African Academy of Sciences
Position Title: Grants Accountant
Position Title: Grants Accountant
Vacancy Announcement No: AAS/GA/18/002
Department: Finance
Reporting to: Head of Finance and Grants
Position Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 3 Years Renewable
Closing date: 8th June 2018
Organisation Overview: The AAS is a pan African organisation whose headquarters
are in Kenya. The Academy has a tripartite mandate of pursuing excellence by
recognising scholars and achievers; providing advisory and think-tank functions
for shaping the continent’s strategies and policies; and implementing key
science, technology and innovation programmes that impact on developmental
challenges through the agenda setting and funding platform – the Alliance for
Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA).
Position Overview: The Grants Accountant is responsible for preparing
programmes financial statements, maintaining cash controls, providing financial
reporting and analysis to the AAS.
The incumbent performs post-award
grant administration and related accounting duties working closely with the
Academy finance team in carrying out financial management, budgeting,
compliance of grantees, reporting to funders and conducting variance analysis.
Principal Duties and
Responsibilities;
Financial Planning, Budgeting and
Grant Analysis
·
Initiate the process of planning and
developing budgets for new grant proposals and ensuring grantees’ budgets are
aligned to AAS policies as well as donor requirements
·
Work with the programme managers and
the Head of Finance in reviewing and approving budgets submitted by grantees
and ensure financial analysis and forecasting is done to aid in decision making
·
Offer the technical backstop to
grantees and ensure they are equipped on how to develop budgets and budget
narratives for grant application
Grantee Assessment and Capacity
Building
·
Assess the financial capacity of new
grantees in-order to mitigate against financial risks and losses to the Academy
by reviewing their internal controls, identifying areas of weakness and
advising accordingly during site visits
·
Support programme managers in the
granting making process, ensuring grant agreements are well executed
Grant Monitoring and Financial
Reporting
·
Promote accountability of grants
processes, funds and compliance to funders’ requirements. Ensure adherence to
reporting timelines by developing and maintaining a grant tracking database to
monitor the flow of grants from the time full grant documentation is received
to the time the first payment is made
·
Verify reported expenses to ensure
they are allowable, allocable, and reasonable by maintaining a comprehensive
timetable for grant financial reporting from grantees to the funders and
follow-up to ensure adherence of reporting timelines
·
Provide financial backstopping to
grantees when implementing grants to achieve set objectives. Review of grantees
reported expenses through cross examination of expenses and providing feedbacks
·
Analyse financial transactions to
ensure that they are correctly charged, and financial positions provided to
funders are a true and fair representation of financial position. Support the
Head of Finance in reviewing and consolidating grantees financial reports for
grants within specified funder formats, ensuring accuracy and compliance with
funders’ requirements
·
Advise the programme managers and the
management on current financial status by ensuring accuracy and correct coding
of financial transactions and reconciliations of grants financial reports in
the financial system
·
Facilitate smooth, prompt (timely),
and quality implementation of grants by preparing adhoc operating reports,
analysis and financial statements from general and subsidiary ledgers for
Management consumption
Facilitation of Grant Audits
·
Mitigate financial risks by ensuring
internal controls are put in place by providing support to the development and
implementation systems and streamlining processes within the finance functions
·
Support the audit process by
addressing issues raised in audit exercises and following up on audit
recommendations to ensure they are implemented
·
Implement best practices on grant
closure procedures and monitor how effectively high-risk grants and contracts
follow comprehensive grant closure steps to ensure proper standards are upheld
in management of grants
Fund Disbursement and Financial Accounting
·
Process and disburse funds to
grantees by ensuring funds are available in order to facilitate smooth
implementation of projects. Monitor bank balances to ensure timely inter-bank
transfers and healthy cash flows are maintained
·
Prepare monthly bank reconciliations
and maintain accurate and updated records of bank correspondences, bank
Instructions and confirmations
·
Promote accountability through
accurate posting of financial data and correctly coding of expenses in the
financial system. Ensure financial processes are adhered to for true and fair
reporting; including examination of physical documents, conducting accuracy
tests
·
Monitor and initiate the negotiating
with banks for fixed deposits placements, and other Investments and monitoring
on expiring FDRs
·
Participate in committees as assigned
in the execution of its duties and mandates and advise the procurement
committee on financial matters
Academic Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in
Finance/Accounting or related field
Professional Qualifications
·
Complete professional qualification
in CPA-K/ACCA;
·
Member of the Institute of Certified
Public Accountants of Kenya.
Knowledge and Experience
·
At least 5 years’ relevant experience
in finance management with at least 2 years in grants accounting working with multi-national
funders
·
Working knowledge of grants
accounting and financial management systems
·
Advanced excel and analytical skills
(Dashboard reporting, Power BI)
·
Experience in sub-grantee management
and capacity building
Skills and Attributes
·
Ability to outline and communicate
effective objectives and action plans
·
Good analytical ability and numerical
skills
·
Demonstrate a high degree of
sensitivity, confidentiality when dealing with internal and external customers
·
Innovative and able to take
initiative
·
Have a high sense of accuracy and
attention for detail
·
Have good problem analysis and
reporting skills
·
High moral standing with impeccable
integrity
Application Process
All Applicants must CLICK HERE to download and fill our job
application form from the AAS website.
Position
Title: Manager, Strategy and Evaluation
Vacancy
Announcement No: AAS/MSP/18/001
Department: Programmes
Reporting
to: Director – Strategy and Partnerships
Position
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 3 Years Renewable
Closing
date: 8th June 2018
Organisation
Overview: The AAS is a pan African
organisation whose headquarters are in Kenya.
The Academy has a tripartite mandate
of pursuing excellence by recognising scholars and achievers; providing
advisory and think-tank functions for shaping the continent’s strategies and
policies; and implementing key science, technology and innovation programmes
that impact on developmental challenges through the agenda setting and funding
platform – the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa
(AESA).
Position
Overview: The Manager for Strategy and
Evaluation oversees the implementation of the strategy at the AAS, which
includes developing a monitoring and evaluation framework, key performance
indicators and reporting guidelines to evaluate performance of the AAS and its
programmes against plans, budgets and strategic objectives.
They will also assist in identifying,
articulating, and evaluating current science, technology and innovation (STI)
policy issues; transforming ideas and emerging STI challenges into a
policymaking framework; and providing a constructive forum for the exchange of
ideas and information among key stakeholders.
Principal
Duties and Responsibilities
·
Work closely with the leadership of
the AAS to support the development of an overarching strategy to accelerate
science, technology and innovation in Africa and ensure the direction of the
scientific research agenda meets the strategic aims of the AAS
·
Maintain an overall view on the
programmes and ongoing projects ensuring that interdependencies are raised
quickly and addressed from a technical and operational perspective
·
Lead the implementation of a
comprehensive, strategic, goal-based development plan to attract, build, and
maintain effective and mutually beneficial relationships with individuals,
communities, foundations, and corporations capable of contributing
significantly to AAS
·
Lead research and analysis across a
range of multiple sectors, topics and fields. This will also involve leading
horizon scanning activities and contribute to the development of new schemes
and initiatives, working in partnership with other funders where appropriate
·
Undertake research and assist in the
preparation of responses, submissions and reports on matters relating to the
regulatory bodies and other stakeholder relations
·
Responsible for the management and
development of the business’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) infrastructure
to facilitate analysis and reporting of performance against plans and budgets,
as well as strategic objectives
·
Manages the development of
weekly/quarterly/annual performance reports for the programme and functional
leaders as well as facilitating cross-functional performance reviews for the
leadership
·
Supports the maintenance of an
effective strategy department inclusive of management, coaching, and
development of strategy management personnel and identifying and advising on
areas for enhancement and focus
·
Develop strategic threat identification
and evaluation processes as well as overseeing their adoption across the
programmes
·
Develops different possible scenarios
for the mitigation of possible risks and provides recommendations for the
management of these scenarios
·
Responsible for the development of
weekly/quarterly/annual strategic risk reports for the senior strategy
management as well as the organisation’s top leadership
·
Plays the role of a strategy coach to
all departmental leadership within the business, providing much needed support
in the formulation of individual department strategies. The Strategy Manager
owns strategic plans and ensures compliance with these strategies.
Professional
Qualifications
·
Member of a reputable Institute of
Scientific Research or relevant professional body
Knowledge and
Experience
·
Working experience in a strategy
position within a scientific and dynamic business environment
·
The candidate will have gained
substantial exposure to corporate strategy management, with direct exposure to
top management strategy formulation and decision making
·
Have experience being a central piece
of a wide range of strategic decision-making processes and as a result have
become comfortable assessing a business and making appropriate choices
·
Candidate will be a natural
collaborator with an ability to establish and maintain lasting relationships
both internally and externally
·
Proven experience in facilitating
technical and strategic design processes, and developing workflow processes and
tools
·
Proven experience in leading a team
and of direct line management
·
Knowledge of Science, Technology and
Innovation landscape on the African continent
Skills and
Attributes
·
Strong interpersonal skills with the
ability to foster and develop close working relationships
·
Excellent management and leadership
skills; demonstrated ability to build cohesive teams, develop talent, and,
achieve organizational goals through teamwork
·
Have enthusiasm, commitment to
results with good planning and organisational skills
·
Strong communication skills,
presentational skills and ability to address public audiences
·
Good financial and budgeting
capability
·
Able to work in an international and
multi-cultural setting
·
High moral standing with impeccable
integrity
Application
Process
All Applicants must CLICK HERE to download and fill our job
application form from the AAS website.
Position
Title: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Vacancy
Announcement No: AAS/ME/18/005
Department: Programmes
Reporting to: TBD
Position
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 3 Years Renewable
Closing date: 8th June 2018
Organisation
Overview: The AAS is a pan African
organisation whose headquarters are in Kenya. The Academy has a tripartite
mandate of pursuing excellence by recognising scholars and achievers; providing
advisory and think-tank functions for shaping the continent’s strategies and
policies; and implementing key science, technology and innovation programmes
that impact on developmental challenges through the agenda setting and funding
platform – the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa
(AESA).
Position
Overview: The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
will be responsible for the implementation of the Monitoring and Evaluation
(M&E) framework for the organisation’s projects and contribute to the
design and implementation of related core M&E research and development
activities of AAS.
The incumbent will work under the
guidance of the Programme Manger to ensure that proper monitoring and
evaluation is carried out at outcome level and for ensuring that projects at
AAS maintain their strategic vision and that all activities result in the
achievement of intended outputs in a cost effective and timely manner.
Specific
Responsibilities:
Monitoring and Evaluation
·
Operationalise the M&E framework
designed for the Academy including and not limited to designing program M&E
tools for data collection, verification, and management and reporting as well
as data audits;
·
Contribute to the development, design
and planning of projects for a clear and feasible strategy towards impact that
is in line with AAS’ mission and strategy, and projects and include clearly
defined measurable indicators of outputs, outcomes and impact
·
Contribute to outcome and
evidence-based strategic decision making at AAS and promote a culture of
evidence-based learning and adaptation
·
Support Programme Managers to develop
systematic and realistic monitoring plans that capture quantitative and
qualitative data to report on project performance indicators
·
Follow up on monitoring and
evaluation exercises for various initiatives for the Academy
·
Conduct capacity assessments on
existing monitoring and evaluation system
·
Lead the design and implementation of
ex-post and ex-ante evaluations of AAS technologies and interventions using
robust methods of impact evaluation
·
Monitor and evaluate overall progress
on achievement of results as well as the sustainability of the project results
and report periodically to management team
·
Participate in a multidisciplinary team
to develop, implement and evaluate strategic management plans to improve AAS
programming effectiveness
·
Build the capacity of project staff
in monitoring and evaluation and specifically how to demonstrate impact.
Administration
·
Develop and maintain a system for
archiving M&E guidelines, tools, data files, analysis files, reports and
presentations for major activity undertaken
·
Develop programme and operational
reporting templates that facilitate the acquisition and aggregation of
information in programmes, including input for impact related success stories
·
Support in gathering, summarising and
disseminating relevant technical updates on programme planning monitoring,
evaluation and operations research within the programmes
·
Coordinate mid‐term reviews and evaluation of
programme activities and ensure proper documentation of innovative approaches
and best practices for dissemination and sharing experiences to promote repeat
applications or scaling‐up in different community settings
·
Support Programme Managers in
preparing quarterly/annual reports on projects progress.
Qualifications,
Skills and Experience
·
Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences,
Business Administration or any other related field
·
At least five (5) years relevant
experience in monitoring and evaluation
·
Strong training and facilitation
skills with an ability to initiate and manage change and to recognize and
adjust to rapidly changing conditions
·
Strong communication and presentation
skills including ability to write reports
·
High level interpersonal and
cross-cultural skills including ability to build alliances and collaborative
relationships with sensitivity to diversity
·
Strong quantitative and analytical
skills, verbal skills and ability to communicate technical information clearly and
effectively to both technical and non-technical colleagues
·
Ability to work in an international
and multi-cultural setting
·
High moral standing with impeccable
integrity
·
Proven success in designing,
implementing, and operating project M&E systems from project initiation to
closeout stages
·
Experience in managing M&E
database systems
·
Expertise in analysing data using
statistical software
·
Proficiency in computer applications
such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook express including
financial and statistical packages.
Application
Process
All Applicants must CLICK HERE to download and fill our job
application form from the AAS website.
All applicants must submit the filled
application form, curriculum vitae, and a cover letter submitted by email to
recruitment@aasciences.ac.ke, with the Position and Vacancy Number as the
Subject no later than 8th June 2018.
Only shortlisted candidates will be
contacted