Regional Administrator – Colombia/Venezuela

WORK CONTEXT

Cesvi is working in Colombia since 2019 in close coordination with the program in Venezuela, supporting Venezuelan migrants, refugees and hosting communities, with focus on protection and livelihood sectors. Cesvi is starting a new project funded by AICS in Santa Marta and Baranquilla aimed at ensuring the socio-economic inclusion of Venezuelan migrant and refugee women.

Cesvi has been working in Venezuela since 2019, implementing its projects in the field of emergency and protection including child protection and prevention of SGBV. Cesvi is currently implementing projects in Caracas DC and Miranda State, and is starting to work in Zulia and Falcon states, in consortium with local and international partners. The ongoing projects are funded by ECHO and Venezuela Humanitarian Fund (UNOCHA).

JOB DESCRIPTION

The collaboration will start in July 2022.
The main duty station will be the Country Office in Santa Marta (Colombia) with remote management and regular missions to Venezuela

The Regional Administrator will respond to the Head of Mission (HoM) of Cesvi Colombia and Venezuela.

He/she will work in close collaboration with the Area Administrative Coordinators at HQ level and the Project Managers (both local and international).

He/she will manage local finance and admin staff in in Colombia and remote management of finance/admin staff in Venezuela.

The Regional Administrator is in charge of the punctual financial management & control, accounting and financial reporting to Cesvi HQ, donors and other stakeholders and promotes cost-effectiveness in project activity implementation.

Main tasks and duties:

• Financial monitoring of the projects implemented in the Countries
• Supervise the staff that work in updating the Prime entry and Balance Forecast Update (BFU) on monthly basis
• Every two months, submission of BFU to the HQ in collaboration with the PM and under the supervision of the HoM
• Update Share costs plan on quarterly basis in strict collaboration with HoM
• Supervise local admin staff for the management of petty cash, cash book and bank books and signed (after verification) the reconciliation
• Prepare draft of interim financial reports and final financial reports
• Assist each PM in the preparation of the cash flow needed and the Requests for Funds to the HQ or Requests for Payment
• Assist each PM in the preparation of the procurement plan for yearly project management and its update
• Assist each PM in the procurement procedures
• Organize training meetings on administrative procedures (for partners and local staff)
• Support PM/HoM in drafting new proposals
• Donors’ Audit and Expenditure verification and Country Audit for registration: Supervise the organization of all Donor’s Audit requests and Expenditure verification in coordination with HQ, according to Cesvi external audit procedure
• Support the efficient office management
• Guarantee the correct HR management for local staff
• Apply Cesvi internal procedures in the Countries and contribute to their update and improvement in collaboration with the HoM and HQ
• Supervise that staff contracts are defined according to local laws
• Revision of the monthly payroll and salary payments
• Verify the correct allocation of staff costs
• Supervise that contracts are regularly registered by the competent authorities and that taxes and social insurance are deducted and deposited according to national tax regulation
• Perform regular missions to Cesvi office in Venezuela to ensure financial monitoring of the ongoing projects

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• University degree in accounting, finance, economics or related disciplines
• Minimum 5/6 years’ experience in financial and administrative management of cooperation and development projects
• Extensive experience of working within a senior management role within a complex country programme in an emergency response or fragile state;
• Experience in reinforce existing procedures and systems for financial management and control, and review them for efficiency when appropriate;
• Good knowledge of main donors’ administrative rules and procurement procedures, in particular: AICS, ECHO, UNOCHA, UNHCR;
• Strong budgeting and financial management skills;
• Accountancy skills;
• Ability to prepare financial reports/ new budget proposal/ forecast and financial planning
• Experience in managing grant contracts;
• Communication skills with ability to work closely and support with CESVI local, expatriate staff and partners;
• Solid diplomatic skills
• Highly result oriented with the ability to manage workload and stress
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills;
• Excellent organisational and time management skills;
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures
• Self-motivated, able to take initiative, resilient and able to work independently.
• Cross cultural awareness, sensitivity, and patience;
• Very flexible and with a positive attitude;
• Computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Office Programmes such as Word and Excel as well as accounting packages & other database competencies;
• Fluency in English and Spanish (written and spoken).

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Prior experience in Latin America & Caribbean area;
• Skills in developing, delivering and evaluating training for staff members
• Fluency in Italian (written and spoken).

SAFEGUARDING

Cesvi has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a child or a vulnerable adult by any of our staff, related persons or partners.

Cesvi commitment to being a safe organization begins with the staff recruitment process which includes meticulous checks, such as criminal records checks or check disclosure of previous convictions, to ensure children and vulnerable people are safeguarded and abuse is prevented. Safeguarding checks are part of the selection process performance.

HEALTH SAFEGUARDING

Cesvi pays particular attention to safeguarding the health of all the human resources of the Organisation. Therefore, in order to protect its staff, an assessment of their suitability for the position in each mission is carried out before departure. Such assessment is done by the Occupational Doctor of the Organisation, who will also examine the vaccination coverage, including the anti-Covid19 vaccination.