Long Term PFM Advisor at SPARC

The State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC) is the main governance programme of the Department for International Development (DFID) in Nigeria. SPARC commenced in 2008 and runs through until July 2015. Its overall purpose is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of selected state level governments’ use of public resources, and it focuses on policy, strategy and monitoring and evaluation; public financial management (PFM) and public service management. For more information about SPARC, please visit: www.sparc-nigeria.com.

SPARC are looking to recruit a Long Term PFM Advisor to join the SPARC team. The PFM Advisor will be based in the Abuja office but will make regular visits to the states supported under the programme (currently Anambra, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Niger, Yobe and Zamfara).

Job Title: Long Term PFM Advisor

Location: Abuja

Job Summary
The PFM Advisor will work closely with the PFM Programme Development Group (PDG) representative, Consultants and Administrative teams at the Programme Management Unit in Abuja, and the PFM Technical Stream Leads (TSL) in each of the ten states.

The position will provide:

• in country support to the PFM PDG;
• first line support and ‘backstopping’ to state based TSL’s;
• QA of PFM outputs in conjunction with the PFM PDG;
• in country (PMU based) ‘on-demand’ PFM support to the PMU, other centrally managed SPARC work streams - KM, M&E and Federal NGF support. The position will be the first point of contact and will inform, and escalate to the PDG as appropriate;
• central PFM advisory, coordination and support in such areas as: factsheet preparation (advice and training to SPARC state offices); maintaining central records of SPARC states’ budget and published accounts; the acquisition, coordination and distribution of centrally determined, but state relevant, information in areas such as such as debt management and legislation, accounting standards, VFM, price intelligence etc.
• the TSL role for the SPARC Niger State office;
• PFM co-ordination and support with and to other donor programmes

Experience and Qualifications Required:

• Masters Degree in a relevant area and/or Professional Accounting Qualification (IFAC accredited body)
• 15+ years relevant experience, preferably in countries with similar Government/PFM structures and issues as Nigeria
• Experience working in a developing countries outside the country of origin
• Broad knowledge of all main technical areas of PFM (Budget, Treasury, Accounting Audit, Procurement)
• Broad knowledge of the PFM systems across all three tiers of government in Nigeria, and the inter-governmental relationships
• Prior experience working in government (Federal or State) in Nigeria would be an advantage
• Experience as a Team Leader or PFM Component Leader on a multi-location governance project
• Willingness to travel to all ten SPARC States

Application Closing Date
Friday 16th November, 2012.

Method of Application
If you have the required skills and experience, please email your CV along with a 2- page brief on how you match each of the requirements, your experience of delivering the key tasks above. Applications must reach the Human Resources Manager at hr@sparc-nigeria.com.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.