Senior International Grant Accountant – PROTECT Consortium

ABOUT US:

Our Vision is for all people everywhere to be able to freely express themselves and actively engage in public life without fear of discrimination.

Our Mission is to promote and defend the universal human rights of freedom of expression and information around the world. We work to achieve our mission by understanding that other rights including belief, privacy, participation, assembly and association, and more, underpin freedom of expression and information. These two interlocking freedoms are the foundation of all our work.

The Freedom to Know concerns the right to demand and receive information by power-holders for transparency good governance and sustainable development. When either of these freedoms comes under threat, when either by the failure of powerholders to adequately legislate for or protect them, ARTICLE 19 speaks with one voice, through courts of law, through global and regional organizations, and through civil society wherever we are present. The Freedom to Speak concerns everyone’s right to express and disseminate opinions, ideas and information through any means, as well as to disagree from, and question powerholders. When either by the failure of powerholders to adequately legislate for or protect them, ARTICLE 19 speaks with one voice, through courts of law, through global and regional organizations, and through civil society wherever we are present.

PROTECT BACKGROUND:

Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency-Enhancing Civic Transformation (PROTECT) is a multi-faceted international aid project funded by the UK Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The objectives of PROTECT, are focused on and will be delivered through partners in Kenya, Malawi and Myanmar. PROTECT seeks to foster open societies based on expanded and protected civic space. The work is delivered by a consortium of specialist NGOs and expert organisations, led by ARTICLE 19 with partners Internews, the International Centre for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL) and the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos). PROTECT partners bring together their expertise in the fields of freedom of assembly, association, expression, access to information and data transparency, media sustainability and protection of journalist and human rights defenders to address holistically the multifaceted challenges of closing civic space.

ROLE SUMMARY:

ARTICLE 19 requires a Senior International Grant Accountant (SIGA) to lead the financial aspect of the UK Aid Connect PROTECT consortium. This is a key role as part of the PROTECT management team in ARTICLE 19 which consists of the Senior PROTECT Programme Officer, the Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator, the PROTECT Consortium Coordinator and this role.

The SIGA will lead on all financial aspects of the PROTECT consortium, including budgeting, reporting, compliance and financial management and coordinate closely with the three international partners.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To understand, plan and budget for any special financial reporting or other financial requirements by FCDO.
• To lead on financial reporting, including reforecasting where required, to the donor, reporting in the format required by the donor.
• To support and ensure compliance of PROTECT with ARTICLE 19 financial policies where appropriate, e.g. anti-bribery and corruption, both internally and compliance by our partners.
• To business-partner with the grant budget holder, including supporting them to understand the relationship between the activities and expenditure, the implications of under and over expenditure, the implications of compliance issues and support reforecasting where appropriate or required.
• To proactively make suggestions for changes to the programme delivery and/ or changes to the donor budget in order to maximise donor funds, including suggestions on Value for Money, effectiveness and impact. This applies both to where the expenditure is directly by ARTICLE 19 and where it is through partners.
• To organise chair quarterly Finance meetings with partners.
• To manage the financial relationship with new and existing grant partners, including: liaising with the Head of Finance on due diligence processes (initial and annual follow-ups); developing reporting procedures on grants both complying with our internal reporting requirements and donor requirements; reviewing financial reports and following up key variances to budget with the partner; checking expenditure against supporting documentation on a sample basis; approving grant remittances; following up on the implementation of any necessary compliance, audit outcomes or capacity building in conjunction with the Head of Finance; supporting the Head of Finance in any audit process, both where engagement is done by Article 19 and by external donors.
• To lead on IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) reporting of both ARTICLE 19 and our partners.
• To monitor grant cash flow and ensure payment request are made in timely manner to the donor.
• To lead on payment requests and ensure partners are paid quarterly.
• To contribute to the ongoing development and use of our Access Dimensions accounting system in ARTICLE 19 regional offices and the International Office, to help ensure that all involved use the system in the most effective way and facilitate the use of financial reports by project managers.

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

ESSENTIAL

Education and Qualification:

• Qualified accountant with a CCAB recognised qualification, or working towards qualification, or qualified through relevant work experience.
• Understanding of accounting for restricted income and expenditure under UK charity law and guidelines.
• Understanding of double entry and how to make corrections and adjustments in accounting systems.

Work Experience:

• Significant experience in restricted grant reporting of up to £10 million, ideally in an international development context.
• Experience of business-partnering in a complex environment.
• Experience in producing grant budgets in compliance with donor requirements, and that recover overhead and central costs.
• Experience of working with overseas partners and offices, understanding different cultural and regulatory environments.
• Good understanding of compliance, external and internal audit process and internal controls.
• Experience of reporting to FCDO, the EC and/ or US donors.
• Experience or knowledge of IATI reporting.

Knowledge, Skills and Ability:

• Excellent Excel skills, including vlookups, sumifs and ability to self-learn in this area.
• Ability to work quickly and methodically with close attention to detail.
• Good inter-personal skills including experience of working cross-culturally, across different time zones and with people from different cultural and professional backgrounds.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and in high pressure situations whilst maintaining a calm and positive attitude.
• Ability to negotiate but understanding where the ‘red lines’ are and to gain compliance with programmes and partners through dialogue.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Other:

• A mandatory requirement is the right to work in the UK – ARTICLE 19 does not sponsor individuals for employment-based visas for this position.
• Commitment to work within ARTICLE 19’s vision, mission, core values and objectives.
• Cultural sensitivity and commitment to equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

DESIRABLE

• Experience of using reporting-writing software, for example Crystal Reports.
• Experience of using Access Dimensions.
• Ability in another UN official language (in particular Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish).

Application deadline:19th January 2021.