practices with global standards. The project will focus to a) enhancing the Institutional arrangements to coordinate the preparation of ETF reports for agricultural, land-use, and other relevant sectors b) strengthening the capacity to measure emissions, removals, and emission-reduction activities from the agricultural and land-use sectors, and b) strengthen capacity to measure climate-change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation-related activities in the agricultural and land-use sectors.

The SCALA program aims to achieve the following outcomes: a) Information and assessments used by national stakeholders to identify and appraise transformative climate actions to advance NDC/NAP priorities; b) Climate risk-informed land-use and agriculture sector priorities integrated into national and sectoral planning, budgeting, and monitoring; 3) Private sector engagement in climate action in land-use and agriculture increased.

Objective****:

The Administrative and Finance Specialist’s role is to cover the project “Strengthening capacity in the agricultural and land-use sectors for enhanced transparency and monitoring in implementation of Mongolia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)” and as well as “Support programme on scaling up climate ambition on land-use and agriculture through NDC and NAP" (SCALA) project.

An Administrative and Finance Specialist (AFS) will support the NPM, CCS in coordinating the project’s execution and daily Finance. The AFS reports to the NPM as well as CCS and works in close cooperation with other PMU staff. The AFS will provide overall administrative, operational, financial, and procurement-related support to the Projects.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Support the day-to-day operation of the Project activities;
• Establish and organize project task forces and ensure timely provision of suitable inputs (personnel, training, equipment, and supplies) including preparation of initial and regular budget revisions and providing overall administrative, operational, financial, and procurement related support to the Project;
• Liaise with donors and government authorities as required;
• Ensure timely submission of regular project progress and implementation reports including identification of project follow up requirements and project closure including reporting;
• Ensure timely and complete information data entry into the field program management information system (FPMIS) throughout the whole project cycle;
• Implement all procurement management processes in an appropriate manner and in accordance with FAO rules, liaising with national counterparts about procurement issues and customs formalities including all procedures for importing goods into Mongolia and coordination with project partner companies involved;
• Monitor cash availability and alignment with purchases made under project procurement plans;
• Monitor delivery estimates and contribute to regular reports at the request of the budget holder and NPM;
• Carry out financial management and supervision of Project budgets on behalf of the budget holder.
• Lead, in collaboration with the NPM, the preparation of annual work plans and budget;
• Appraisal and operational clearance of Project documents, preparation of budgets, and active participation in project discussions;
• Prepare detailed budgets for cash transfer requests based on the annual work plans and budgets and Project account cash balance;
• Maintain the Project’s disbursement ledger and journal;
• Keep the financial records and regular review of the Project account;
• Ensuring accurate records of all relevant data for the operational and financial supervision of all project-related purchases;
• Ensuring that relevant reports relating to purchase-related expenditure, forecasts, and progress regarding project plans and closure are prepared and submitted in accordance with FAO and GEF procedures and according to the given formats;
• Implementing specific and timely actions regarding all operational requirements associated with the procurement process, including equipment, material, and disbursements in the field;
• Review the receipts and financial reports submitted by service providers;
• Prepare a six-monthly financial statement of expenditures and other project financial reports as required;
• Prepare relevant documents for internal and external financial audits and resolve outstanding operational issues relating to procurement, as appropriate;
• Participating in partnership meetings with project partners and the Steering Committee, as necessary;
• Prepare the communication products for public awareness based on the Knowledge management plan;

• Assist in the preparation of the knowledge management products;

• Assist the PSA hiring process as well as the evaluation of the work;

• Assist in preparation of the training materials as well as training and workshop;

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• At least undergraduate degree in management, business administration, accounting, or a related field and/or professional certification and extensive related experience
• A minimum of three years of working experience in one of the above fields
• National of Mongolia.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork:
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience managing the administration, finances, and procurements of large projects
• Excellent communication skills in English and Mongolian
• Excellent planning and organizing skills, accurate with attention to detail
• Able to work as part of a multinational team
• Experience in the UN system is an asset
• In-depth knowledge of programme and project management is considered an asset.
• High computer literacy in MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook etc);
• Demonstrated ability to process complex data and to analyze the information as the basis for professional mastery of subject matter.
• Teamwork and strong soft skills including interpersonal, ethical, listening, and communication skills, proactive, problem-solving, self-organizing, planning, setting priorities, and efficient use of time.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances. Subject to certain exemptions, vaccination against COVID-19 will in principle be required. Vaccination status will be verified as part of the medical clearance process.