Junior Financial Specialist 

GIZ- Internal/External Vacancy Announcement ‘#079/2023’

GIZ-AU Office

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. As a public-benefit federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government – in particular the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – and many public and private sector clients in achieving their objectives in international cooperation in around 120 countries.

Since 2004, GIZ has been a reliable and trusted partner of the African Union (AU) to enhance inclusive growth and sustainable development on the African continent in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. With more than 200 staff, GIZ African Union cooperates with the AU Commission, as well as the AU’s specialised institutions and agencies, such as the Development Agency AUDA-NEPAD, at continental, regional and national level in more than 35 member states. Key areas of engagement include Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention, Governance and Migration, Sustainable Economic Growth and Employment, as well as Health and Social Development.

The GIZ African Union Office headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with further staff based in South Africa, Ghana, and Germany provides services and support in the areas of procurement, financial management, events and travel, human resources, internal operations, communication, and portfolio management to all GIZ programmes and projects that are implemented in partnership with the African Union.

The AU Office in Addis Ababa has formed the Service Unit (SU) Finance Management for the diverse portfolio of the GIZ AU as part of the commercial bundling. This commercial bundling is a pilot project in GIZ and will require the assumption of various tasks in the future in order to ensure financial and administrative processes with a high-quality standard. The Service Unit Finance Management has to make sure that all relevant processes are done according to PuR (Procedures and Rules) of GIZ.

The position of the “Junior Finance Manager” is part of the Service Unit (SU) Finance Management, which ensures the finance-related processes in the projects of the AU portfolio and works closely with other service units in the AU office.

Contract Duration:        31/12/2024

Responsibilities and Duties

A. Responsibilities

In your role you support the officers responsible for the commission (AV) and project-managing staff at Head Office or at the responsible country office in all issues related to financial management for the given stages in the project cycle and advise the officers responsible for the commission on all issues related to budget planning and costing, and the procurement of materials, equipment and services. You are the general contact for all matters pertaining to the thematic area assigned to you. You work on all job orders within your remit and are the main contact for advising managers and other staff members on all issues in the thematic area.

You clearly communicate the relevant requirements, conditions and restrictions in terms of your capacity to act with due regard for compliance rules and P+R. Financial steering of the project is performed cooperatively, cost-effectively and efficiently.

You are responsible for the correct processing and monitoring of all payment flows and for ensuring the supply of funds to the programme, in consultation with the relevant sectoral division(s) and the country office, and coordinate all administrative work related to financial management. You also assist in the preparation of grants and financial agreements, and if necessary the training of recipients.

You guarantee comprehensive reporting on the finances of the programme(s) at regular intervals, hereby enabling the officer responsible for the commission (AV) or your line manager to anticipate and document the financial impacts of all project activities. Identifying and assessing commercial risks play an important role in this context.

You are involved in ongoing process development within your remit, are responsible for knowledge management and prepare and share documentation.

If required, you also support other experts in familiarizing themselves with and performing their tasks.

You work constructively with all internal and external colleagues in your area of responsibility.

You perform the tasks assigned to you by your line manager, where required.

B. Main Tasks

1.    Key area of financial management:

The Junior Finance Manager

• Participate in the commercial set-up of new and follow-on projects together with the officer responsible for the commission (AV).

• Monitors the commission value and commitment authorisation, costs, residual funds, receivables and current contracts.

• Support with advising the project on commercial issues

• Involvement in initiating and implementing co-financing arrangements, above all

o   initiation, costing the specification of inputs in consultation with the officer responsible for the commission.

o   ongoing monitoring and reporting, considering the requirements of the commissioning party/client/co-financier.

o   preparation of external audits and support for the auditors.

• Monitoring the implementation of IC findings and action taken to address objections raised in audit reports.

• Ensure reporting in accordance with the allocation of costs to outputs (KOMP).

• Act as a contact person for the project partner and/or financing recipients in relation to commercial issues.

• Assure the knowledge management or finance documents within the project.

• Participate in the Finance Managers network within GIZ.

Job Requirements

Required qualifications, competences, and experience

 Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree (Master’s Degree is an added advantage) in Business Administration or Finance and Accounting or related studies with a commercial and/or finance background.

• Excellent command of spoken and written English.

• Very good knowledge of MS Office (Outlook, MS Teams, Word and specially Excel).

• Strong organizational and analytical skills with the ability to meet tight deadlines and anticipate next steps or needs.

• Well-developed interpersonal and team working skills.

• Solution and service-oriented attitude and working philosophy.

• Open to learning and taking over new tasks required by the company or internal procedures.

• Ability to deal sensitively in multicultural environments.

• Based in Addis Ababa.

Professional experience

• Experience of not more than 2 years in finance, accounting and administration or in a similar position.

• Working experience in the field of international cooperation is an asset

How to Apply

Send your Motivation Letter along with your recent CV via email: hreth@giz.de. 

Note: Please make sure you mention the vacancy number and position title ‘Junior Financial Specialist #079/2023’ in the subject line of your email application.