Finance and Planning Specialist

Chemonics seeks a Finance and Planning Specialist for the USAID Lagos Urban Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Activity (LUWASH) in Nigeria. The project aims to increase availability and sustainable management of safe and climate-resilient water and sanitation services in Lagos, Nigeria. LUWASH will increase the availability, quality and use of safe water and sanitation services and improve the governance and sustainable management of associated sector institutions in Lagos. The activity’s objective is to expand and improve urban WASH service delivery and infrastructure through strengthened governance, increased accountability, and improved financial and technical capabilities of public water utilities and private sector providers. The project has four components as follows: governance and institutional arrangements strengthened to deliver improved WASH services, public and private service provider performance improved, access to safe and sustainable water services increased, access to safe and sustainable sanitation increased and the quality of source water improved.

Reporting:

The Finance and Planning Specialist reports to the DCOP/Service Strengthening

Job Summary:

Embedded within LWC and provides technical assistance in financial management, infrastructure planning, engineering, data, and management of private sector contracts (Task 2.2). Collaborates with DCOP and utility operations and management specialist to help LWC establish a LIC unit, advising and building capacity of LWC staff to develop appropriate subsidies and business models, improve cost recovery, and forecast mid- and long-term capital investment requirements.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities:

The main objective of this position is to support and build capacity of the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) in downstream utility operations including finance management, planning, monitoring and evaluation and general strategy development with the aim of improving their operational viability. In this respect the position will support the LWC to have adequate capacity for budgeting, financial management reporting, planning, M&E, and other revenue generation ventures. This means developing a robust, accurate, transparent accounting systems and strengthening transparent financial management along with a long-term strategic thinking hub for the utility. The position also supports the (LWC) in routine budgeting processes, and design of appropriate tariffs. Other functions will include:

• Facilitate the development and implementation of Financial Management Manuals and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Support prioritization and use of private sector options to improve delivery of water supply services.
• Identify innovative cost recovery mechanisms and service delivery models.
• Undertake Lagos State economic analysis and support the tracking of WASH investment trends.
• Facilitate an effective budgeting process and investment planning with specific sight on directed subsidies to low-income communities.
• Support the review and development of an appropriate financial management system for the LWC in compliance with international accounting standards.
• Review existing and if need be, propose the procurement or development of an accounting package or integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.
• Recommend IT hardware requirement for the financial management systems.
• Build the capacity of the relevant financial management staff of the utilities.
• Support the M&E Unit personnel to be able to collect, collate and track utility data for decision making.
• Analyze financial data to identify LWC’s financial status.
• Advise senior management team on financial planning.
• Liaise with other LUWASH Technical Specialist to build the capacity of the Production, Network Intelligence and Engineering Services personnel.

Qualifications:

• At least a master’s degree in Accounting, Economics, finance, or any such related fields.
• A minimum of Master’s degree and 6 years of experience or Bachelor’s Degree and 10 years of experience post qualification experience in any of the above areas.
• Experience in designing and undertaking financial management systems, evidence-based budgeting.
• Knowledge of the key components of a utility tariff and familiarity with finance and statistical analysis software with MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook will be an advantage.
• Applicants should also have strong analytical skills with an attention to detail, excellent interpersonal and communication alongside customer relations skills.

Duration

This is a long-term assignment. The expected duration is at least one year. This position will be based in Lagos, Nigeria.