Budget Officer – P2

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job ? it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, Support

Medium sized office with a full Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation component of the Country Program located in the capital city to have close proximity to government partners.

How can you make a difference?

Join our Haiti team to be responsible for tracking, analyzing and reporting income and expenditures, including donor contributions and will be accountable for analyzing the needs, preparation, management and monitoring of contributions, involving all sources of funds across programmes and operations, contributing to the overall governance of the office. You will also collaborate with HQ, RO and CO and contribute to the overall strategies related to contribution and budget management and reporting and capacity building for UNICEF Haiti Country Office while outposted in Panama.

Below are the key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1. Support the formulation of strategies and concepts

• Align contribution management with programme strategies and develop medium to long-term plans for effective budget management contributing to the overall governance of the office
• Develop capacity building plans for strengthening the overall budget management of the office
• Develop and revise the CO office budget, contribution and financial strategies with programme’s vision and staffing structure ensuring it is coherent and meaningful

2. Support Budget analysis focusing on achieving results

• Integrate and analyze potentially conflicting numerical, verbal and other data from a wide variety of sources.
• Identify key, high-level trends across data sets.
• Recognize subtle inter-relationships among multiple issues and see the potential effects on the overall system or process.
• Make logical, rational, well-reasoned and defensible judgment from the analyses
• Liaise with RO/HQ and technical colleagues to dialogue and constantly inform the CO on policies and guidelines on budget management

3. Contribution management (budget planning allocation, monitoring)

• Participate in the development of the budget-related components of the office work plan, annual management plan, Resource mobilization and Partnership Strategy, including donor proposals.
• Monitor compliance and inform relevant sections to ensure that fund management objectives and targets are on track, and that staff are aware of donor conditions.
• Ensure timely allocation of new grants to respective programmes in line with approved budget breakdown and donor conditions
• Monitor grants expiry dates and in dialogue with the programmes find solutions for proper utilization aligned with results,
• Monitor the utilization of regular Resources and Other Resources and produce regular updates for the Country Office Management.
• Support the capacity development of programme staff to improve the description of expenditures that appear in financial reports
• Retrieve information on costs of programme elements, such as staff and related costs from automated files and comply them in standardized and customized reports.
• Enable an institutional memory within the office through development and maintenance of record keeping of OR allocations forms and emails related to RR allocation.
• Collect and analyze budget and financial data for programme/project planning, management, monitoring and evaluation purposes.
• Review the accuracy of VISION/SAP generated data.

4. Management of financial dashboard reports

• Monitor allocation and expenditures trends; generate, prepare and share with members of the management team the financial progress reports adapted from VISION and bring to the attention of the Programme & Planning Specialist any deviations or delays for corrective measures.
• Prepare and timely submit monthly Management Indicator reports to the meetings of management team, including analysis on key programme indicators
• Follow-up on agreed action during presentation of management reports
• Provide reports on budget utilization during reviews (Mid-year, annual and mid-term reviews).
• Support technical / programme sections and coordinate with the Program Specialist and Deputy Representative in the planning and forecasting of budget needs and maintain a cross-sectoral budget allocation and tracking tool to ensure that sufficient funds from the appropriate sources (and in line with donor conditions) are allocated to ensure proper and timely implementation of programmatic activities.
• Monitor commitments and expenditures to ensure timely, accurate and appropriate grant information is provided on programme budget, allocations, commitments, expenditures and projections and with the aim to ensure delays, errors and discrepancies are detected and corrected.
• Support in ensuring that funds are only used for the purposes agreed and in line with project proposals and donor conditions, including by tracking support for cross-cutting programs and operations. Keep office senior management, program specialist, budget owners and section chiefs informed on DCT status and utilization rates and make recommendations for corrective action as required.

5. Management of financial reports related to resource mobilization and donor reporting

• Support the preparation and review of financial reports to donors to ensure alignment with VISION reports and adherence to donor templates and guidelines.
• Prepare financial reports related to contributions in close coordination with the related programmes.
• Support the preparation and review of budgets in donor funding proposals in line with UNICEF financial rules and regulations.
• Support the preparation of budget related documentation and analysis as related to the fundraising function including income analysis and fundraising gaps.

6. VISION support to fund management

• Provide support to Programme and Operation on the appropriate VISION work processes, routine operation and utilization of the system and PIDB codes.
• Diagnose problems and locally resolve/respond to queries that users encounter or liaise with the NYHQ including the global helpdesk for solutions.
• Building the capacity on budget management including training on VISION and insight.
• Process requests for grants extension ahead of expiring dates in VISION.
• Maintain updated VISION records for budget allotments, planning ceilings, donor contributions and related correspondence.
• Provide support to Programmes through preparation of monitoring reports (donor utilization reports, all routine management reports produced by VISION, non-routine reports and presentations), review and analyse reports and recommend actions to be taken to maximize the efficiency of the office’s fund utilization.
• Assist office senior management and programme staff in allocation and reallocation of funds. Conduct regular review and reconciliation of Grants; provide analysis by using the management indicators. Ensure that contributions are fully utilized and in a timely manner.
• Together with the Monitoring and Reporting Specialist and other relevant staff, ensure that required donor budget reports are clear, concise, on time and with accurate financial figures.

7. Cost distribution and payroll

• support and advise budget owners on conditions of Grants utilization in payroll.
• Support staff payroll run by ensuring that adequate funds are allocated for staff salary and cost distribution uploaded for all staff on FT and TA.
• Maintain an analysis for the payroll and related gaps. payroll.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:129518 Budget Officer P2.pdf

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have?

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Finance and Accounting, General administration, Development studies, Statistics, Social Sciences, or any other relevant field of discipline.
• Work Experience:
• Minimum two years of relevant professional work experience in Programme management and budgeting.
• Work experience in international organization in the relevant area is an asset.
• Work experience on EU financial reporting is considered an asset.
• Experience in the usage of office software MS package and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in French and good working knowledge of English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are?

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others

(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Eligible staff members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to IP TA positions in a duty station designated as L2/L3, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements, subject to approval by their Head of Office. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

How cinfo Can Support You in the Application Process for This Position

• Application and Interview Preparation: Whether you’re preparing your application documents or getting ready for an interview, you can book a Job Application Support session to receive tailored guidance.
• For Swiss nationals invited to the first round of the selection process (e.g., written test, interview, assessment center): Notify us at recruitment@cinfo.ch, and we will inform our HR partners in the respective organization and the Swiss Government to help increase your visibility.