CARE Ethiopia Program

CARE started working in Ethiopia in 1984 in response to severe drought and famine that devastated the population and claimed the lives of nearly one million people. Since then, the organization’s activities have expanded to address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability.

In 2008, CARE Ethiopia’s office moved from a project-based approach to a more focused and strategic program-based approach. Over the eight years since that transition, CARE Ethiopia has implemented a series of programs with successful outcomes, while simultaneously impacting the policies and practices of government, serving as a thought leader among NGOs, and bringing trans-formative change to rural communities. These broader and deeper impacts go beyond the direct impacts of its programs and are a result of CARE Ethiopia’s overall country strategy, which enables CARE to design for scale.

CARE Ethiopia works in various sectors but has particularly targeted the following: Food Security and Resilience; WASH+; Nutrition; Dignified Work; Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Humanitarian Response as cross-cutting (focusing on the above sectors).

Job Summary

The Finance Manager is responsible for supporting CARE Ethiopia’s financial health and viability by ensuring good financial planning and management as well as overall compliance with CARE, donor and government rules and regulations at the Country Office level. The Finance Manager is responsible for pro-actively and efficiently providing high quality and timely financial services at the Country Office in accordance with CARE’s financial systems and processes with particular focus on assessing value for money. S/he plans, directs, and is responsible for providing quality financial services to all projects, units and staff in the Country Office and its Field Offices. The Finance Manager reports to the DCD Ops and works across the program to ensure high quality financial services.

Responsibilities and Accountability

 Leadership and Direction

·         Ensure that CARE Ethiopia is provided with the financial management, analysis and support necessary to accomplish its strategic objectives.

·         Lead the finance department in an effective and efficient financial planning and management of resources.

·         Ensure proper staffing/recruitment to enable the finance team to manage CARE Ethiopia’s resources efficiently; work with the program management team to assign finance department staff to support each project appropriately.

·         Manage the finance team towards high standards of performance through clear roles and responsibilities and on-going feedback and appraisals. Pro-actively address performance issues through timely constructive feedback and coaching.

·         Ensure Field Office staff are technically supported and mentored to fulfill all financial services.

 Financial Accounting

·         Through supervision of the accounts payable staff, ensure good practice in treasury and cash management; promote the use of wire and digital transfers; ensure timely and efficient process for making payments and always maintaining appropriate levels of cash in country to keep operations going. This includes supporting project managers and heads of departments with accurate and timely cash forecasts.

·         Ensure that the day to day financial operations of CARE Ethiopia are exemplary, and that financial operations are properly and accurately recorded, documented, controlled, monitored and reported, according to organizational, donors and government policies and best practice.

·         Ensure that the Country Office finance system operates correctly and is being used effectively by CARE staff (both finance team and customers).

 Financial Management and Planning

·         As a senior manager, ensure effective collaboration with all department/unit heads and support them with their financial planning processes.  Participate in strategic and operational planning at Country Office level, contributing personal expertise in financial management. Participate in regional level discussions on CARE’s financial management practices, operating model, etc..

·         Lead the financial planning for CARE Ethiopia ensuring a good match between plans, ambitions and the availability of financial resources at all times. Build and nurture strategic relationships with CARE International Member Partners (CMPs), Head Office, the Regional Management Unit (RMU), Shared Services Center, donors and other stakeholders (banks and financial service providers with whom we work, peers in other INGOs with whom we collaborate, etc..)

·         Ensure the development and implementation of appropriate financial risk management mechanisms; including risk prevention, identification, assessment, response and reporting, with particular emphasis on the risk of fraud and corruption. Ensure internal controls and segregation of duties reduce the risk of fraud and if required be prepared to conduct an investigation into allegations related to fraud.

 Policies, Procedures and Systems

·         Develop and implement policies, procedures and operational systems that will ensure smooth running of CARE Ethiopia’s finances and the delivery of a good standard of customer service by the finance team.

·         Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant CARE, donors and government of Ethiopia policies, procedures and statutory requirements, including keeping abreast of any changes (e.g. in tax laws, labor laws, etc..), and ensuring they are strictly adhered to.

·         Monitor the relevance of existing policies, procedures and systems in order to identify areas for improvement, striving for greater efficiency.  Lead the identification of corrective actions as appropriate, referring to leadership and accountable managers.

·         Ensure that all required internal controls are in place and followed and continuously identify ways of tightening them in the light of the high risks for fraud in Ethiopia.

 Budgeting, Forecasting and Management Reporting

·         Oversee the development and implementation of CARE Ethiopia Country-wide budgets.

·         Establish the processes by which the Country budget will be developed, adhering to CARE USA annual budgeting timeline, guidelines and policies and holding staff country-wide accountable for doing their part.

·         Ensure that accountable staff are equipped and empowered to carry out budgeting activities according to best practice.

·         Ensure that mechanisms for monitoring, control and review of budget implementation are in place, including monthly “health check” reviews of Country Office cost recovery efforts, Continuously, analyze the extent to which the Country Office is recovering its costs (shared program costs and Field Office costs).

·         Forecast to confirm the availability of financial resources and maintain the Country Office master budget updated in order to anticipate shortages and propose timely corrective actions to the senior management team (e.g.; downsizing, restructuring, etc…).

·         Develop systems, take actions and behave in a way which will generate and maintain relationships of mutual trust with donors and liaise with donors to ensure that they are provided with all required information.

·         Ensure statutory audits, internal and donor audits are conducted in a timely and professional manner. Cooperate with external audits and lead the implementation of recommendations.

  Awards & Sub Awards Management

·         Through supervision of the grants and contracts team, ensure that CARE’s investments achieve the desired impact and that finances are managed in accordance with CARE, government and donor requirements and rules and regulations.

·         Ensure effective end-to-end awards and sub-awards management is carried out ensuring full compliance with donor requirements, CARE policies and the laws of Ethiopia.

·         Ensure that all donor budgets and contracts are comprehensive and accurate and comply with donor agreements and requirements, policies and the laws of the Country.

·         Ensure that all award and sub award reports (internally and externally) are made in a timely and accurate manner.

Customers Service Excellence

·         Ensure coherence in finance function (within finance and across functions) to have positive impact on efficiency and value addition to the CO.

·         Establish and maintain effective relationships with customers for improved service delivery.

·         Conduct periodic customer surveys and use the outcomes for process improvement.

·         Develop effective partnerships with peer agencies for customer service bench marking and improvement.

·         Provide proactive, rigorous and logical methods to solve finance related challenges faced by units across the CO. 

Qualifications

·         Bachelor’s Degree in accounting, finance, business management or a related field.

·         Fully certified public accountant (CA/CPA/ ACCA) and /or certification in project management.

 Experience and Competencies Required

·         At least five years as a Finance Manager or equivalent experience working in the development or humanitarian sector

·         Thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting, and grants and contracts management processes (key donor rules and regulations)

·         Solid analytical skills and problem solving

·         Ability to deliver high quality customer focus while handling multiple priorities

·         Ability to learn quickly new systems, processes and procedures and accept local practices to global standards

·         Ability to both lead teams and work with teams

·         Ability to work at detailed level while understanding the larger picture

·         Proficiency in Microsoft office applications /and having worked with an ERP system

·         Good communication skills in both oral and written in English