Vacancies at The Danish Refugee Council (DRC)

DRC is a Danish international non-governmental organisation, which promotes and supports durable solutions to the problems faced by refugees and internally displaced people all over the world. DRC is

present in more than 30 conflict territories around the world assisting displaced people with shelter, food, income generating activities, legal aid and a wide range of other protection assistance. It is of utmost importance for DRC to work in compliance with the DRC Accountability and Quality Management system in the area of Logistics and Procurement. Smooth, reliable and effective operational systems are preconditions for DRC to maintain its position as a trustworthy and reliable partner for our donors and an accountable organisation towards our beneficiaries. The position as Regional Logistics and Procurement Advisor (RLPA) in DRC West Africa (WA) is a cornerstone in keeping up the high quality in DRC’s operations.

DRC has been operating in the West Africa region for over 15 years, running a combination of emergency, livelihood, protection and advocacy programmes through Country Offices (COs) Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and a Regional Office (RO) in Abidjan. DRC has 17 offices and more than 500 staff members across the WA region.

Regional Logistics and Procurement Advisor

About the job

The Regional Logistics and Procurement Advisor (RLPA) is the focal point for logistics and procurement in the WA region. S/he plays a critical advisory and support role in the development and implementation of systems and procedures necessary to ensure compliance with DRC’s Operations Handbook, donor regulations and industry standards. This position requires the demonstrated ability to provide responsive, accurate and expert guidance to senior logistics and procurement staff, provide leadership for the organization’s logistics and procurement functions, and build capacity of staff. The position is full time.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide a technical review of all ITBs (national and international) written by the country offices prior to advertising, aiming to achieve a response time of 24 hours, assessing compliance with DRC’s policies and procedures, donor regulations and procurement industry standards.


• Proactively provide remote and in the field technical support to logistics and procurement staff in the region, being available on Skype and email to provide timely and expert advice.


• Advice the Country Directors in the region about the suitability of staff and structures established to manage logistics and procurement.


• Participate in recruitment of senior logistics and procurement staff in the region, by administering tests and conducting interviews.


• Review documentation to assess compliance with procedures in the country offices, make recommendations for strengthening compliance and follow up.


• Participate in investigations into allegations of fraud in procurement either as an investigator or advisor to investigation teams.


• Support the country offices in the development of project Procurement Plans prior to kick off meetings for projects involving major procurement.


• Design and run trainings/workshops on logistics and procurement and provide mentoring to logistics and procurement staff.


• Cover gaps in key logistics and procurement positions up to a maximum of 4 weeks while a replacement is being recruited.


• Represent DRC WA region with DRC Headquarters in Copenhagen in the strategic development, management and implementation of logistics and procurement policies, procedures and systems.


• The RLPA reports to the DRC WA Regional Director.

About you

To be successful in this role you must have a relevant academic or professional qualification in logistics and/or procurement, or alternatively professional training combined with a high level of experience. A minimum of 8 years of senior leadership experience in logistics and procurement management roles is required with at least 5 years of experience in the field.

Furthermore, you must have:

• Demonstrated experience in complex emergencies with large scale procurement and international and regional sourcing.


• Knowledge of procurement and logistics procedures of a top tier INGO; knowledge of DRC procedures is preferred.


• Experience as a trainer of advanced logistics and procurement concepts and procedures in an international setting.


• Proven record of being able to deliver under pressure and within tight deadlines.


• Flexibility and availability to support colleagues from a distance with advice and guidance at irregular hours.


• Able to travel to gap-fill senior procurement and logistics positions in case of urgency.


• Experience of providing geographical remote management and support.


• Understanding of the WA region and experience working in the WA region is preferred.


• Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills with a well-developed ability to motivate and persuade at high levels.


• Fluency in English and French is mandatory.

Head of Finance and Administration

Job Profile

The Head of Finance and Administration (HoFA) will have the overall leadership responsibility for DRC’s financial and administrative management in Nigeria. S/he will play a critical role in the development and implementation of strategies necessary to further develop DRC’s programmes in the countries as the implementer of choice for the donors and governments. The HoFA will be a member of the Senior Management Team. This position requires the demonstrated ability to develop long term vision and strategic planning, provide leadership for the organization’s operations, and a high level of financial and operation planning including capacity building of staff.

The HoFA is directly responsible for ensuring that DRC’s Programme in Nigeria operates in accordance with DRC’s operational standards as expressed in the DRC Operations Handbook and other guidelines in the DRC Accountability and Quality Management system.

Key Responsibilities

Funding and Finance Management

• Introduction and maintenance of accurate and timely Financial Systems. This includes the formal preparation, ensuring accurate data entry in all cost centres, consolidating and checking of field accounts, liaising with the Regional Office over the finalization of monthly and periodic programme accounts and preparing expenditure-against-budget reports and budget forecasts with project managers.


• Supervising, controlling and implementing corrective actions related to DRC and donor minimum standards for operations during an emergency. This includes supervision of all financial reporting and financial procedures, donor reporting and audits, cash flow and liquidity management, legal framework and reporting relations to national authorities.


• Ensure compliance with all DRC and donors policies and procedures for financial, grant and asset management.


• Manage the organizations risks by ensuring all relevant policies and procedures are implemented effectively and communicate risks to the Senior Management team for decision making purposes.


• Ensure effective management of fiscal function and performance, ensuring compliance to policies of risk management and that risks are identified, managed and mitigated.


• Ensure internal and external financial reporting is completed on-time and to organisational and donor standards.


• Systems development and roll out of systems already developed in close cooperation and coordination with DRC’s headquarters and Regional Office. This includes tools for monitoring shared expenditures, donor co-funding and decentralised book keeping and grants management systems.

Human Resource and administration

• Conduct training needs assessments as part of improving compliance with DRC standards and provide training as needed. This includes on-the-job training, coaching and designing and delivering more topic-bound training sessions.


• Scaling up local and corporate human resources systems, ensuring compliance with local legislation, equitable employment practices and accurate record-keeping. Ensuring high-quality approaches are maintained to emergency recruitment of national and international staff.


• Ensuring other areas of administration, such as local taxation, property leases, insurances, IT services and the like are dealt with professionally and in accordance with local legislation.


• Support strategic planning and risk management approaches, including systems for the safety and security of staff and assets.


• Direct supervision and management of staff in the relevant areas of responsibility.


• Any other reasonable duties as agreed with the Country Director

Qualifications

Required

• Post graduate degree, in Social Sciences, International development, Project Management, and/or Public Administration, Financial/Business management, or other relevant field.


• Minimum 7 years of senior leadership experience in operations management roles with at least 5 years of experience in the field.


• Strong operational management experience and capability (finance, people, fundraising), including geographically remote management.


• Proven financial management, information management, and systems management experience.


• Proven management skills, including good programme and human resource development ability.


• Understanding of the countries in which DRC operates and sensitive to the socio- cultural context.


• Demonstrable strategic thinking and leadership ability.


• Excellent analytical and critical thinking ability.


• Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills with a well-developed ability to motivate and persuade at high levels.


• Proven ability to lead and work effectively with others to achieve results.


• Understanding and experience of institutional fundraising.


• Fluency in English. French is an asset.

Preferable

• Experience working for or with UNHCR is an advantage;


• Experience with donors such as ECHO, OFDA, DFID etc.

We encourage all qualified candidates to apply, irrespective of nationality, race, gender or age

Method of Application

Interested abd suitably qualified candidate should click on preferred job titles to apply online.

All applicants must send a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Both must be in the same language as this vacancy note. CV only applications will not be considered.

If you have questions or are facing problems with the online application process, please contact job@drc.dk

Applications close 31st October 2015