The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology: Vacancy Notice – Finance & Administration Officer (National Consultant under SAFE Project)

Vacancy Notice

Terms of Reference

1.       POSITION TITLE: Finance and Administration Officer (National Consultant under SAFE Project)

2.       FUNCTIONAL GROUP: Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology – Corporate Service Department, Corporate Service Division

3.       LOCATION: Honiara, Solomon Islands

4.       DURATION: 6 months (s) with possibility of extension

5.      REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the overall guidance of the National Project Manager, the reporting responsibilities of this position are as follows:

Reporting to ;
6.1 Direct Reporting Line	Reporting Areas
National Project Manager
6.2 Functional Reporting Line	Reporting Areas
Financial Controller

– Direct reports indicate those staff members this position directly reports to, and is responsible for the performance appraisals of this position.
– Functional Reports indicate the staff this position reports to or interacts with, and who this position is accountable to for the specific function.

Reported By;
6.3 Direct Reports	Reporting Areas
N/A
6.4 Functional Reports	Reporting Areas
None
6.5 External Reports	Reporting Areas
None

– Direct reports indicate those staff members directly reporting to this position, and this position is responsible for performance appraisals.
– Functional Reports indicate staff reporting or interacting with this position and who are accountable to it for the specific function.
– External Reports indicate subcontracted parties reporting to this position, and providing at least 50% of their time to IUCN.

7. COMPLIANCE WITH THE DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

The SAFE Project Financial Officer (National Consultant)is expected to comply with the UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP), current at any particular time, and the sub-delegations issued thereof. Such compliance must be exercised with due diligence and regard for the letter, spirit and purpose of the DoA.

8. BACKGROUND

The Solomon Islands’ biodiversity is crucial to its people’s well-being, underpinning its subsistence-based economy and providing essential ecological, aesthetic, and cultural values. However, threats like habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change endanger this biodiversity. To counter these challenges, the United Nations Development Programme, with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) initiated SAFE* project aiming to safeguard indigenous species, halt land degradation, and promote sustainable resource use. The project adopts an integrated approach spanning landscapes and seascapes, government capacity building, community participation, and blue/green livelihood development. The project will use an integrated landscape-seascape management approach, effective government enabling and capacity, community participation, and the development of resilient blue/green livelihoods to achieve its objectives. It is worth noting that the land and landscapes of the Solomon Islands serve as a vital foundation for the lives and livelihoods of many local communities. As such, the project aims to implement a coherent and integrated strategy that promotes improved measures for preventing and managing invasive alien species, land and marine degradation, and unsustainable use of natural resources.

The overarching goal of the project is to reduce the risk to the indigenous species and ecosystems of the Solomon Islands from invasive alien species, land degradation, and unsustainable resource use. The project will achieve this by enabling and building the capacity of the government, promoting community participation, and creating resilient blue/green livelihoods. The project will focus on addressing barriers through four interrelated and mutually complementary components, which will ultimately enhance the effectiveness of the solution. This is to be achieved through four interrelated and mutually complementary Components that are focused on addressing barriers. The four Components of the project are:

Component 1:Enabling framework for safeguarding biodiversity, combating land degradation securing a nature-based economy.

Component 2:Comprehensive risk management approach to address IAS threats to biodiversity and land degradation.

Component 3:Community-based integrated ecosystem management and threat reduction at land/seascape scale.

Component 4:Knowledge management, awareness, M&E and gender mainstreaming.

The design of the project is fully aligned with Solomon Islands’ national priorities and will be implemented within the results framework stated in the Project Document. The strong political will of participating in ministries will be an important factor in sustaining the longevity of the project’s outputs. The strong relationship between government institutions and the executing agency, as well as supporting organisations, will also contribute to sustaining project interventions and outputs.

9. RESPONSIBILITIES

The Project Finance Officer (National Consultant) will be responsible for supporting all finance-related activities of the SAFE project, including supporting the provincial coordinators at the provinces.

Responsible to deal with all accounting matters for the project;

Responsible for ensuring smooth processing of all payments and the maintenance of records.

Responsible for compliance with the standard policies and procedures of UNDP as well as Solomon Islands government processes and protocols.

10. SPECIFIC DUTIES

Under the overall supervision of the National Project Manager, the Project Finance Officer (National Consultant) will have the following specific duties;

The specific duties of this position include, but are not limited to, the following:

Assist the SAFE project manager in overall finance and administration functions and processes;

Coordination finance related matters between UNDP Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology.

Assist and support the National Project Manager in coordinating, planning, monitoring and evaluation of framework to guide the project review and reporting cycle and prepare required reports on project activities, outputs and outcomes in close consultation with the Implementing Agency.

Assist and support National Project Manager in planning and coordinating project activities for timely execution and implementation.

Organize and doing site visits and preparing project reports;

Coordinating and administering Project Board Meetings and Technical Advisory meetings for the SAFE Project, including issuing of minutes.

Handling cash and bank transactions and payments, ensuring that all transactions are correctly booked to the project and are duly approved by the National Project Manager as well as verifying the authenticity of the bills;

Maintain the accounting records in accordance with UNDP/Solomon Government’s policies and procedures and the donor requirements;

Prepare monthly/quarterly reports of project for submission to UNDP Solomon Islands Office

Prepare quarterly funds request for project according approved budget requirements;

Prepare payroll-related details for all SAFE Community Liaison Associates its reconciliation and distribute the salary slips on monthly basis;

Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual schedules of accounts, bank reconciliations for the SAFE project and assist Implementing Partner (MECDM) with FACE Form funding authorization requests as well as liquidation.

Assist with the preparation of donor project reports and share them with the National Project

Responsible for providing support during the internal/external audits of the project in close coordination with the Finance Officer;

Assist the National Project Manager in the budgeting process in close consultation with the UNDP, Government and GEF Regional Officer

Maintain proper filing system of all finance and accounting records;

Ensure compliance with Risk Management and Internal Control System (ICS);

Provide support to the project team in project annual work planning and project reporting;

Any other tasks that may be assigned by the supervisor from time to Time.

11. POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Education

At least a Bachelor’s degree or higher in Accounting and 3 years of relevant experience.

Work Experience

At least 3 years of experience in financial reporting and

Proven experience in project and budget management, particularly experience with providing similar support to GEF-funded NIM projects in Solomon

Fluent English (verbal/written) with excellent communication and presentation skills

Proficient in using Microsoft Office applications and other web-based management systems

Travel

The position requires regular domestic travel within Solomon Islands

Remuneration

The remuneration package is commensurate with the relevant qualification, experience, skills and other attributes relevant for the position.

Please Note: The above TOR contains the main responsibilities and duties of this position. However, in an ever-evolving organisation such as UNDP, staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular TOR. Where any task becomes a regular part of a staff member’s responsibilities, the TOR should be changed in consultation between the manager, the staff member and the HR Unit. Any one of the three may initiate the consultation.

Finance and Administration Officer SAFE Project

For more info: Check link – SAFE Project