Award Management Officer at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work are accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

CRS has been supporting program activities in Nigeria for over 30 years and has long-standing relationships with Church and non-Church partners and communities throughout the country. The Nigeria country program has a diverse funding base with projects in health, nutrition, food security and agricultural livelihoods, microfinance (SILC), emergency response and peacebuilding. CRS/Nigeria currently has over 210 national and 8 international staff. With an FY22 annual budget of over USD $100 million, coupled with strong donor interest in supporting CRS’ work in the country, significant growth opportunities exist for the CP. The CP has been supporting emergency activities in the NE states since 2015 with offices in Damaturu, Maiduguri and Yola.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Award Management Officer

Job ID: 2200003X
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Job Type: Full-time
Shift: Standard
Schedule: Regular
Job Level: Day Job
Travel: Yes, 10 % of the Time
Job: Finance
Employee Status: Individual Contributor

Job Summary

• As Award Management Officer, you will be responsible for the overall financial management of the THRIVE project. You will oversee the effective and appropriate use of financial resources of the project and will develop effective mechanisms for budgeting, expenditure and liquidation tracking, and financial reporting, for the prime partner and any sub-awardees.
• You will oversee financial management and reporting on THRIVE project. You will ensure that project financial management processes for the project follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), donor (USAID/BHA) rules and regulations, and country legal requirements, and that all required project financial reports are prepared and submitted in a timely manner.

Roles and Key Responsibilities
Grant Management and Budgeting:

• Ensure THRIVE grants management processes are aligned to BHA policies and procedures
• Monitor grant amendments, update grant files, submit copy of amendment documents to Catholic Relief Services by uploading relevant documents on gateway and monitor grant expiry period.
• Ensure that donor required reports (including accrual reports) are prepared accurately and disseminated within the due dates.
• Coordinate with HQ finance to ensure that donor reports that are generated by HQ finance are sent out to donor in a timely manner.
• Coordinate grant closure activities with the respective project/grant manager and HQ/Finance to ensure that expired grants are fully closed out as per donor regulations
• Review and approve liquidation journals ensuring accurate postings particularly to designated account codes, and that proper sub-recipient accounts (T-codes) are charged.
• Review posted journals for errors and recommend correction when necessary.
• Participate in the preparation of the budget commensurate with the program implementation plan and provide advice to the Chief of Party on budgetary issues.
• Review sub-recipient budgets and provide comments/recommend approval by the Chief of Party.
• Develop effective budget monitoring tools and implement them for all CRS sub-recipients.
• Actively engage in budget discussions and generate feedback for senior management team on adverse budget variances in monthly BCR meetings.
• Address the needs and the implementation of trainings on budgeting and compliance.

Sub-recipient Financial Support:

• Ensure that the Finance and Compliance Staff provide direct technical support in all aspects of finance for sub-recipient.
• Orient accounting and project management staff in relevant and appropriate Donors financial management policies, procedures, and standards.
• Ensure integrity of Donor grants financial reporting and the effective control of financial assets. Regularly monitor and assess sub-recipient ability to accurately record and post all financial transactions and provide feedback to Finance officers.
• Advice on GAAP and basic accounting records to be maintained at Sub-recipient.
• Coordinate the identification of training needs, and development of country-specific training curriculum for training of Sub-recipients.

Financial Reporting and Auditing:

• Lead financial reporting for the THRIVE project, ensuring that financial information is accurate, timely and complete.
• Facilitate all internal and external audits for the THRIVE project

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Grant Accountant

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Deputy Chief of Party, DCR-Operations, Head of Finance, Deputy Finance Manager, Head of Office, Finance Officer.
• External: Local Partners.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Accounting, Finance or related field plus a qualification in accounting (ICSA / ACCA or equivalent); Masters degree is prefered.
• 7 to 9 years’ of experience in financial management for large, complex projects, of which at least five years were working in the field of international development.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience engaging with partner organizations.
• Experience contributing to the development of technical proposals.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Familiarity with USAID financial regulations, policies and practices;
• Extensive financial and grant management experience working with non-governmental organization sub-recipients and other sub-grantees
• Knowledge of Enterprise Accounting software or similar financial management and reporting software;
• Flexibility to work both in a team and independently;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook;
• Full professional proficiency in spoken and written English; and
• Proven leadership and ability to build and motivate diverse and talented teams
• Proven experience in building and maintaining institutional linkages
• Ability to work to meet deadlines in multiple tasking environments
• Excellent organization, planning and analytical skills; detail oriented
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated strength in relationship management.

Required Languages:

• English is required.

Travel:

• Must be willing and able to travel up to 10%.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship.

Application Closing Date
1st March, 2022.