Finance Officer

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) is one of 15 Future Harvest centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). As a global leader in Agroforestry research and development, ICRAF’s ultimate purpose is to improve human welfare by reducing poverty, increasing cash income, improving food and nutritional security, and environmental resilience through improved Agroforestry systems. ICRAF has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and works in 16 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The West and Central Africa (WCA) with the Regional Office in Yaounde – Cameroon covers a vast geographical area made for 21 countries with a population of 330 million people and covers a surface area of about 1200 million ha. The region’s activities are carried out in the Sahel, Upper Guinea and in the Humid Tropics zone. The Sahel node (WCA/Sahel) has offices in Bamako, Mali and operates in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The ultimate goal of the WCA-Sahel is to improve the socio-economic welfare and food security of millionsresource-poor rural smallholder farmers in the Sahelian node and beyond using agroforestry based innovations to increase and diversify agricultural production and farmers’ income while reducing the threat of desertification by combining scientific knowledge and farmers expertise. The team is composed with 15 permanent staff members and many collaborators from partner institutions, including the National Agricultural Research Systems. ICRAF is looking for a Finance Officer for the Sahel Node to be based in Bamako, Mali.
The position and overall purpose of the job
Under the direct supervision of the ICRAF Sahel Node Coordinator while maintaining a direct functional reporting relationship to the Regional Finance Manager based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, the incumbent will plan and manage the financial operations of the node. Specifically he/she will have the following responsibilities:
– Provide guidance in improving financial procedures, reporting and advanced planning, and maintain direct contact with the regional office and ICRAF-Headquarters on budgeting/revisions/reporting and financial management;
– Generate financial reports through the general ledger for monthly individual project components budget holder control;
– Bookkeeping of all financial records;
– Keep track of all staff travels, advances request and advance justifications;
– Preparation and payment of monthly salaries and any allowances of project staff and collaborators;
– Ensure quality, accuracy and timely submission of monthly accounting returns including follow up returns from collaborators and review of expenditures to ensure compliance with laid down ICRAF policies;
– Preparation of the monthly imprest report for incorporation in ICRAF data base;
– Review the accuracy of monthly expenditure reports received from other countries and offices of the node and highlight issues arising for follow up
– Ensure the respect of ICRAF accounting procedures in all financial transactions;
– Ensure that advances made to partner institutions are properly justified on time;
– Ensure the respect of all labour and government administrative procedures;
– Ensure the timely preparation and payments of all related taxes, rents etc. and staff dues to the competent government departments;
– Maintain schedules of fixed assets and a filing system within the established format and procedure and ensure data safety;
– Maintain an accurate fixed asset register for the node (capitalization depreciation and disposal if any);
– Liaise with the Head of Operations and Finance at ICRAF Headquarters to ensure items requiring insurance are expeditiously insured;
– Assist with various financial management request for the Sahel including partners;
– Assist with miscellaneous request from auditors and donors;
– Preparation of Annual Programme of Work and Budget (optimise resource allocation), in coordination with all scientists and national administrative teams ;
– Supervision of other staff falling under the Finance Service Unit and based in the Sahel; and
– Perform any other tasks assigned by the hierarchy.
The Candidate will have:
– A professional accounting qualification with a degree in financial management and accounting (Master in Finance, MSTCF);
– At least 5 years of experience in financial management and accounting in a similar position preferably in an international organisation, interacting between regional/country office and headquarters;
– Proficiency in office software applications (MS office, data management, excellent
– knowledge of SUN accounting package, etc);
– Good oral and written communication skills in French and English;
– Ability to work under pressure and implement multiple tasks simultaneously;
– Experience in cross-cultural working environment;
– Strong leadership;
– Affinity with research and development activities in the development and environment domain
– Testimonials from three previous employers attesting the incumbent’s qualifications, performance and integrity.
Terms of offer
ICRAF offers a collegial and gender-sensitive working environment. Women are strongly encouraged to apply. The contract is a national position open to other countries of the node, for an initial period of 2 years, subject to a probation period according to the Malian local law, annual assessment of performance and availability of resources. Applicants are invited to send a letter of motivation, soft copies of detailed curriculum vitae, and addresses of three referees (including telephone, fax numbers and email address). All correspondence should be addressed to the Sahel Node Coordinator, ICRAF-WCA/Sahel BP E 5118 Bamako – Mali Tel (223) 2023 5000 E-mail [email protected] copy to [email protected]. Applications will be considered until 07th April 2011.
Only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.
We invite you to learn more about ICRAF by accessing our web site: https://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org