Finance Field Officers

Musanze, Musanze

We are hiring 2 Finance Field Officers!

ABOUT SPARK MICROGRANTS

Spark MicroGrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. For nearly ten years, Spark MicroGrants has been pioneering a new approach to international aid. We believe in local solutions and catalyzing rural villages facing poverty into action.

At the heart of Spark’s model, the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), are ‘town-hall’ style meetings, in which women and men plan together for their community’s future. Each village democratically elects a leadership committee, establishes a village savings account, and launches a project of their choice. Members receive training on financial management and transparency, accountable leadership, village planning, and advocacy. Each village receives US$8,000 in seed funds to turn project ideas into reality and receives additional management support.

Spark is now active in 320+ villages in 6 countries, benefiting over 230,000 lives. In the next three years, we seek to accelerate the growth of this approach, through i) establishing a global Community of Practice based on cutting edge facilitation and training design, and ii) establishing a national scale program in Rwanda – our flagship program – in partnership with the Government of Rwanda.

Our team of 50+ people is spread across 4 countries in East Africa and the US, sharing a common vision and value system. These are:

1. Facilitators. We don’t impose; we enable others to generate impact.
2. Community-driven. We are motivated by what is best for the community.
3. Process-centered. The how of what we do is just as important as the what.
4. Authentic. Our vision and values live in everything we do.
5. Dynamic. We seek opportunities and are willing to take risks to serve our community partners better.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

The Field Finance Officer will play a key role in the implementation and monitoring of sustainable community projects. Critical to the role will be organizing training in assigned locations in line with budget constraints, tracking and monitoring grant usage in communities as well as ensuring Project activities and payments are in accordance with Spark policies. We are looking for exceptional candidates with a proven track record at managing field finances and administration of community grants and projects.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Ensure successful implementation of project activities, including active participation during community project proposal review and the transparent procurement of MicroGrant-related goods and services. Successful implementation should include on-going consultative processes, and Local Government Facilitators and community involvement in all phases.
2. In conjunction with program staff, evaluate completed projects ensuring that the whole MicroGrant disbursed is fully accounted for.
3. To persistently coordinate with the implementing partners to track physical progress of the ongoing MicroGrants.
4. Assist the logistics in relevant documentation and capturing them in system
5. Manage expenses for the assigned office and record transactions  into the accounting system
6. Conduct spot community field audit and provide feedback and recommendation
7. Field Assessment for the required finance refresher trainings
8. Update and report to the Facilitator Trainer on a regular basis about the progress and constraints and try to resolve accountability issues at all phases, if any, in consultation with other program team members and with advice/guidance of the Program Manager.
9. Organize and requisition materials for Program trainings in line with budget and  provide training support as needed
10. External meetings:  join meetings with district/sector if needed
11. MicroGrants management: Active participation in proposal review, community budget creation in Odoo, update community finance data on Odoo, track MicroGrant status
12.  Field audit: Plan out timelines for field audit and go to field to audit and analyzing field audit findings and monthly data presentations.

YOUR PROFILE:

Job Requirements/Person Specifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Commerce or other related field
• Minimum of 3 years relevant experience
• Proficiency in Excel and Accounting software; experience with Oracle Netsuite is an added advantage
• Experience in and understanding of essential accounting principles, accounting systems and Rwanda tax requirements
• Experience in handling proposal reviews for grant recipients
• Ability to conduct field audits

WHY WORK WITH US?

• Spark has grown every year since founding. You will join as a team lead with immense opportunity to shape the future of the organization and grow as a leader.
• Spark has been recognized by the Government of Rwanda, NYTimes, Obama Foundation, Draper Richards Kaplan, Forbes, and beyond as a leader in community-driven change.
• You will be joining a team that hails from ten countries around the world and is committed to a new world where every village and every neighborhood has the power to drive local change.
• You’ll never be bored – AND we also respect and value work-life balance and your need for downtime, vacation, and reflection. That’s why in addition to salary, we provide generous paid leave benefits.

OTHER INFORMATION

Currently, our field operations are adapting to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Our teams are supporting our communities virtually, and we expect that when things open up, demand for development solutions will be high in the communities we serve. We are working on refining our growth and virtual support models at this time. 

Location: Northern & Southern Province – Rwanda.  We might be open to virtual work in the first ~3 months depending on the COVID situation

Commitment to the job: We are looking for someone who is committed to this role for at least 2 years.

Probation period: Three months probation period with learning and performance objectives.

Application closing date: 22nd February 2021

Estimated Start Date: Mid March 2021