Programme Management Assistant at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Duties and Responsibilities

Project Design and Development:

• Verify documents for overall accuracy, consistency and uniformity in presentation and ensure comprehensiveness and compliance, cross-check consistency of figures in tables with the text of the reports and verify references to other reports and documents and ensure that all necessary corrections are incorporated.
• Assist in preparation of budgets with respect to project documents.
• Initiate set up of banking details for executing agencies.
• Facilitate the disbursement of funds to the executing agencies.

Project Implementation:

• Provide guidance to Executing Agencies on financial reporting as per the project cooperation agreement with agencies, and on the templates to be used for meeting these reporting requirements
• Track circulation of new project internalizations and all projects revisions through UNEP clearance and approval processes
• Prepare fund documents for budget allocations and prepare the necessary documents in the ERP Operating system
• Provide guidance to Executing Agencies on the expenditure report template; review expenditure reports to ensure (a) correct amount and objects of expenditures have been charged (b) validity of charges (c) availability of funds; provide feedback to Executing Agencies as necessary in order for the agency to complete the document correctly
• Initiate processing of expenditure recording
• Assist in the follow-up on outstanding financial reports with the executing agencies
• Utilise the Unit's finance dashboard to the financial reporting of all Executing Agencies and overall status of projects and advise on any anomalies.
• Provide guidance to Executing Agencies on the cash advance template, review cash advances received and provide feedback to Executing Agencies as necessary in order to complete the document correctly
• Process cash advances and follow up on remittances of funds, process UNDP fax authorizations and sub allotments to Executing Agencies
• Notify payees on status of payments and investigate complaints of non-receipt
• Prepare budget revision templates, provide guidance to Executing Agencies on the budget revision template, review budget revisions received and provide feedback to Executing Agencies as necessary in order for them to complete the document correctly
• Ensure that all Executing Agencies are using the same budget, expenditure report and cash advance templates, and work with these partners to facilitate the use of the correct templates where needed
• Create Special Service Agreements/ Purchase Orders /Travel Requests (TVRQ)/Travel advances (RCTAs)
• Assist in the reconciliation of project accounts against independent audit certificates received from executing agencies
• Inform Executing Agencies of upcoming financial reporting requirements
• Utilise the tools developed for tracking financial status and reporting of all Executing Agencies, to assist in identifying and managing financial risks

Project Evaluation and Closure:

• Update a project database with relevant project information on revision/closure of project • Assist in provision of financial information required in Project Implementation Review (PIR), Mid-term review/Evaluation and Terminal Evaluation. • Assist in the preparation of project completion and closing revision and supporting schedules.
• Prepare request for refund of unspent balances.

General:

• Review work processes to improve efficiency
• Develop flowcharts for the development, review and approval of financial and project contract documents.
• Provide general administrative support
• Maintain and keep up-to-date project files
• File and archive documentation in soft and hard copies and keep log of archived files
• Draft routine correspondence with respect to enquiries related to relevant financial and budget matters.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications/special skills

• High school diploma or equivalent. A professional qualification in Business Administration, Accounting or Finance related subject is required.
• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA) or Equivalent is desirable
• A minimum of seven (7) years progressive working experience in finance, budget, accounting or related area is required.
• The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (5) years for candidates who possess a first level university degree
• Experience in grant management and donor reporting is required.
• Experience in analyzing financial data and reports is required.
• Proven experience working with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as UMOJA required.
• Experience in the UN (or similar international organization) financial rules and regulations and the IPSAS accounting standards is desirable Work experience of one (1) year or more in data analytics or related area is desirable