Admin and Finance Associate

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) under the Prime Minister’s Office is the organization that steered being behind all the success rendered by the NGOs in Bangladesh. At the beginning, there were only 347 NGOs registered with only 67 human resources to deal with. But coming in 2023, the number of registered NGOs under NGOAB are 2554 (2289 are national and 265 international NGOs) with the same 67 human resources. NGOAB has been facing constraints to effectively perform their responsibilities due to lack of adequate staff, required skills of the employees and smart system that can deliver timely services and ensure oversights to significant number of NGOs and projects. NGOAB receives millions of foreign donations every year and clears those amounts through NGOs’ proposals as well. If the results and progress can be captured and reflected in a complementary manner, it will reveal a true picture of SDG progress with GO and NGOs’ contributions.

Given the context, the country is economically progressing and graduating to the Middle-Income Country by 2026. Therefore, NGOs in Bangladesh have scope to revisit their working modality, and the way of engagement in addressing development challenges and in this regard NGOAB has an important role to play. As UNDP Bangladesh has been working with several government agencies to support sustainable LDC graduation and achieving SDGs, UNDP considers its engagement with NGOAB for targeting valuable improvements in service delivery through digitalization and online process. This is in line with UNDP’s mandate which is to engage with our partners to support achieving the long-term development vision of the government of Bangladesh. 

UNDP in collaboration with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and NGOAB designed a 2.5 year’s project entitled “Institutional Strengthening for Promoting Accelerated Transformation (ISPAT)” for the overall improvement of NGOAB/NGOs service system by next two and half years. The overall objective of the project is to make NGOAB fullycapable of providing fast, efficient and effective services to NGOs in managing foreign donations and supporting them to contribute in attaining SDGs by 2030. the project will consider three-prong strategy to strengthening system and improving work-culture by- i) improving the institutional capacity through digitalization of services; ii) augmenting professional skills and competence of NGOs and NGOAB officials to implement the gender responsive digital services with greater efficiency; and iii) providing technical assistance for enhancing policy support to ensure wider convergence of sectoral policies as well simplification of services with necessary policy guidelines.

In this backdrop, this Implementation plan outlines ISPAT’s strategy to capacitate with digital innovation for improving service delivery system. This project will contribute to achieve the following results:

Outcome 1: Ensuring effective and efficient utilization of foreign donations to improve the socioeconomic status of the poor, women, and other marginalized sections of the people.

Outcome 2: Recognizing and documenting contributions of NGOs in the attainment of global goals and national priorities of reducing poverty, improving governance and service delivery aligning with women and human rights. 

Outcome 3: Strengthening policy formulation and fostered innovation of NGOs by showcasing and scaling-up nationally. 

The Admin and Finance Associate will be responsible for preparing, managing and expenditure of project annual and multi-year budget, managing audit, preparation of financial report and compliance related to financial issues as per government and UNDP policies and procedure. The Admin and Finance Associate will work under the leadership of the Project Manager (PM) and liaise with project team, UNDP, NGOAB and respective regional offices and NGO staff involved in the programme.

• Ensure management, preparation and updating of asset, and handover, maintenance & dispatch & disposal of asset. 
• Implementation of project operational strategies.
• Ensures timely delivery of procurement processes for the project.
• Assist to the maintenance of logistics and equipment.
• Arrange meeting and training materials and make communication with vendors. 
• Ensure e-requisition, collection and evaluation of quotations and ensure goods and services as per PO.
• Ensure delivery of vendors and process payments accordingly. 
• Support to prepare monthly HR plan and project staff joining and resigning process. 
• Support to project staff on preparing UN ID Card, Email ID, opening Quantum ID, etc. 
• Ensure vehicle movement and management if needed.
• Support to plan, organize and coordinate high-level meetings, workshops and result sharing/dissemination events involving appropriate stakeholders. 
• Assist in settlements of DSA and other claims of staff and other service providers as per UNDP rules. 
• Support various missions of both project Program. 

Support in management of the Project budget and organize an optimal cost-recovery system, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Management of all financial resources through planning, guiding, monitoring, and controlling of the resources in accordance with Donor, UNDP and government rules and regulations. 
• Creation of the project budget (including all activities and funds) in QUANTUM in light of ProDoc/Annual Work Plan (AWP).
• Ensure entry of data into Quantum in the form of Annual Work Plans (AWPs), monitoring of their status, revisions, determination of unutilized funds, as well as operational and financial closure of the Project.
• Oversee the monitoring of quarterly financial expenditures and develop strategy for smooth implementation of the work plan.
• Ensure advance payments and direct payments for SR’s and SR’s vendors are properly reviewed and made on a timely basis, as well as ensure payment information is properly recorded into the Quantum system on a timely basis. 
• Ensure qualitative financial and budgetary inputs at the time of Project documents Revision (i.e., Pro-Doc, Donor Agreement etc.) if requires.

Support effective and accurate financial resources management and oversight, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Financial analysis and oversight for all resources (Donors, UNDP and GoB,) managed by the Project and provision of high-quality professional advice to the Management.
• Proper planning, expenditure tracking of financial resources following full compliance with UNDP POPP and Donors rules and regulations of financial process.
• Design Chart of Accounts (CoA) of the project to meet government and donor requirements, align financial data with M&E data, tools, and techniques.
• Monitor disbursement of funds periodically to inform management and implementation of activities in accordance RPA/LoA, UNDP and GoB rules and regulations.
• Reconcile FACE/FR with Combined Delivery Report (CDR) Ensure the accuracy verification of CDR.
• Ensure all QUANTUM related transactions, a.i, budget analysis, upload budget, monitor project budget, enter necessary GLJE in Quantum etc.
• Monitor the financial performance of supply management systems/procurement/inventory management.
• Identify and report on budgetary shortfalls/surpluses as well as results-based indicators to ensure effective and efficient control and delivery of donor funds. 

Support strategic direction of Project finance management, focusing on achievement of the following results: 

• Compliance of operations with UNDP rules, regulations, policies, procedures and monitoring achievement of results of ISPAT project.
• Establish or fine tune UNDP and Donor financial procedures: e.g., receipts, payments, disbursements, and bookkeeping, filing procedures for the Project.
• Provision of advice on strategies, policies and plans affecting ISPAT project finance managements, delivery of practice advisory, knowledge and learning services.
• Ensure that financial procedures are in place complying with the financial/accounting and procurement requirement of UNDP.
• Ensure the preparation of the Project’s Quarterly Report and prepare monthly Cash Flow and annual Cash Flow Forecasts.

Support proper financial reporting, control of project accounts and support to audits focusing on achievement of the following results: 

• Prepare and submission of periodic financial reports to the donors, UNDP and government as needed. 
• Ensuring that contributions from the donors are properly transferred to UNDP on a timely basis.
• Prepare financial reports for Project Board, Project management and others.
• Ensuring preparation of other financial reports to be submitted to the donors and government counterparts.  
• Oversee the preparation of monthly financial statements, QUANTUM reconciliations, payroll reconciliations etc.
• Ensure receipts of bill/vouchers and record of filed level expenditures in a timely manner.
• Facilitate financial audits, FAPAD, HACT Audit, UNDP, UNBOA, and ensure that external auditors have all relevant information.
• Support in preparation of audit reply and do follow-up on audit reports to ensure that all audit observations are addressed and unqualified.  
• Complying with the internal expenditures control system, which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded in the books of Accounts and posted in QUANTUM.
• Ensure timely corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers and timey response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues.
• Support management of project assets and facilitate to project closure process. 

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements 
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible  
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination  

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy: 

• Business Acumen: Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome; Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks.

Business management: 

• Partnerships Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

Finance: 

• Accounting (General): Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, frameworks, standards, regulations, policies and trends, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations
• Audit risk management: Ability to address audit issues raised in the course of an audit and propose solutions in order to ensure a true and fair audit opinion is achieved
• Budget management: Ability to support budgetary aspects of the work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets 
• Financial reporting and analysis: Understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector. Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance 
• Management and cost accounting: Ability to produce periodic qualitative and quantitative performance reports to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Ability to use a range of costing techniques and analyse cost related data to provide quantitative information to the users of reports.