REACH FLAT MANAGER: MOGADISHU; SOMALIA

Position: REACH FLAT Manager

Department: REACH

Location: Mogadishu

Contract Duration: 31st December 2023

Direct Hierarchy: Deputy Country Coordinator

Starting date: May 2023

Background on ACTED

Created in 1993, ACTED is an international non-governmental organization pursuing a dual mandate of emergency response and development interventions in 40 of some of the world’s most vulnerable countries affected by conflicts, disasters, or socio-economic hardship. With a team of 7,000 national staff and 400 international staff, ACTED implements 500 projects a year to support more than 20 million beneficiaries, notably in hard-to-reach areas.

ACTED goes to the last mile through programs and approaches that look beyond the immediate emergency towards opportunities for longer term livelihood reconstruction and sustainable development. Guided by the motto “Think Local, Act Global” and its 3Zero –Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, and Zero Poverty – strategy, ACTED puts local territories at the centre and provides a tailored support to local needs.

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two INGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction, and development contexts, supporting, and working within the framework of the humanitarian reform process. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

COUNTRY PROFILE

REACH has been operating in Somalia since 2012 and has multiple research cycles including two large-scale national assessments (Joint Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment and Detailed Site Assessment) as well as several other smaller assessments all aimed at providing intersectoral analysis of the response. In addition, there is a cash and markets team, which provide third party monitoring to the largest cash consortium in Somalia and Joint Market monitoring for the Shelter, NFI and WASH clusters.

REACH is looking for professionally confident, self-motivated, experienced, and committed team player to fill the position REACH FLAT Manager, Mogadishu, Somalia.

Position Profile:

Under the line management of the DCD in Somalia, the FLATS Manager will oversee the Finance, Administration, and Logistics of REACH in Somalia and Kenya by enforcing current procedures and the quality of REACH and ACTED’s internal control based on international best practices, donors’ requirements, and results of internal & external audits while proactively identifying key risks to be shared with CC and HQ. The role will involve oversight of all REACH Ken/Som financial, logistics, and administrative processes alongside providing support for staff in external bases across Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya to strengthen and maintain an operational setup that allows the programme teams to achieve program excellence and ensure the highest level of impact and accountability while ensuring compliance to both REACH and ACTED’s guidelines and standards. This person will be a key member of the IMPACT Ken/Som Senior Management Team (SMT), which includes the REACH Ken/Som Research Managers, Field Coordinator, Deputy Country Coordinator, and Country Coordinator. The position will be based in Mogadishu, Somalia, with travel anticipated in the region.

FUNCTIONS

The responsibilities of the FLAT Manager are wide-ranging and require someone flexible, adaptable, and able to think on their feet. Broadly, these responsibilities include:

Financial oversight

1. Support the Finance Officer (FO) with ensuring all Budget Follow-Ups (BFUs) remain on track and developing solutions for identified challenges.
2. In coordination with the ACTED Country Finance Manager (CFM), ensure the accurate management, presentation, and circulation of IMPACT accountancy in Ken/Som and ensure compliance with ACTED and IMPACT’s FLAT and financial procedures.
3. Follow established processes to manage operational spending, particularly international and national staff allocation tables. This will include reviewing and improvising existing processes, highlighting risks to CC and IMPACT HQ, and identifying opportunities for the strategic expansion of coverage.
4. Support the FO in training project focal points on how to conduct expense forecasting and engage in budget follow-up.
5. Support CC and DCC in developing proposal budgeting and ensuring adequate resources are allocated from a finance perspective, including the development of standardized documentation and templates for calculating costs.
6. Together with ACTED, contribute to the overall mission-wide systems strengthening of finance procedures.

LOGISTICS OVERSIGHT

1. In coordination with ACTED CLM, provide support to the country’s procurement plan and coordinate with relevant stakeholders (program, finance, coordination, suppliers) to build sourcing capacity and maintain a supplier database accordingly for IMPACT program needs.
2. Support the Senior Logistics Officer (SLO) in ensuring all IMPACT program related procurement needs (including assets, communication, and IT) are anticipated, planned, and executed in line with IMPACT, ACTED, and donor’s procurement guidelines.
3. Support the SLO in maintaining an up-to-date IMPACT asset inventory, including proper asset labelling; investigate and document any loss or damage.
4. In coordination with ACTED, identify & settle premises (offices, guesthouses) for IMPACT operations based on geographical, operational, security, and financial criteria.
5. Deploy an efficient IT plan across the country based on ACTED and IMPACT’S global standards; guarantee that IT security standards are applied, and lead crisis management in the country in close liaison with the CC and IMPACT HQ if required.
6. In coordination with ACTED, support the SLO in ensuring proper working & living conditions for all staff in each premise, always, by maintaining efficient general services.
7. Support CC and DCC in developing proposal budgeting and ensuring adequate resources are allocated from a logistics perspective, including the development of standardized documentation and templates for calculating costs.
8. Together with ACTED, contribute to the overall mission-wide systems strengthening of logistic procedures.

Human Resource Management AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Together with the CC, DCC, REACH Human Resources Officer (HRO) and ACTED HR department, ensure that appraisals, contract renewals, and recruitments for relevant staff are done on time to minimise gaps in the team.

2. In coordination with ACTED HR, support the HRO and ensure that both national and international IMPACT staff has corrected and valid visas and work permits to operate in the country; Ensure effective follow-up with ACTED to minimize any reputational and financial risk

3. In close coordination with the ACTED HR, support the HRO to ensure that contracts of staff dedicated by ACTED for REACH are in line with ACTED standard salary grid, available budgets, and regulations; propose salary grids revisions based on benchmarks, national legislation, competency, and budget constraint.

4. Support field operations team and ACTED HR to develop and implement processes and systems for enumerator contract management and ensure performance analyses are in line with ACTED and IMPACT’s policies.

5. Support the HRO to ensure administrative requirements are met toward customs and any other local/national authority when transporting goods/staff.

6. Together with the CC and DCC, maintain team morale, a strong team spirit, and monitor staff welfare, as well as help ensure team cohesion between Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Nairobi and all field bases, and within and across units. Support the relationship between international and national staff.

7. Support CC and DCC in developing proposal budgeting and ensuring adequate resources are allocated from an HR and administrative perspective, including the development of standardized documentation and templates for calculating costs.

8. Together with ACTED, contribute to the overall mission-wide systems strengthening of HR and administrative procedures.

TRANSPARENCY, AUDIT and compliance Management

1. Ensure that all procedures are conducted in compliance with donor requirements and that required paperwork and record keeping are in place to support the IMPACT and ACTED T&C team in responding to audit requests.
2. Ensure adherence to IMPACT and ACTED FLAT procedures, Code of Conduct, and Anti-Fraud Policy to minimize the risk of fraud and corruption.
3. Proactively identify any audit and compliance risks in the day-to-day delivery of IMPACT programmes, and ensure that these are highlighted to the CC, DCC and HQ to ensure that appropriate mitigation measures can be put in place.
4. Provide practical training and capacity building for all in-country IMPACT staff on specific areas of IMPACT and ACTED procedures.
5. Contribute to proactive dissemination and use of knowledge gained through audit activities (internal and external audits) among international and national staff.
6. Together with ACTED, contribute to the overall mission-wide systems strengthening of transparency, audit, and compliance procedures.

Mission-wide systems strengthening

1. Alongside the CC and DCC, lead the design and implementation of SOPs and systems to support increasing the ability of IMPACT Ken/Som to directly manage its resources.
2. In coordination with ACTED, support the CC, DCC, and the rest of the SMT in reviewing and improving existing finance, logistics, transparency and compliance, and HR and administrative processes, particularly as related to in-country operations to ensure IMPACT Ken/Som is well placed to execute the country and unit strategies
3. Proactively identify systems and processes which are not serving the current needs of the mission and develop plans to modify and/or replace these as needed.
4. Ensure effective communication between support departments in all bases and the IMPACT and ACTED focal points in each field base.
5. Support the roll-out of HQ initiatives at the mission level, ensuring the timely and proper implementation of new systems, policies, and processes.

Team leadership and other tasks

1. Provide line management of all the finance, administrative, and logistics staff that are dedicated by ACTED to support IMPACT operations in Ken/Som, including effective delegation of day-to-day tasks and ensuring all team members are fully aware of their job description, duties, and responsibilities.
2. Ensure that team members are provided with the training, support, and resources required to independently manage their responsibilities without day-to-day intervention.
3. Conduct regular check-ins with staff under the position’s line management to identify skills and interests on the team, as well as any issues influencing team/staff welfare.
4. Provide additional support as required relating to the operations of the IMPACT Ken/Som mission, as requested by your line manager
5. Be an active member of the IMPACT SMT, providing inputs into the strategic and operational planning for the IMPACT Ken/Som mission.

Accountability to Communities and Beneficiaries

The staff member is responsible for ensuring that all relations with the communities we work in are conducted in a respectful and consultative manner. Due attention must be paid to ensuring that communities are adequately consulted and informed about IMPACT’s programme objectives, activities, beneficiary selection criteria, and methodologies. This is the responsibility of every IMPACT staff member.

Data confidentiality and Data Protection

The FLAT Manager will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. S/he will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information belonging to IMPACT and its partners or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT

Qualifications/Technical Skills Required:

• Academic Excellent academic qualifications, preferably including a Master degree in relevant discipline;
• Research skills Demonstrable experience of data science. Excellent data analysis skills.
• Software skills Advanced knowledge of R, STATA, Python, or equivalent statistical software. Proven knowledge of Microsoft office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Knowledge of ArcGIS an advantage.
• Years of work experience At least 1 years of relevant working experience. Experience in humanitarian settings highly desirable.
• Management skills Team management experience and skills highly desirable.
• Communication/reporting skills Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting.
• Multi-tasking skills Ability to multitask with tight deadlines, on numerous research cycles.
• Level of independence Proven ability to work independently.
• Cross-cultural work environment Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility.
• Experience in geographical region Past experience in the HoA region is desirable.
• Language skills Fluency in English required, competency in Somali an asset.
• Security environment Ability to operate in a complex and challenging security environment.