Director, Administration and Finance (WAHO)

Director, Administration and Finance (WAHO)

(1 Position)

Internationally recruited position

• Department: Specialised Institution


• Directorate: Adminstration and Finance


• Grade: D1


• Annual Salary: USD 60,372 - USD 75,005


• Supervisor: Director General


• Reference: ECW-WAHO/REC/AF-D/001/2015


• Duration: Permanent


• Duty Station: Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso


• Closing Date: 30 June 2015

A Directorate in ECOWAS Community Institutions is a subset of Departments headed by Statutory Appointees or D2 level Officers. Directorates are headed by Directors or Officers holding Director level positions.
Directors or Director level Officers are responsible for providing the expertise in particular areas for the design and implementation of technical projects in line with ECOWAS objectives.
Directors in ECOWAS provide leadership and management to major sector(s) of technical activities which are substantively important to the accomplishment of the Institution’s mandate. They are responsible for interpreting governing bodies’, the President’s and the Commissioner’s broad visions and policy guidelines, and for developing and managing goals and objectives to meet that mandate. D1 positions typically supervise 10 or more professionals some of who may be Division Chiefs at the P5 level and thus supervise other professional staff.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership Tasks
Directors or Director level Officers report directly to Departmental Heads. As the principal link between the Directorate and the wider beyond, the Director is responsible for:

• Clearly communicating the Department’s vision to staff, explain how the Directorate’s activities aligns with them as well as ways of carrying out set tasks on it;

• Staying on top of fast-moving technical, political, social or economic changes;

• Remaining in frequent contact with the other Directors in the Institution to ensure that the work is harmonized with that of other Directorates as needed.

Managerial Tasks
The Director will supervise staff of the Directorate including Professional and General staff. He or she will utilize a range of transactional managerial skills to ensure that staff of the Directorate performs efficiently and effectively, and that they deliver the regular outputs needed at sufficient quality and in a timely manner.
Managerial tasks will include:

• Plan annual goals, objectives, activities and budget tied to the Department’s overall plans; measure and monitor goal achievement; negotiate suitable adjustments to goals and budgets;

• Implement performance-based budgeting within the Directorate;

• Organize the Directorate in an efficient way with clear reporting lines, minimal bureaucracy and optimal delegation of responsibilities and authority;

• Work with the relevant Directorate to ensure efficient and effective services such as recruitment, action on performance decisions, promotions and related matters;

• Set standards of work and create mechanisms to monitor staff output and ensure that standards are maintained and deadlines met without compromising quality of work;

• Manage the system of setting individual performance planning and standards through available Performance Planning and Evaluation systems;

• Provide regular and prompt performance feedback to direct reporting;

• Actively engaged in the development of staff to ensure skills are built to match plans, goals and existing structures;

• Create productive working atmosphere within the Directorate to encourages staff participation.

Use of Personal Expertise
While the Director will have a reserve of skilled professionals to draw upon, he or she may at times be called upon to apply his or her personal expertise directly in the relevant technical field in any of the following ways:

• Direct technical guidance on programme design or implementation in an area where he or she has high-level technical expertise;

• Represent ECOWAS in professional meetings or working groups; make speeches, negotiate agreements, mediate disputes;

• Lead or participate in technical missions to develop projects and programmes;

• Advise on issues relating to his or her area of technical expertise;

• Work with the relevant specialized Parliamentary Committee on regional legislation, as needed.

Technical Tasks
The successful applicant will guide/supervise mentor and coach staff within the three units of the Department as well as provide technical support to all other departments and staff on financial, administrative and Human Resources matters.  S/he shall provide guidance in the preparation of the organisation’s annual budget and financial reports.  S/he must ensure strict budget compliance, monitor and justify use of all funds.
The safety of staff and WAHO’s resources falls under the incumbent’s purview, thus assurance of sound policies and compliance.
The incumbent shall:

• Be responsible for the administrative and financial management of WAHO, under the supervision of the Directorate General and in accordance with the ECOWAS Rules and Regulations.

• Coordinate the drafting and finalisation of WAHO’s Annual Budget.

• Ensure that the budget is executed in strict accordance with laid down accounting procedures and ECOWAS Rules and Regulations.

• Operate, monitor and justify the utilisation of the organisation’s accounts.

• Be the sole responsible, administratively and legally, for all funds, holdings, cheque books, accounting records and assets of the Organisation placed under the control of the Department.

• Co-signatory of all cheques drawn in the bank accounts of the Organisation.

• Coordinate the various administrative duties and responsibilities. (Human, material resources and service management).

• Ensure that the organisation is compliant with all tax obligations.

• Forward monthly and annual reports to the Director General, as provided for in the Financial Regulations of ECOWAS.

• Ensure the establishment of sound Human Resources Management and Administrative Policies.

• Represent WAHO at statutory meetings as may be required.

• Execute any other duty as may be assigned by WAHO authorities.

• Be willing to travel often and on short notice

Qualifications/Experience/Skills

Education

• A minimum of Master’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Management or Administration.

Experience

• Twelve (12) years professional experience including six (6) years relevant international experience and five (5) years in a supervisory or managerial capacity;

• Possession of higher degree would reduce the required professional experience to ten (10) years with five (5) years in a supervisory or managerial capacity.

• Experience in a variety of private and public institutions, preferably in a multi-cultural setting and in an international institution would be an advantage.

• Possession of a formal professional Accountancy qualification e.g. CA, ACCA, CIMA etc. would be an advantage.

• Must be fully functional in all aspects of Financial Accounting Software and detailed knowledge of at least one major Accounting Software.

Competencies (Skills, Knowledge and Abilities)

• Leadership skills and ability to work in a multi-cultural team;

• Ability to build partnership with other institutions;

• Excellent knowledge of Financial Accounting principles and concepts in order to perform tasks in accordance with the generally accepted Accounting Principles.

• Inter personal skills necessary to train others in performing key Administrative and Financial activities and supervise their work.

• Good communication skills for influencing groups of peers and stakeholders outside the organization (public speaking, writing, persuasiveness, credibility, negotiation, problem-solving).

• Good interpersonal social skills for working with peers and subordinate staff (listening ability, approachability, clear oral expression).

• Able team-player with peers (creates solutions to problems, creates ideas, takes on share of the work, reliable).

• Drive and energy;

• Demonstrates fairness;

• Self-control and stress management methods;

• Good personal organization with ability to prioritize comfortably, adjust to rapidly changing priorities and to manage time well;

• Ability to delegate authority clearly and effectively to staff. In particular, ability to use support staff available to the Directorate.

• Ability to make recommendations to the Bureau in respect of administrative and financial decisions;

• Must be Computer Literate

Age

Candidates should not be over 50 years old at the point of recruitment and must be a citizen of one of the ECOWAS member states;

Language

Candidates must be fluent in one of the official languages of the Community: English, French and Portuguese. A working knowledge of another would be an advantage.

Director, Administration and Finance (WAHO)