Project (Ahlan Simsim) Finance Lead

Sesame Workshop and IRC have won the inaugural MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition, a $100 million grant to make measurable progress toward solving a significant problem. In 2018, the LEGO Foundation followed up MacArthur’s generous support with another $100 million grant supporting the Middle East and Bangladesh creating the Play to Learn program. The Ahlan Simsim + Play to Learn Middle East team is embarking on a life-changing, five-year intervention to bring vital early learning and nurturing care to more than nine million children and families affected by the ongoing civil war in Syria. Among other activities, the program will create content for children and caregivers across the Middle East region including a multimedia programming for children affected by the conflict. Together with the Sesame Workshop, we will develop a pliant platform to reach young children and their caregivers wherever they are and measure how we impact their lives. For more information, please visit: https://www.rescue.org/sesame and www.ahlansimsim.org.

Reporting to the Regional Project Director, the Project Finance Lead will be responsible for overall financial management of the Ahlan Simsim initiative and any other associated opportunities. The PFL will be instrumental in quality financial practices and analysis and responsible for the financial management for the project team.

The Project Finance Lead is responsible for the following key objectives:

• Lead and Maintain oversight of and monitor spending and financial management practices across all country teams;
• Execute regional financial and budget management in collaboration with the Project Coordinator
• Maintain oversight of the project’s accounting operations and ensure compliance with IRC and regional office policies and procedures 
• Financial Reporting

Major Responsibilities Include:

Maintain oversight of and monitor spending and financial management practices across all cost centers (7 in total)

• Maintain active and productive relationships with all country offices and cost centers
• Execute quarterly spending report consolidation and ongoing financial management (e.g., monitoring of budget to actuals)
• Assist in the implementation of Finance policies, procedures and systems
• Develop and ensure use of systems for tracking progress against budget at the country and regional levels including master budget documents, finance KPIs and associated dashboard
• Provide training to program staff on finance tools and processes specific to project financial management
• Provide accurate and timely responses to Country Programs’ finance queries
• Conduct periodic financial monitoring
• Ensure country and regional budgets are prepared and that cost center budget managers are capable of executing regular Best Use of Resources (BUR) analysis based on agreed-upon metrics;
• Lead in coordination with the DPD the annual budgeting exercise from the finance side
• Run quarterly financial analysis and generate reports and recommendations
• Work in coordination with the Senior Project Specialist with tracking Ahlan Simsim integrated platform funding

Execute regional and partner financial management

In coordination with the Project Coordinator, the Finance Lead, Ahlan Simsim is responsible for:

• Develop and revise annual project budgets with inputs from all project cost centers (the region, HQ, and 4 countries)
• Lead in collaboration with the Project Coordinator to prepare quarterly regional project spending plans
• In liaison with Logistics department, prepare commitment lists every month for financial obligations already entered into but not captured in financial reports for the regional budget
• Oversee financial management of sub-awards for regional partners, including disbursement management and tracking
• Prepare quarterly donor financial reports, ensuring reported information is accurate and compliant with donor rules, regulations and reporting requirements
• Support Partnership and Scaling Advisor for financial needs of the Partnership and Scaling workstream
• Liaise with Sesame Workshop finance staff as necessary on technical matters and questions in coordination with the Senior Project Specialist   
• Assist Jordan CP hosing the regional database in the monthly reconciliation of regional balance sheet items and the preparation of reconciliation reports for the regional budget

Maintain oversight of the project’s accounting operations and ensure compliance with IRC and regional office policies and procedures 

• Review all Purchase Orders and Purchase Requests for proper coding and budget adequacy
• Participate in tenders and review tender documents
• Review all payment documents for proper and adequate back up
• Verify completeness and accuracy of all accounting documents
• Check sub-grantee reports and arrange payments to them with Finance Supervisor check and Project Coordinator approval
• Check and analyze expenditure transactions for accuracy, make adjusting entries with proper supporting documentation and approval when applicable and submit revised spreadsheet to his/her Regional Finance Supervisor for final review. Keep track of subsidiary ledgers for advances, receivables and payables
• Perform budget recoding as needed and raise any potential issues (grant spending, compliance, etc.) with supervisors to ensure timely preemptive or corrective actions

Financial Reporting:

• Work in collaboration with the Project Coordinator on reporting requirements and guidelines for financial reporting
• Lead on guidance and template completion for financial reporting for all cost centers
• Complete Financial report for regional budget in coordination with the Project Coordinator
• Review and give timely feedback on financial reports to Country Programs and Regional sub-grantees with the objective of improving report quality and budget management capacity

Finance knowledge management and learning:

• Work with the Project Coordination and Project Officer to ensure accurate and up to date file management to ensure that financial documents are accessible and up to date;
• Share analysis and learnings in Coordination with the RPD with Country leadership, Regional Management and HQ
• Participate in cross-functional learning conversations to bridge learnings between finance, M&E and Programs to ensure a holistic approach to financial management 
• Provide support and training to program staff on financial management issues identified as trends within/across countries; oversee assessment of financial risks and advise on areas for additional capacity support for country and regional team members. 

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to:  Regional Project Director, Ahlan Simsim
• Position Indirectly Reports to: Regional Finance Director
• Position supervises: N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: Regional, country, and HQ staff for the Ahlan Simsim project; Partnerships staff; Grants Management staff        
• External: Sesame Workshop finance staff and regional partners

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Advanced Diploma in Accounting from recognized college/institution
• Minimum of 8 years of accounting and financial management experience; NGO or project- based accounting experience preferable
• Computer literate with significant experience in excel, accounting package knowledge (SUN system) will be an added advantage.
• Experience managing a complex portfolio of budgets and donors
• Experience creating or adjusting financial tools for efficient and smooth processes
• Experience in doing analytical financial analysis including things like trends and projections and identifying areas of concern accordingly
• Experience coordinating with program and monitoring units to ensure that finances pair with project performance data for a holistic understanding of project health
• Experience working with local and international partners
• Effective communication skills, both written and verbal and an ability and desire to coordinate closely and productively with colleagues in multiple countries and across units
• Fluency in English and Arabic
• Ability to prioritize among multiple tasks and make decisions

Working Environment:

• Standard office work environment
• Position is based in the IRC Regional Office in Amman, Jordan or in Beirut, Lebanon