Funding Systems Officer

TEAM PURPOSE

To raise funds for Oxfam’s Kenya programme; To ensure quality and consistency in relationships with donors; To lead on contract management; To effectively support programme teams to develop and plan concept papers and proposals in accordance with country strategy and donor requirements and to manage and report on their funds.

JOB PURPOSE

To work closely with the Funding team to ensure compliance to Oxfam’s and donor contract management requirements, monitoring and supporting in the management of restricted donor contracts and ensuring timely and high-quality management information systems and consistency of data between OPAL and CRIMSON. To strengthen the capacity of staff and partners on contract management for effective management of the Kenya funding portfolio. Learn other aspects of the funding portfolio e.g. fundraising in order to be able to support when needed.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

System and Contract Compliance

• Support and provide quality control of all aspects of contract management, particularly business rules compliance, of allocated contracts for high risk contracts.
• Coordinate and share contract management information with programme staff, regional funding team, regional finance as required.
• Monitor funding information systems and ensuring adequate donor intelligence.
• Establish a close working relationship with the regional compliance officer accountants to facilitate synergy in the contract management and reporting.
• Ensure all funding files both electronic and paper are complete and kept up to date.
• Contracts Quality Check (of all new signed contracts that month).
• Disseminate and share Kenya programme key performance indicators on a monthly basis; working with teams and country senior management to address any underperforming KPIs.
• Participate in funding team activities and contribute to development of team and shared objectives.
• Attend planning and training meetings and uphold standards developed by funding to ensure consistency across the programmes.
• Complete other tasks as requested by line manager.
• Ensure key information on new contracts is populated in PeopleSoft – follow-up on getting things right, ensuring the correct documents are uploaded.
• Advise Funding and Programme teams on a monthly basis on the status of Programme, Project & Contract information in the Peoplesoft system (OPAL), drawing attention to shortfalls, risks, inconsistencies and priorities for action using the OPAL management indicator reports.
• Act as the Peoplesoft (OPAL and Crimson) helpdesk for the Kenya Programme and support staff to understand and effectively use Oxfam systems to support their work.
• Work with Funding Coordinator, Crimson and OPAL leads in Oxford and in country offices to ensure that learning opportunities are provided for all necessary staff.
• Support, where necessary, the country teams to ensure CRIMSON compliance, through coaching, training and assisting relevant team members.
• Support the capacity building and induction activities for all relevant staff on good grant management & donor compliance from the programs teams.

Donor Reporting

• Review donor contracts and donor reports for compliance with Oxfam and donor.
• Prepare and disseminate the quarterly and monthly Donor Reporting Schedule (DRS) and work with individual programme units and managers and enforce compliance by working closely with each Programme Manager.
• Reports due or overdue – review of whether resources are in place, what issues are making them overdue, how to resolve and ensure good communications with donor.
• Extract donor reporting templates from all contracts and facilitate storage in a centralized location. Disseminate and share donor reporting guidelines and templates with programme teams.
• Reviewing donor reports to check for compliance before they are submitted to senior management for sign off and submission to donors.
• Maintain a contact list of key contacts for all donor contracts and ensure this is updated on a regular basis.

Capacity Building

• This includes supporting and building “restricted” fund-management capacity and knowledge of donor requirements within Programme, Finance and Logistics teams and partners.
• Training new staff and organizing refresher trainings for staff and managers on OPAL, CRIMSON
• Capacity building of partners on donor requirements and procedures.
• Support staff in the Kenya Programme to monitor and comply with the restricted funding monthly business cycle (debtors, outstanding income, contracts quality checklist, donor reporting schedule).

Proposal development

• Support in donor mapping and exploration of donors in line with Oxfam’s strategic fit, values, and principles.
• Support proposal development processes including adherence to donor and Oxfam compliance requirements.
• Participate in proposal development workshops and meetings.

Person specifications

Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam needs to be able to:

• Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here)
• Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct).
• Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity.”
• Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Technical skills, experience and knowledge

Essential

• Professional/technical qualifications – a Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration, Social Sciences or related field.
• Excellent verbal communication and influencing skills, and ability to work effectively with a diverse range of people both in person and virtually.
• Influencing and directive skills on ensuring compliance and business rules are monitored and key risk areas are highlighted.
• Experience in working with both institutional and non-institutional donors in an international non-governmental organisation.
• Experience in donor contract management in an international non-governmental organisation.
• Good understanding of the cultural and political context of the country(/ies) and region.
• Experience of training and coaching skills and a willingness to support the development of others.
• Well-developed interpersonal and team skills and proven ability to be flexible in demanding situations.
• Proven computer literacy and analytical skills.
• Good negotiation, diplomacy, communication, analytical & advisory skills.
• Meeting deadlines/good planning, organisational and prioritising skills. Ability to think out of the box and provide/propose solutions to programme challenges.
• Responsible, flexible, and adaptable.
• Ability to travel to the field, as required.
• Ability to use and support people to use Management Information Systems (e.g. Peoplesoft) as well as sound proficiency using MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Demonstrated ability to use initiative, show tenacity, and adapt priorities to changing demands.
• Excellent general administrative skills and attention to detail.

Desirable

• Experience in proposal development and coordination, grant writing and project planning based on logical framework approach in an international non-governmental organisation.
• Understanding of NGO programming in emergencies and/or development.