Iraq – Country Administrator

COOPI is looking for a Country Administrator in Iraq

COOPI’s projects in Iraq are based on three principles:

• Area-based intervention: COOPI provides integrated Education, Child Protection, Livelihood and WASH services to respond holistically to the diverse needs of affected populations, adopting an area-based approach that aims at linking emergency responses with long-term development interventions.
• Community-based approach: In partnership with local CSOs and local authorities, COOPI empowers communities to become agents of change through capacity building of community leaders and the establishment of local protection and accountability mechanisms such as community-based committees (CBCs).
• Conflict sensitivity: COOPI contributes to reduce social tensions in target areas by including vulnerable IDPs, returnees and host communities and promoting equal participation of all communities throughout its interventions.

General Responsibilities

The Country Administrator (CA) is responsible for supervision, management and quality implementation of all aspects of COOPI financial and administrative operations in the country by preparing the coordination budget and controlling the projects’ budgets. The CA will also contribute at managing the relationship with the institutional partners and stakeholders with specific reference to the authorization requests and to the procurement. This role will report functionally to the Regional Administrator and hierarchically to the Head of Mission. The duty station is Erbil with travels to Baghdad.

Specific Responsibilities

Budget planning and monitoring

• Planning and Coordination budget control: preparation and regular verification of the trend of the general coordination and any area coordination’s budget; monitoring of the sustainability of all coordination’s and field offices under the country coordination responsibility;
• Budget preparation and projects’ economic-financial control for new projects;
• Goods management: sustainability and correct management verification, assuring the correct application of the organization’s procedures in relation to purchases and goods management;

Financial management and control

• Financial management: supervision and control of the cash management (coordination and field offices/safe and bank accounts), and the cash flow to the projects;
• Projects’ economic-financial monitoring: regularly checks the economic-financial performance of projects (, expenditure projections, financial forecast and final balance);
• Financial reporting and audit: finalizes and controls all intermediate and final financial reports to be transmitted to the donors, responsible for the correct financial reporting; responsible for the preparation and execution of audits conducted in the country, and for the transmission to the headquarters of all project documents to be audited in the HQ; responsible for the preparation of annual audits for headquarters and local authorities;
• Liaison with local authorities: ensure that all administrative and financial procedures in relation with local authorities are timely and properly executed, from the visas of the staff to the registration and financial reporting processes;

Human Resources

• Local staff management and local and expatriate staff administration;

Logistics

• Supervise preparation of contracts with suppliers and any other contract issued by the coordination office. Ensure that contractual commitments are accurately tracked;
• Provide assistance to project managers and logistics team in procurement process and ensure that all procurements are done according to COOPI and Donor Procedures Ensure budget availability of expenditures and that appropriate authorizations are in place.

Requirements

Essentials

• University degree in finance, business or related field;
• A minimum of three years of relevant working experience;
• Good knowledge of main donors’ administrative rules and procurement procedures (ECHO, EU, UN , AICS);
• Experience in liaising with governmental/local authorities, IOs and NGOs;
• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Demonstrated effective verbal and written communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills;
• Excellent multi-tasking and organizational skills;
• Ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
• Institutional relations management and cultural context understanding;
• Demonstrated ability to work in stressful environments and under pressure;
• Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
• Strong analytical and practical problem-solving skills;
• Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with the relevant actors.

Plus

• Experience in logistics, procurement and security matters;
• Experience in working in conflict-prone environments;
• Experience in managing staff;
• Knowledge of Arabic and/or Kurd;
• Previous work experience in Iraq;
• Knowledge of COOPI’s procedures.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the application closing date, once a sufficient number of applications have been received.
Please note that only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Interviews will be conducted on rolling basis and the vacancy will be closed when filled, thanks for understanding.

Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) is an Italian humanitarian non-governmental organization founded in Milan in 1965. For more than 50 years of long-term support and constant presence in the field, COOPI has been engaged in breaking the cycle of poverty and responding to specific emergencies in numerous sectors, including Food Security, Humanitarian Aid, Health, Socio-Economical Services, Water and Sanitation, Human Rights, Education and Training, Migrations and Sustainable Energy.