Finance Business Partner at Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

Description

The FBP is the critical interface between the finance function and the Africa programme management team across Ethiopia & Kenya, playing a key role of representing finance in the programme team and representing the programme teams in finance. The FBP will provide commercial and financial input to the design and delivery of our programme investments and their evaluations. They will provide added value support to the programme team, by performing modelling for cost benefit analysis and ad hoc data analysis as required. The role also involves technical oversight and support to ensure that CIFF’s grant monies are safeguarded and utilised in the pre-agreed manner. The FBP is responsible for the due diligence assessment of CIFF’s grantees including internal controls, processes and procedures and ensuring grant activities are properly reported.

The FBP will work across the three Africa strategic pillars, Girl Capital, Resilient communities and For Africa by Africa activities, which focus on improving the survival, health and well-being of children, adolescents and their mothers.

The position is based in the CIFF office in Nairobi and involves travel to programme implementation sites across Africa to work closely with our partners in monitoring the expenditure on CIFF’s grants.

The reporting line is to the Director Programme Finance Africa, based in Nairobi. 

Requirements

Role’s responsibilities

• Financial, governance and risk due diligence prior to investment approval
• Advice on the finance structure of grant proposals
• Analysis and negotiation of grantee budgets
• Management of the payment approval process
• Audits of grantees mid and post-investment
• Working with grantees to strengthen their financial and operational controls 

Decision support

• Provide added value, commercial and financial advice on relevant aspects of programme & evaluation design and delivery
• Carry out financial modelling and analysis to support programme decision making
• Act as a trusted advisor to the Africa programme team

Grantee Assessment

• Prior to investment approval, reviewing the budget submitted by the grantee for reasonableness and accuracy. Budgets should also comply with CIFF’s internal policies and be compatible with the Foundation’s priorities and financial resources. Where appropriate, suggest changes to the proposals and agree internally.
• Working with the sector teams to identify financial and operational risks which may impact on programme strategy and develop mitigating solutions to the identified risks for the grantees to implement.
• Supporting partners in building financial reporting tools, giving guidance where necessary on data analysis and interpretation once tools are operational.
• Compliance team and Portfolio Managers in analysing the quarterly financial reports submitted by the grantees and in preparing summaries of progress and performance.
• Responsibility for on-site audits of the financial expenditure and internal controls of grantees.
• Preparing reports on the results of onsite audits / reviews of grantee and making recommendations on the system and procedures under review.
• Analysing trends and findings from prior year audits to ensure that all key lessons from previous reviews are implemented
• Monitoring high value funding to overseas entities, undertaking variance analysis and investigating to ensure funds are used for their intended purposes.
• Preparing financial or grantee assessment-related dissemination materials for CIFF and as needed, for distribution to other stakeholders.
• Responsibility for the quality of the data on CIFF’s grantee database, Fluxx, and reporting through Power BI.

Grants accounting and controls

•  Working with the finance team to support management reporting, e.g., analysing key trends in granting activity and disbursements and using this analysis to develop internal reporting and to benchmark future grant budgets.
• Supporting the finance team in the statutory reporting of grant and programme related investment activities and for complex mixed motive investments.
• Working with the management of the grantees to implement a control system which ensures that all major risks of the grantee are identified and mitigated, whilst meeting CIFF’s grant stipulations.
• Working with the Fluxx team in developing the effectiveness of this grant management tool to support all aspects of the relationship with Grantees.
• Ensuring compliance with Charity Commission audit and financial best practice.

Skills & Experience  

• Bachelor’s degree and qualified accountant, or equivalent
• Strong personal motivation to work in the not-for-profit sector and interest in international development
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, in particular advanced excel skills and intermediate modelling skills
• Experience of working with SMEs would also be of value
• Understanding of the financial risk environment within the international development sector
• Good understanding of effective governance models and risk management frameworks
• Experience within Audit or Internal Audit would be particularly helpful
• Ability to work unsupervised and under pressure
• Willing to adapt to changing priorities, and flexible enough to respond to the demands of a growing organisation
• Possess strong interpersonal skills and work well as a team player
• A flexible and friendly attitude with the willingness to learn and enjoys working in a high achieving environment
• Ability to present financial information in a compelling way for diverse audiences
• Excellent attention to detail essential
• An innovative thinker with a pragmatic and solution-oriented mindset
• Ability to analyse an organisation’s strength of management, vision and adaptive capacity. Ability to recruit, guide, influence and/or advise management teams to effectively implement programmes
• Experience working within government systems and/or experience influencing the policies of government agencies, private sector organizations or donor organisations
• Effectively champions and promotes causes – credible and professional, they always present the Foundation’s programmes in a compelling way to engage the audience
• Skilled in relationship building and strengthening; able to influence others and work collaboratively, uniting groups with a shared purpose
• English is CIFF’s business language – we expect all our people to display outstanding verbal and written communication skills across all aspects of their role
• Capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness 
• IT proficiency (most specifically in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• A proven self-starter, who works with pace and resilience

Key working Relationships

• CIFF Board members
• Other CIFF teams – particularly EME and functional teams (e.g., legal, HR, finance)
• Global partners and stakeholders – e.g., FCDO, World Bank, USAID et al
• International charities and NGOs – e.g., Gates Foundation, ELMA, et al
• National governments and local NGO partners in priority geographies
• Research and academic institutions active within sector specialism

Management dimensions

• Responsibility for personal pipeline and delivery targets