Country Admin North East Syria

Position name: Country Admin NES

Duration: 12 months with possibility of renewal

Starting from: January 2023

Duty Station: North-East Syria

Closing date of the vacancy: 18th December 2023 (applications on a rolling basis)

Context Presentation:

Un Ponte Per (UPP) is an Italian NGO established in 1991. It started its activities as “Un ponte per Baghdad”, in the aftermath of the first Gulf war, with the aim of organizing solidarity initiatives in support of the Iraqi civilian population. In subsequent years, UPP missions expanded to include Serbia and other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries. The NGO aims at preventing armed conflicts, protecting human rights and supporting local civil society, especially in the Middle East, by promoting the nexus between its humanitarian, peacebuilding and development programs.

Since 2015, UPP has been one of the leading INGOs in the North East Syria (NES) response. Providing humanitarian aid and capacity building of local actors in Health and Protection as well as environmental health, including waste management. In partnership with local partners, UPP has been able to develop a comprehensive system of health services delivered in 26 facilities, including mobile units, hospitals, primary health care centres, and an ambulance network. For further information please refer to our website: www.unponteper.it/en/

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Un Ponte Per is looking for one Country Administrator that will be responsible of the following major tasks:

• Coordination and financial supervision of the UPP General cash and accounts (project, office and mission) in NES;
• Ensure and enforce together with the Head of Mission the compliance with UPP’s Anti-Fraud, Anti-Terrorism, Anti-Corruption policies and the in-country financial laws and provisions;
• Support UPP Head of Administrative Department at HQ in preparing country’s yearly financial forecast of NES offices and the entire mission (staff, running, shared and indirect costs) and regularly monitor related allocations and coverage, in coordination with NES Admin and Log Coordinator and Admin Desks;
• Support HoM in elaborating and consolidating the annual accounting for the mission and the report to the relevant authorities;
• Support external and internal audits and micro-assessements preparation, in accordance and cooperation with the NES Admin and Log Coordinator and the Administrative Desks designated to projects administered in NES.
• Support the logistics of projects, offices and mission, also by the way of developing appropriate templates and working processes/chains in coordination with the NES Admin and Log Coordinator and the Logistic Desk;
• Monitoring the overall financial and logistical management of NES’s offices in coordination with the Logistic Manager, taking measures agreed with the Head of Mission to ensure an efficient and on-standards and function-chart of UPP;
• Identify and promptly flagging of financial shortfalls or overspent in the office/mission financial management and propose corrective measures to the all posts involved;
• Organize regular meetings with relevant staff members in coordination with CR and HoM, with a view to resume and monitor the overall financial performance and identify gaps and cross-cutting issues;
• In coordination with the NES Admin and Log Coordinator and the designated Administrative Desks, with the view to ensure compliance with general principles for accounting and project financial management and, also for the enforcement of anti-fraud, anti-corruption and anti-terrorism, providing training, orientation and tutoring for finance and logistics staff of UPP and those of partners where necessary and/or requested;
• Propose profiles in response to compelling or strategical need in the finance and logistics sector of UPP mission in NES, and s/he supports in recruiting and supervising administrative staff in NES, also for the capacities development and the evaluation of the performance.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• University degree in administration or equivalent working experience
• At least 3 years’ professional work experience in finance in NGOs
• Experience of financial reporting and grant management with a range of external donors using Excel and administrative software
• Experience of reporting and monitoring to tight deadlines
• Effective financial management skills and knowledge of finance systems and procedures
• Experience in working in coordination with local partners and into a consortium program.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to coordinate activities
• Good literacy, numeracy and IT skills including Excel
• Ability to demonstrate initiative, be proactive and offer a solution-oriented approach
• Determined and committed to high quality standards
• Ability to establish effective working relationships at all levels internally and externally
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines and work calmly under pressure, while maintaining flexibility and professional approach
• Excellent oral and written English
• Ability to travel in the Middle East with the same ability of a Western European passport owner. Ability to travel in Europe.

UPP requires criminal background check certificate (released max 3 months before the date of job offer) to confirm a job offer. We are aware that in some countries the release of criminal background certificate by the competent authorities might require several weeks. However, UPP runs selections to deploy staff in emergency programs and time-lapse between job offer and field deployment is often very short. Thus, we kindly ask all candidates to get prepared on time and be able to submit their certificate promptly in case of success in the selection.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS:

• Experience in main donors funded project (EU, UN, USAID, AICS, CDCS etc.).
• Experience in Emergency projects management.
• Knowledge of the Middle East context and relevant local actors.
• Knowledge of Arabic or Italian is an asset.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

Un Ponte Per is an International NGO committed to diversity and inclusion within its teams, in line with the principle of non-discrimination. UPP encourages all candidates irrespective of gender, religion and ethnicity including persons with disabilities to apply and become part of the organization.

Ethical Conduct

UPP upholds all the minimum standards in terms of Ethical Conduct and strives to increase its standards over the minimum. Zero tolerance is reserved to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and to Child Abuse, Violence, Harm, Injury and Negligence. UPP participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, therefore, any candidate assures that s/he has never breached any standard in terms of SEA and Child Safeguarding and that s/he will not in the future. UPP will conduct extensive reference check and vetting on shortlisted candidates that might compromise candidates’ privacy. Shortlisted candidates shall promptly provide an up-to-date criminal background check. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.