Finance & Procurement Officer

 Musanze, Musanze

We are hiring a Finance & Procurement Officer!

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 Finance & Procurement officer will be responsible for ensuring that day to day accounting operations and payments are done in accordance with Spark Microgrants Policies.

Critical to the role will be managing office and administrative functions, managing procurement and payment systems and directly overseeing Programmatic Finance in assigned locations. We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in formulating strategies to improve operational and financial efficiency.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Bookkeeping and Procurement

a) Daily bookkeeping and bank agent responsibilities

b) Monthly closes and bank/cash reconciliations

c) Procurement

Budgets and Payments

a) Ensure timely disbursements of payments to staff/vendors/communities

b) Manage office budgets (ensuring expenditure is in line with budgets)

c) Review and verify receipts in all expensify reports

d) Monthly projections of office budgets

e) Assist in Annual Budgeting and Planning Activities

Asset Management

a) Ensure assets are well tracked and safeguarded

b) Ensure insurance policies are renewed on time

Programmatic Finance

a) Oversee MicroGrant disbursements, receipts, transactions and proposals

b) Complete independent community field and file audits as per finance policy and report on findings

c) Create and execute financial management skills training to internal teams, implementing partners and partner communities as needed

d) Raise value add suggestions for programmatic success

Reporting

a) Develop regular financial statements and perform financial analysis for Senior Management and other stakeholders as needed

b) Present Rwanda monthly financial reports

Compliance

a) Ensures operations and payments are compliant with Spark Microgrants and Donor Policies

b) Regularly conduct internal audits to review adherence to policies

c) Responsible for tax and statutory filings, payments, and compliance.

YOUR PROFILE:

Job Requirements/Person Specifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Commerce or other related field
• Minimum of 3 years relevant experience
• Experience with Procurement in a large organization is an added advantage
• 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
• Professional standard of finance and procurement ethics as well as the ability and willingness to enforce adherence to Spark Microgrants and donor policies and procedures
• 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: Musanze – 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