COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale Job for a Project Manager, July 2017

---

COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale, is a humanitarian, non-confessional and independent organization founded in 1965 in Milan, Italy. For more than 50 years we have been dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty and to supporting populations affected by wars, socio-economic crises or natural disasters in their path to recovery and sustainable development, by making use of the professionalism of local and international operators, and through our partnerships with public and private bodies and civil society organizations. We are recruiting to fill the position below:   Job Title: Project Manager Location: Yobe State Duration of the Project: 6 months (with possible extension) Starting Date: 1st August Donors: Echo Role Purpose

• He/she is responsible for the project’s execution, in technical, economic/financial terms, and in terms of resources management on field, in compliance with COOPI and the donor’s procedures.
• He/she ensures the expected results attainment in budget management.

Responsibilities

• Activity planning and management: in cooperation with the project staff, he/she plans and monitors the activities’ progress, in compliance with the contract signed with the donor and with COOPI and the donor’s procedures.
• Administrative and financial management: in collaboration with the Project Administrator/Administrative Coordinator he/she plans all expenditures to make.
• He/she regularly monitors all made expenditures. He/she supervises accounting and the project cash safe/bank account management and, where there was no dedicated staff, he/she directly manages the accounting and the project cash safe/bank accounts, making use of the instruments made available by the organization (Merlino). In cooperation with the Project Administrator and in coordination with the Administrative Coordinator he/she prepares the Purchases Plan. He/she ensures the organization and donor’s procedures respect when purchasing goods and services.
• Reporting: in coordination with the Head of Mission ad with the Administrative Coordinator, he/she ensures the preparation, in compliance with the deadlines, of all financial and narrative reports - interim and final - expected by the project. He/she is responsible for the preparation of all formal communication and contract modifications requests (ex. budget modification) of the projects he manages.
• Staff Management: In coordination with the Head of Mission and in compliance with the country’s rules/laws and with the COOPI’s regulation in the country, he/she selects the local staff to be employed in projects, and manages any other project’s expatriate staff. By making use of the organization’s tools he/she evaluates the local staff employed for projects and he/she participates to the evaluation of his/her own project, upon request by his/her direct supervisor.
• He/she coordinates and supervises the work done by all the project staff, in compliance with the organization’s security procedures. He/she is responsible for the initial and continuous training of the local staff under his/her responsibility.
• Goods management: he/she is responsible of the correct management of all goods purchased for the project, both irectly and purchased by other offices/field offices8. For all goods purchased by the project he/she updates the inventory, in cooperation with the Administrative Coordinator.
• Institutional relations: In relation to the project of his/her competence, he/she communicates with the donors’ officers, the local authorities which are competent in the aspects related to the project, the project’s partners  and beneficiaries, in compliance with the organization’s guidelines.
• New projects’ writing: upon request by his/her direct supervisor, and cooperating with the project staff, he/she elaborates, writes and prepares all necessary documents to present new projects, in accordance with the organization’s processes and procedures.

Profile

• Advanced degree in Food Security, Livelihood or related field or equivalent work.
• Minimum 3 years experience in the humanitarian field as project or programme manager or in a similar position. Demonstrated experience in food distribution or related field.
• Experience of working within an insecure environment with responsibility for security planning, monitoring and management.
• Very good inter-personal and writing communication skills;
• Ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
• Strong analytical and practical problem-solving skills;
• Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with the relevant actors;
• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
• Valid driving license.

    Job Title: Project Administrator Location: Yobe State Duration of the Project: 7 months (with possible extension) Starting Date: 1st August Donors: FFP Role Purpose

• He/she is responsible for the project’s execution, in technical, economic/financial terms, and in terms of resources management on field, in compliance with COOPI and the donor’s procedures.

Responsibilities

• Ensure compliance with financial and other requirements set by the Donors (USAid – Food for Peace) and COOPI internal financial and administrative procedures.
• Monitor cash flows and supervise petty cash handling.
• Ensure proper administration for outstanding debtors and creditors, follow-up overdue and signal potential problems in timely manner.
• Produce monthly cash and bank reconciliation statements.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly and yearly projects’ financial reports
• Control and assure compliance of program expenditures with program budgets.
• Ensure appropriate filing system of financial documentation is in place, accurate and updated.
• Provide timely and systematic monitoring of program expenditures as well as timely budget program forecasts.
• Prepare, on a monthly basis, financial reports and/or requests to be sent to COOPI Milan HQs.
• Supervise and manage program staff: supervise preparation of contracts for personnel staff. Manage contracts of local and international staff and supervise administration staff.
• Application of mechanisms relative to any on the job training of personnel working on the project.
• Prepare payment vouchers and verify supporting documents for project and administrative expenditure. Ensure classification of all financial information and documents in accordance with the projects and respective budget lines.
• Coordinate and supervise overall policy implementation for the human resources of Salima base, included Labour Law application, recruitment and that staff salaries are effectively paid to eligible staff and an audit trail of records is maintained.
• Supervise preparation of lease contracts, contracts with suppliers and any other contract issued by the program. Ensure that contractual commitments are accurately tracked.
• Supervise appropriateness and updating of all procurement documentation at the various steps of the procurement process. Ensure budget availability of expenditures and that appropriate authorizations are in place
• Ensure that taxes are timely remitted to relevant authorities.
• Bring-up date the stock inventory.

Requirements

• University degree in Social Sciences, Business or Technical Sciences.
• A minimum of five years of relevant working experience.
• Demonstrated effective verbal and written communication, negotiation skills, multi-tasking and organizational skills.
• Proven capacity to work in a team is essential. Experience in managing staff is an advantage.
• Experience in liaising with governmental/local authorities, IOs and NGOs.
• Demonstrated ability to work in stressful environments and under pressure.
• Experience in emergency context or in a similar position and in managing USAid funded projects.
• Experience in logistics, procurement and security matters is a strong advantage.
• Previous work experience in the region is a plus.
• Experience in working in conflict-prone environments a plus.
• Fluency in English language.
• Computer literate.

    Job Title: Area Coordinator Locations: Yobe and Abuja Duration: 6 months renewable Area of intervention: Northern States of Yobe and Borno Position Description

• In close cooperation with all the different positions in place at Country Coordination level, the Area Coordinator is responsible for the overall management of quality of program, staff management, logistics, security, finance and procedures’ respect. Delegated by the Head of Mission, he/she represents COOPI with donors, institutions, NGOs, local government and international agencies available in the area.
• He/she guarantees the correct project implementation and the donors’ procedures respect.
• He/she cooperates with the Head of Mission in the definition of the Country Strategy and intervention priorities for its area of competence.

Responsibilities Institutional Relations:

• Delegated by the Head of Mission, he/she manages relations with institutional donors and potential ones. In coordination with the Head of Mission, he/she represents COOPI in its area of competence through relations with institutions, NGOs, local and international organizations, and partners.
• He/she is also responsible for the Organization’s reputation in the area.

New Opportunities Identification:

• He/she verifies and proposes to the Head of Mission the intervention priorities to consolidate new opportunities of involvement in the area.
• He/she cooperates with the Head of Mission in the identification of new project opportunities in his/her area of competence. Delegated by the Head of Mission he/she participates to the elaboration of the strategy for his/her area of intervention.

Project Management and Strategy:

• Always referring to the Head of Mission and in coordination with the Project Managers, he/she coordinates and directly supervises projects, guaranteeing their correct implementation in conformity with contractual obligations and donors’ procedures, and in line with the COOPI’s procedures and management standards.
• He/she coordinates the elaboration, writing, and necessary documents preparation for presenting new projects, referring to the Head of Mission.
• He/she is responsible for the preparation of projects’ reports and all monitoring documents requested by the coordination office. He/she ensures that all official and administrative documents are transmitted to the Country Coordination.

Country Office Management:

• He/she is responsible for all different aspects linked to the country office management: economic and financial situation, logistics, and local staff management, in conformity with the organization’s guidelines.
• He/she guarantees the Country Regulation and the respect of the organization’s procedures.

Staff Management:

• He/she is responsible for the local staff management and training, in his/her area of competence, in close cooperation with the relative functions at Country Coordination level, whose indications he/she follows.
• He/she coordinates the expatriate staff, monitoring their activities, and participates to the staff evaluation, together with the Head of Mission.

Safety:

• He/she is responsible for the expatriate staff security in the area, and for the correct implementation and respect of the general security regulation.

Economic and Financial Management:

• He/she is responsible for the economic management of his/her area of competence.
• He/she supervises the financial management and, in cooperation with the Area Coordination

Administrator and the Administrative Coordinator:

• He/she participates to the preparation of coordination and projects’ budgets.
• He/she ensures - through the administrative function - the respect of financial reporting deadlines and the organization/donor’s procedures.

Profile

• Advanced Degree in International Education, International Development, Health and Nutrition or a related field or equivalent work.
• Minimum 3 years experience in the humanitarian field and in a similar position, with a track record of success and results achieved;
• Strong analytical and practical problem-solving skills;
• Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with the relevant actors;
• Very good inter-personal and writing communication skills;
• Ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
• Previous experience with an international humanitarian NGO is an advantage;
• Desirable experience of working on EU/ECHO, USAid/OFDA, UN and Italian Cooperation;
• Experience of working within an insecure environment with responsibility for security planning, monitoring and management.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
• Valid driving license.

  How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should: Click here to apply   Application Deadline: 31st July, 2017.

---