Budget and Programming Officer NOA, Lebanon Country Office, Beirut

Assisting more than 90 million people in 83 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. As the international community has committed to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition by 2030, one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.

In Lebanon, WFP works to support approximately 700,000 people with regular assistance using e-cards. WFP also supports Lebanese schools with school meals, and has run over 300 development activities which include supporting rural infrastructure, as well as education and training opportunities for vulnerable individuals in families. WFP also supports Lebanon’s National Poverty Targeting Programme. 

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT: The post is based in Beirut CO and the incumbent is to report to the Head of Finance, Budget and Programming & Admin Unit.
JOB PURPOSE: To support the delivery of budget and resource analysis and programming activities, partnering with managers to apply best practice approaches that support the efficient, effective and compliant utilisation of funds.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive, nor exhaustive):

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Finance, Budget and Programming & Admin Unit, the Finance Officer will perform the following responsibilities:

1. Contribute towards the development of a limited number of activities, plans, processes and procedures ensuring compliance with wider budget programming policies and WFP standards.
2. Create and review limited number of activity budget plans and monitor ongoing programme performance against budget, ensuring adherence to guidance and policies, and providing financial analysis and advice to optimize resources.
3. Support monitoring of fund utilization, and advance financing, loan and borrowing/repayment and refinancing arrangements; and alert supervisors to approaching deadlines for unassigned funds and potential resource shortfalls/surpluses.
4. Monitor actions related to grant closure, CSP closure and resource transfer and refer potential issues to the supervisors.
5. Support senior colleagues in monitoring the resource pipeline to maximize operational effectiveness, following standards and processes, and providing advice on resource allocations based on severity of pipeline shortfalls using relevant pipeline tools.
6. Create and review budget and project documentation, and ensure relevant resource data is recorded in internal systems for reference, in line with WFP standards and procedures.
7. Collate and analyze data and contribute to preparation of accurate and timely reports, to enable informed decision-making and consistency of information presented to senior management and external stakeholders.
8. Contribute ideas to senior officers for improvement to systems, techniques, tools, processes and procedures to better monitor and manage budgets and funds.
9. Arrange a periodical budget, finance and resource management related meetings.
10. Contribute ideas to senior officers for improvement to systems, techniques, tools, processes and procedures to better monitor and manage budgets and funds.
11. Support the capacity building of WFP staff in budgeting, fund management and operational planning through answering queries and contributing to updating training materials, manuals and guidelines.
12. Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP is able to quickly respond and deploy food and needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.
13. Perform other duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: Advanced University degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience: Five years of professional experience in Budget, Resource mobilization, Finance or relevant fields with great independence, decision making authority, supervision of staff and managing complex funding situation.

Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Arabic. Knowledge of French language is added advantage.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:

• Has performed detailed budget analyses and scenario planning at a national and/or operational level.
• Has experience managing budget in complex funding stipulations.