Aim of the Organizational Unit: Is responsible for proving leadership and ensure effective implementation of the relevant aspects of the country finances and operations through sound standards and in compliance with Cordaid’s procedures. Has the overall supervisory role of all operational activities and deliverables.
Specifics: Acts as a legal representative of Cordaid, along with the CD and within the scope of delegated powers.
Supervises: Finance Manager, Admin, ICT, and Logistic Manager, Procurement Manager, and Field Admin/Finance Coordinator
Duties & Responsibilities:
1. Personnel management
• Leads the multidisciplinary operation team on a day-to-day basis in accordance with the management style of Cordaid, focused on productivity, the professional development of staff and employee satisfaction.
• Coaches staff and leaves room for professional freedom to determine how to execute the work. Builds on the strengths and talents of staff members to improve team performance.
• Emphasis teamwork within functional teams and between different CAF units, project-based working and commitment.
• Ensures efficient use of resources and controls quality of work.
• Provides technical advice and operational guidance on innovative approaches to project financing, risk assessment/mitigation and use of financing structures. 2.
2. Finance and Operations Management and Service Delivery Coordination
• Manages the finance and operational aspects of CO, adjusting administrative processes in a way that secures donor funding, auditability, timeliness, reliability of service delivery and information, and assures an optimal cost allocation within the country office through ensuring effective coordination between projects and support operations.
• Implements and enforce effective support operating manuals, systems and procedures and ensure they are in line with Cordaid standards and the Afghan Country laws.
• Drives the organization change through participation in external engagements and representing Cordaid in inter-agency meetings and working groups on operations issues to ensure Cordaid’ s interests are reflected in common system activities related to common services and premises, cost recovery and cost-sharing arrangements, privileges and immunities, entitlements and salary surveys.
• Manages and monitors all administrative, organisation registration and legal-related systems/requirements are updated and to ensure compliance with country law and legislation. Keeps abreast of legislative issues and major donors’ regulations and audit methodology. Ensures organisation registration and statutory requirement compliance.
• Monitors and supervises all aspects of operations to ensure compliance with organization strategies, rules, regulations, policies, and standards of accountability, ethics and integrity and achievement of results.
3. Programme Support and Coordination
• Provides strategic operational support in large and complex partnerships and projects funds management. Ensures cost coverage of the CO and provides strategic management information. Identify bottlenecks in the budgets of the CO & the programme/projects and advice on financial improvements and ways to secure the costs and funds for sustainability of CO interventions.
• Provides timely support to the Programme team in project engagements, acceptance documents including participation in contract negotiations.
• Provides advice on goal setting, targets and performance standards for projects and recommend tools for auditing.
• Provides technical guidance on programme and project cost-sharing, deployment of funds and closure.
• Supports preparation and quality-assures programme documents, including Contracts, Agreements, LoAs, MoUs, and Cost-Sharing Agreements.
• Reviews donor compliance, including among partners and consortium members. Assesses the consequences of non-compliance and executes measures to reduce the impact for Cordaid.
• Ensures financial management and control of country office budget including timely fund transfer of funds in-country and to the field in an efficient and transparent manner.
4. Accountability
• Coordinates and manages the preparation and successful conclusion of internal and external audit activities. Identifies recurring systemic issues in audit reports and ensures the implementation of audit recommendations as progress to meet audit standards.
• Supports preparation and quality-assures legal documents.
• Leads due diligence reviews of Cordaid by the funding organisation.
• Identifies the organisation systems and procedures challenges and risks by analysing the current processes, including partner management. Proposes and executes the follow-up actions.
5. Compliance
• Reviews the current processes and engages integrated methods to standardise the operational activities to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and quality, in line with the Standard Cordaid Procedures.
• Conducts ad-hoc, confidential and/or direct internal investigations breaches in internal control and compliance issues including complaints submitted. Leads the follow-ups.
• Conducts field site visits to assess the level of compliance, identify gaps and non-coherence. Reports findings and ensures follow-up activities.
• Strengthens standardisation, adherence, and conformity to compliance by providing staff with the required technical support and guidance on the Cordaid safeguarding and integrity and other internal policies.
• Partners with GO units such as Legal, Quality Management, Operational Excellence, Internal Audit and Risk Management, to assess and ensure the effectiveness of control systems in driving compliance.
• Supports Partner Risk and Capacity Assessments and builds up local capacity for this. Leads on capacity building to mitigate risk and ensure compliance.
6. Others
• Contributes to the development of the Country Strategic Planning and Reporting and the Annual Country Planning and Reporting.
• Any other duties assigned by the line manager.
