Vacancies at icipe – African Insect Science for Food and Health

Job Purpose

To undertake financial due diligence, capacity building through training, and other financial management activities for partners, manage Rsif student payroll. Reporting to the RCU Financial Management Specialist, the position holder will provide support in financial management services to ensure financial probity.

Overall, Purpose of the Job

Support the daily financial management of the Rsif Programme including Scholars’ payroll, partners’ financial compliance, and cash flow projections.

Specific Duties

• Conduct financial due diligence exercises for prospective partners.
• Implement the capacity building of new and existing partners on financial reporting and compliance.
• Review partner financial reports from Rsif Country offices (currently Mozambique and Benin and any other countries in the future) for accuracy, completeness, and compliance.
• Coordinate funds disbursement to partners.
• Track partners' budget performance, prepare reports, and follow up on underperforming burn rates.
• Prepare the monthly payroll for Rsif scholars and ensure accuracy before forwarding it for final review and processing.
• Review and monitor budgets for Rsif scholars’ university fees, medical, and travel expenses before payment processing.
• Participate in resource mobilisation i.e. proposal development and budget preparation.
• Deputize the Finance Specialist in donor relations and communications e.g. in the World Bank support missions.
• Prepare the monthly cashflow requirements for Rsif and AGriDI and ensure accuracy before forwarding for final review.
• Review and analyse financial statements during the Rsif Programme tendering processes.
• Provide financial management support to the Benin Country Office.
• Create new projects in the institutional financial systems.
• Coordinate periodic project audits.
• Train, support, and guide project teams in budget monitoring, analyzing project financial performance, and interpreting financial reports.
• Support the Finance Specialist in identifying and evaluating new financial strategies.
• Ensure compliance with icipe financial policies and donor requirements in the implementation of projects.
• Maintain meticulous financial records.
• Other related tasks as assigned.

Requirements/Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance related discipline.
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience with a reputable organisation.
• CPA(K) or its equivalent.
• Ability to work independently.
• Demonstrate attention to detail.
• Ability to analyze financial data.
• Ability to organize paperwork and archive efficiently.
• Dynamic and enjoys challenges.
• Demonstrated capacity to question one’s work, and seek continual improvement in the services, systems, or one’s knowledge.
• Reconciliation and analytical skills.

Other Desirable Attributes

• Expected to make decisions for his/her work or section. Direction is sought when solutions are not within the established guidelines. Requires approval from the supervisor.
• Supervise finance assistants.
• Provide support to research and development activities by ensuring adequate financial implementation and management of financial resources in line with icipe financial policies and donor regulations.
• Exchange orally and in writing complex and contentious information with a range of audiences, including non-specialists. i.e., Rsif universities’ staff, and International Partner Institutions.
• Provide support to project leaders in the development of budgets during proposal development.
• Undertake financial and administrative capacity assessments for new partners and financial management supervision for ongoing partners.

Reporting

• This position reports to the Financial Management Specialist.

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Overall purpose of the job

The job holder will offer bioinformatics leadership, data analysis support, and capacity building within the Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Unit.

Specific duties

•  Provide support for bioinformatics data analysis within icipe (genomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics data).
•  Build bioinformatics capacity within the center by developing and maintaining analysis workflows, establishing infrastructure, and training programs.
•  Develop and maintain bioinformatics software for different research projects, as well as adapt existing code and pipelines and provide programming support.
•  Assist the system administrator with the maintenance of the bioinformatics server.
•  Partner with other organizations that advance bioinformatics capacity in Africa.
•  Supervise students and interns on relevant projects.
•  Provide support to resource mobilisation and proposal development.
•  Establish active bioinformatics and computational biology research programs relevant to icipe’s mission.
•  Support analysis of project next-generation sequencing (Illumina & Oxford Nanopore) data.

Requirements/qualifications

•  PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, genetics, or genomics.
•  Experience gained in bioinformatics research and training groups.
•  Extensive knowledge of bioinformatics approaches for analysis of omics data.
•  Support Linux environments, Python, R, git version control, and best practices for reproducible bioinformatics analysis are required.
•  At least 2 years’ experience working in a bioinformatics research and training group.
•  Experience in Linux environments, Python, R, git version control, and best practices for reproducible bioinformatics analysis.
•  Responsible for the executed activities and outputs, with significant decision-making.
•  Mentor and train staff, develop programs, and plan their execution.
•  In charge of budgets and monitoring, providing information and data to other units.
•  At least 2 peer-reviewed papers submitted per year.
•  Contribute fundraising for projects as PI and co-applicant, with at least 2 concepts/proposals submitted every year.
•  Contribute to internal and external relations with stakeholders about the scope of their activities.

Reporting

• This position reports to the Head of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Unit.

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Overall Purpose of the Job

The overall purpose of this position is to oversee the acquisition of goods, services, or works that the Centre requires to fulfill its operational needs.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

•  Obtain quotations for local purchases from the various icipe registered vendors.
•  Conduct supplier evaluation and preparation of bid analysis of all items in the above categories of goods and services, for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
•  Follow up with suppliers on any partially delivered goods to ensure timely delivery and purchase order matching and closure.
•  Receive invoices from User Units for various contracted services, process and post the SRN online as per icipe’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) requirements. Forward original documents to Finance for record keeping.
•  Receive and inspect all goods and issue them to the respective users immediately upon delivery by the suppliers, ensuring proper certification and documentation of GRN as per the icipe’s Procurement Policy.
•  Submit status reports to the Procurement Manager for all goods received within 24 hours (for icipe Duduville Campus supplies) and one to two weeks (for icipe Thomas Odhiambo Campus (ITOC) supplies – in consultation with the Station Manager).
•  Submit monthly status reports to the Procurement Manager for review and action.
•  Ensure processed and posted GRNs/SRNs are accurately and adequately captured in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
•  Ensure all original invoices received are recorded in the relevant register and forwarded to the Creditor Accountant on time, for payment processing and record keeping.
•  Keep a record of issues on delayed orders, partial deliveries, etc., for ease of monitoring vendor performance.
•  Provide additional assistance when called upon to do so.

Requirements/Qualifications

•  Bachelor’s Degree in Purchasing and Supplies Management or related field.
•  At least 2 years of experience in a comparable position.
•  Basic Computer Skills including Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, MS Office, or other database management Training from a recognised institution.
•  Computer proficiency (Email, Internet, Word, Excel, Access, or other database management).
•  Basic skills in supplier relationship management.
•  Good written and oral communication skills.

Other Desirable Attributes

•  Honesty and a high level of integrity.
•  Ability to take initiative and responsibility.
•  With the approval of the supervisor, will be responsible for making decisions for the job functions.
•  Supervise activities that are mostly routine in the functional area.
•  Ensure all assigned responsibilities are undertaken effectively and efficiently to ensure value for money for icipe.

Reporting

• This position reports to the Procurement Manager.