Administrative and Finance Associate

Engagement Facility under Resilience and Environment Portfolio has been designed to provide evidence-based policy and implementation support to the government and stakeholders to realize the vision of zero carbon by the end of 2045 and develop Nepal as a risk resilient society by 2030 through implementation of revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and its long-term strategy together with National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The facility will further support the Government through data analysis and capacity building for achievements of SDGs and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) through integrated planning for climate, environment, biodiversity, water and gender equality and inclusion. Support will also be provided for conserving critical landscapes and ecosystems for water and food security and identifying sustainable biodiversity financing options and scaling up climate actions to reduce vulnerability and promote low carbon development. This will also support for documenting lessons and developing knowledge products on green financing, urban resilience, green business and jobs, sustainable infrastructure development, waste management and corporate sustainability and explore opportunities for future partnership.

Support to be provided under this Facility will be managed from and be funded through a) joint UNDP-SIDA Programme on Environment and Climate including Biodiversity Finance (BIOFIN) and Essential Life Support Areas (ELSAs) mapping, b) joint UNDP-FAO Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land use and Agriculture (SCALA), c) Climate Promise Phase II, d) Regional Programme on Climate Finance Network Programme, e) HPMP Stage II f) Governance of Climate Change Finance (GCCF) Phase III, g) Global Biodiversity Framework Early Action Support (GBF-EAS) and h) UNDP’s core resources. Activities under Engagement Facility will be implemented directly by UNDP over seven years in close collaboration with the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE), Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission (NPC), Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoWERI) and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) with support from other government agencies, universities, UN Agencies and development partners, at the federal, provincial, and local levels.

The Administrative and Finance Associate (AFA) will closely work with Administration and Finance Analyst on financial and administrative management of Integrated Environment and Climate Resilience Planning Project (ICRP) as well as on other operational issues.

A. Project Administration Support

• Assist Administration and Finance Analyst in timely and effective implementation of HR and procurement plans by preparing all necessary documents as per the UNDP and DIM guidelines;
• Maintain accurate financial and personnel records of the programme as required by UNDP Nepal office;
• Assist Administration and Finance Analyst in undertaking quality assurance of project procurement i.e. technical bids, financial bids, proposals and contracts;
• Support in drafting internal and external correspondence especially related to procurement, recruitment, resource mobilization, partnership building etc.;
• Support in organizing workshops, seminars, training including arrangement for venue, logistics, transportation, and documentation of events;
• Provide logistic support in organizing the Project Board Meetings;
• Ensure all project related materials are properly documented and easily accessible;
• Maintain a filing system for ICRP project;
• Support in day to day logistic/operation management; room booking for meeting, workshop and seminar, vehicle booking, security clearance, if needed hotel arrangement, preparing meeting minutes.

B. Financial Management support

• Track progress in the financial delivery of agreements and contribute to overall financial planning and reporting;
• Support in preparation of Annual Work Plan (AWP) and Quarterly Work Plan (QWP) preparation as per the requirement of ICRP provision and ensure compliance with donor;
• Assist Administration and Finance Officer in drafting Note to the file, contracts with implementing partners and other such documents as per UNDP DIM guidelines;
• Assist in managing and tracking the various contracts to ensure timely payment;
• Provide support to monitor budget expenditure as per approved budget from UNDP Quantum system;
• Analyse the Combined Delivery Report and provide advice as required;
• Support project office to prepare quarterly and annual financial reporting as per requirements;
• Assist in preparing for project audit and in responding to audit queries;
• Provide training to implementing partners related to financial management, audit, reporting and project implementation.

C. Gender and Social Inclusion

• Ensure Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) considerations are incorporated in the project activities and project budget is made GESI Responsive.
• Create a safe working environment by developing respectful and safe organizational culture and supporting practices;
• Collaborate with team members, programme partners, and sub-grantees to ensure safe implementation of programmes at the community level applying Do No Harm approach.

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

Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Administration and Finance Analyst, AFA will work closely on a day-to-day basis to facilitate various administrative, financial and program implementation related operational and logistical processes.

• 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

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Administration & Operations 
– Documents and records management

• Overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving

Finance 
– Financial planning and budgeting

• Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP’s long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analysing and reporting

2030 Agenda: People 
– Gender

• Gender Mainstreaming

2030 Agenda: Peace 
– Governance

• Inclusion and Participation

• Secondary Education with specialized certification in accounting and/or Finance. University degree in Finance or Accounting desirable. Part-qualified accountants from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage. (The degree must state that the major is in accounting or finance. Degrees in Business Administration or Public Administration are not considered equivalent.)
• Fully Qualified Accountant, from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy or Full Completion of the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP). No UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required.
• Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications, but with degrees that major in accountancy and/or finance must complete UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. However, no UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required.
• Candidate with no professional accountancy qualifications but with relevant experience must successfully undertake UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) before shortlisting and must complete the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited.

• Minimum of 6 years (with Secondary Education) or 3 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in admin and finance is required.
• Knowledge of Project planning, project finance and project management;

• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), database packages, and web-based management systems such as ERP.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:

• Experience in working with multiple stakeholders
• Hand-on experience of working with ERP/ accounting software
• Advanced knowledge of MS Excel (creating spreadsheets and charts and using financial Excel functions)
• Experience and understanding of bookkeeping process and procedures
• Experience in Financial Reporting and Financial analysis
• Experience and knowledge in Asset management
• Experience in financial operations management

• Fluency in English and Nepali is required