Information

Country: Syrian Arab Republic - Damascus

Duration: 7 months, renewable according to funding, from May 2021

Conditions: Salaried contract, gross monthly salary from €2,300 to €2,800, monthly per diem 850 USD, medical coverage of 100% + repatriation insurance + provident fund, accommodation, international and local transportation as part of the mission, break every 3 months. Non family duty station.

Presentation of TGH

"Actor in a sustainable and shared solidarity"

TGH is an organization for international solidarity based in Lyon, France, and founded in 1994. TGH designs and implements emergency, rehabilitation and development programs in the following sectors: water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), food security and livelihoods, education and protection, mainly child protection. TGH is currently operating in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Presentation of TGH’s work in Syria

TGH was registered in Syria as INGO in May 2017 and has had a permanent presence since November 2017. TGH works under the coordination of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), officially mandated by the Syrian Authorities to coordinate activities of humanitarian organizations committed to providing assistance to the conflict-affected Syrian population in Syria.

TGH’s sectors of intervention in Syria are: WASH, Shelter, Education, Protection and Livelihood. The WASH working group is active in Syria and coordinated by the Ministry of Water Resources and SARC; the Education sector is coordinated by the Ministry of Education through the Directorate of Planning and International Cooperation and UNICEF in Damascus. The Early Recovery and Livelihood Sector is led by UNDP. The Protection sector is led by UNHCR and UNICEF (for Child Protection).

TGH in Syria is active in four governorates namely Rural Damascus, Hama, South Idleb and Daraa and manages 3 to 5 different projects funded by ECHO, SHF and AICS. Project coordination is done from Damascus. In 2020, TGH’s projects benefited to more than 270,000 IDPs and returnees living in conflict-affected areas through the delivery of WASH, Education and Child protection services. Discussions are on-going with other donors such as UNHCR and OFDA for potential future work.

TGH’s strategy in Syria for 2019-2022 is to “Respond to the acute humanitarian needs of Syrian most vulnerable and exposed people while increasing their resilience capacities in country”. Our strategy consists in shifting, gradually and where appropriate, to more development-oriented programming, while maintaining the capacity to provide humanitarian assistance as needed.

In the field of WASH, TGH provides drinkable water through Water Trucking (WT) and, at the same time, rehabilitates boreholes, water systems and pumping stations in a more durable perspective. In 2020, TGH installed a reverse osmosis unit in Rural Damascus. TGH also implements WASH-in-school activities, e.g. rehabilitation of hygiene infrastructures, hygiene kits distributions to the children, hygiene promotion. In parallel, TGH provides capacity building to community-based committees and local authorities in sustainable management of WASH services. Specific hygiene and WASH-related activities have been implemented since the summer 2020 in view of fighting Covid-19’s spread and to foster preventative measures. The WASH and Shelter team is composed of two national staffs in Damascus, two in Daraa and two in Hama.

Efforts to make schools a safe and supportive environment for education, which includes the rehabilitation of school premises, are coupled with activities to support children’s education and wellbeing, targeting out of school children as well as children already in school. TGH also organizes support classes out of working hours for those children unable to attend classes otherwise. TGH reinforces school staff’s knowledge and capacities in non-formal education (NFE) and psychosocial support, and accompany them in the implementation of these activities with the required conflict-sensitive approach. The aim is to prevent and to respond to child protection concerns through these activities as well as through case management and referrals of affected children towards specialized services. The Education and Protection team is composed of six national staffs in Damascus, three in Daraa and three in Hama along with volunteers across all locations.

The administration and finance team is composed of one Support Manager, one Administrative Officer and one Compliance assistant (to be recruited).

In addition, six expatriates work for TGH in Syria. Besides the Administrative and Finance Coordinator, these are: a Country Director, a Logistics Coordinator, a WASH and Shelter Program coordinator, an Education and Protection Program Coordinator, and a Grant /MEAL Manager

Job description

The Administrative and Finance Coordinator works under the responsibility of the Country Director. He/she line manages the national Support Manager, herself/himself responsible for overviewing the work of the Administrative Officer and the Compliance Assistant (to be recruited). The Administrative and Finance coordinator will manage field officers in Hama and Daraa for all the administrative and finance topics from a functional point of view. The main responsibility of the Administrative and Finance Coordinator will be to support the activities implementation while minimizing the financial risk for the organization through the following responsibilities:

The main responsibilities include:

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & COMPLIANCE

• Ensure internal financial systems, policies and controls are applied;
• Process to internal control in order to improve the compliance and ensure the well justification of the expenditures reported
• Process to the review supporting document linked to the expenditures in order to ensure the compliance and the well justification of the incurred expenditures.
• Prepare, organize and supervises audits, with the support of the HQ Finance Officer
• Prepare budgets linked with the project proposals
• Coordinate the monthly budget Follow up with Coordinators and update the forecasts
• Monitor ongoing levels of expenditure on individual programs against budget, and provide timely advice of likely over or under-spends to the Coordination Team;
• Monitor overall budget consumption with respect to donors’ constraints creates and updates regularly allocation board and alert the Country Director as well the relevant Coordinator
• Identify and analyze of any discrepancy and suggestion of solution
• Keep an up to date Allocation Table for the mission and forecasts
• Ensure that TGH Shared costs policy is well applied in order to ensure a fair allocation between donors’ contracts
• Elaborate financial donors’ and internals’ financial reports and amendment
• Be the person in charge for the respect of accountancy and accounting process
• Manage and anticipate the cash flow and monthly cash requests to Head Quarters and with the bases
• Organize and supervises all aspects of cash flow including security of cash, ensures sufficient separation of responsibility and level of control over transactions
• Ensure that payments are made in a timely and secure manner across all the country operations
• Supervise and train the Administrative Officer on daily accountancy, in collaboration with the Support Manager
• Train the Administrative Officer on SAGA and on general TGH procedures, in collaboration with the Support Manager
• In collaboration with the Country Director, assure the link with the financial interlocutors (donors, bank…)
• Prepare financial tool to ease the follow up of project for coordinators and program managers
• Along with program coordinators, build the capacity of Program managers in terms of finance and budget follow up.

ADMINISTRATION

• Ensure that TGH follows the Syrian laws
• Collect all information about income tax and social benefits, and update internal regulations, work contracts and administrative guidelines accordingly
• Keep the Country Directors informed about all new regulations and potential impact on TGH administrative procedures.
• Ensure the respect of internal and donor’s procedures in coordination with the HQ and Logistic coordinator.
• Provide specific training to the national team on the internal logistic, HR, admin and finance procedures
• Support the Administrative team with administrative procedures (i.e. visa/residency, clearance for office, guesthouse, field visit requests…)
• Ensure that archiving process are applied and that the monthly archiving of the hardcopies as weel as the archiving of the softcopies are sent on timely manner to HQ

HUMAN RESOURCES

• Collect and analyze all necessary information on local labour law and update internal regulations/work contracts accordingly
• Follow up of employment contracts and staff appraisals
• Ensure a training plan is updated based on the appraisals and needs assessed by Coordinators, Managers and the Country Director and explore the possibilities of funding for trainings
• Identify the training needs and organize trainings for the support teams along with Logistics Coordinator
• Valid the monthly database prepared by the Support Manager
• Regularly update HR documents (FUs, organigram, leaves etc.)
• Ensure a good communication with the staff related to HR and activities is getting done through internal memos and meetings
• Assist the Country Director in ensuring that HR policies are understood and respected by all staff
• Update the recruitment policy and ensure it is respected on the mission
• Participate in the hiring process of support staff and monitor and contribute to any other recruitment process as needed

GENERAL SUPPORT TO THE MISSION

• Liaise with program and logistics coordinators for project budget follow-up and procurement follow-up
• Contribute to the respect of security measures applied by the Country Director

COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

• Attend internal coordination meetings
• Attend external inter-NGO administration, HR and logistic coordination meetings if needed

REPORTING

• Writing financial reports and compiling data for financial reports
• Contribute to monthly reporting to headquarters for accounting in close coordination with the Logistics Coordinator
• Regularly report to the Country Director

This list of responsibilities could be modified according to the needs.

Security, working and living conditions

The current volatile and unpredictable context in Syria requires strict security rules in terms of movements and transmission of information / communication with the Headquarters.

Working and living conditions in Damascus are good. Communication means are satisfying (efficient internet, international phones).

The office is separated from the guesthouses. Individual rooms are available for each expatriate.

When in the field, international staff movements are strictly limited and under tracking.

Profile

• At least 2 years’ experience as Administration/Finance manager/coordinator required in humanitarian context
• Experience in logistic management would be an asset
• Proven experience in accountancy and financial management
• Fluent in French and in English; Arabic is a strong asset
• Good skills in transfer of knowledge/training
• Computer skills (including Excel and Word)
• Working knowledge of SAGA
• Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills
• Autonomy, rigor and skills for synthesis
• Good organizational skills
• Adaptation capacities to dynamic context
• Sense of humor