Finance manager, Enhancing community resilience programme, Malawi

The Enhancing Community Resilience Programme (ECRP) aims to increase communities’ resilience to climate change in Malawi. This new programme aims to enable households to build resilient livelihoods that are sustainable and profitable, incorporating natural resource management and risk reduction, increasing adaptive capacity and enabling vulnerable households to have a voice in decisions affecting them. The programme is being implemented in seven districts in central and southern Malawi by a consortium led by Christian Aid. Consortium members include CARE, Action Aid, technical resource partners and a number of local implementing partners. ECRP is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, Irish Aid and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Finance Manager will work across the consortium to manage all aspects of the finance function, which will include financial records, financial reports, budgets, donor funds, internal and external audits and providing financial support to consortium staff. This role will be responsible for consolidation of financial information received from consortium members and ensuring compliance with all finance-related contractual obligations to the donors.

Candidates for this role should be a qualified IFAC accountant with experience of leading a complex, multi-partner finance function. Experience of dealing with institutional donor fund accounting is a must, as is experience of consolidating budgets and financial reports. Experience of using computerised financial reporting tools and advanced use of Excel are also essential. Experience of managing audits would be an advantage, as would experience of building the financial capacity of others.

Please show your suitability for this post by giving answers to the following questions in the application form. Using the guidance notes available on our website may help you formulate your answers.

Delivering goals and objectives

Describe a complex project where you supervised the finances, which required detailed planning and organisation and where you delegated parts or all of the tasks.

What was the project?
What were the goals and deliverables?
How did you decide who the tasks should be assigned to?
What benchmarks did you use to monitor the progress of the project?

Providing and implementing solutions

Describe a complex project/programme that you supervised which was behind schedule, over budget, or understaffed.

What was the project/programme?
What were the factors creating the situation?
What did you do to correct the situation?
What were the results of your actions?

Communication and interaction

Describe a time when you had to adjust a finance-related communication for a diverse audience to produce the desired effect.

What was the purpose of your communication?
In what way(s) was the audience diverse?
How did you try to tailor your communication to achieve its purpose?
How did you ensure that people had gotten the information they were looking for?
What was the outcome?

Financial accounting and reporting

Describe a time when you wrote a financial report for an external body.

What was the report on?
Who was it for?
What criteria did you have to consider/adhere to when writing the report?
How was the report different from internal reports you have written?
What was the outcome following the report?

We value the contribution each person makes to the success of our organization. That’s why you can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a generous holiday allowance and flexibility that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.

Download the role profile (76 KB pdf)

To apply for this post, please download an application pack and email your completed International application form to: Malawi@christian-aid.org quoting the job reference number.

Please note that CVs will not be accepted

Job reference: ECRP/2011/02

Closing date: 5pm, Thursday 10 November 2011

Interview date: 17 November 2011

Second round of interviews: 22 November 2011

Christian Aid values diversity and aspires to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.