Public Financial Management Officer

Website DAI Global LLC

The USAID Local Impact Governance Activity (Local Impact) is a five-year activity that is helping Zambia build up a sub-national system of governance for devolved service delivery more responsive to citizen needs. The activity is engaging national and sub-national authorities to expand the capabilities of district-level governance bodies to deliver sustainable development outcomes, increase effective citizen and private-sector involvement in development planning and monitoring, and improve public financial management and domestic revenue generation. The activity has the following three objectives:

Objective 1: Citizens improve their collective skills to effectively assess service-delivery needs and performance and constructively engage with government.

Objective 2: The sub-national governance system becomes more responsive to citizen needs, generates, and accountably expends revenue, and improves service-delivery outcomes.

Objective 3: The program generates learning and facilitates problem solving that supports the development of an effective, financially viable sub-national governance system for devolved services, capable of being scaled up throughout Zambia. The Program seeks to recruit for the following positions:

Position: Public Financial Management Officer

Location: Kabwe – Central Province

Type: Long Term Technical Assistance

Contract Name: USAID Local Impact Governance Activity

Period of Performance: On/around July 1, 2021 – November 1, 2025

Purpose

Through the development and implementation of evidence-based and context-driven interventions, the province-based Local Impact team will help partner districts establish participatory mechanisms and capacity for cross-sectoral dialogue, planning, and budgeting and increasing own-source revenues. The team will support visible service improvements and ensure that core public administration and public financial management functions (budgeting, planning, management, and citizen engagement) are strengthened in partner districts.

The Public Financial Management Officer will focus on public financial management at the provincial and district levels, specifically the generation of own-source revenues and the transparent management of fiscal resources.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

General duties

  • Work closely and coordinate with a five-person team (four technical staff and one driver) based in partner province;
  • Follow field office finance and operations requirements (including procurements) in close coordination with Lusaka-based Finance and Operations Team;
  • Build and manage relationships with province- and district-based Local Impact stakeholders, and coordinate with cooperating partner-funded programs operating at the local level;
  • Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate public financial management activities that involve partner province and district civil service and elected officials. line ministry service providers, traditional leaders, private sector entities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and local citizens (including women and disadvantaged communities)
  • Provide logistics for assessment exercises, activities and events in the partner province as needed;
  • Directly support the Local Impact sub-contractors as needed
    o Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) district mapping activities
    o Geo-Poll provincial surveys
  • Deliver timely, detailed and accurate updates on province-based activities that inform trip, activity, inception, quarterly, annual, and final reports, the annual work plan, and other deliverables;
  • Work closely with and support the Grants Team on, proposal and budget development; the solicitation process; activity implementation
    Deliverable completion; and monitoring, evaluation and learning for provincial and district level grantees;
  • Serve as primary point of contact for select partner district to be determined;
  • Identify and contribute to success stories in partner provinces and districts as required by USAID Collect quality data for the Activity, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP) for quarterly and annual indicators.

 

Public financial management duties

 

  • Support the development of strategies for maximizing own-source revenues;
  • Improve expenditure management, tracking, and audit functions of district and province finance staff;
  • Help citizens, private sector entities, and civil society organizations to better understand and participate in local decision making around public financial management issues;
  • Enhance participatory planning and budgeting capacities of district councils;
  • Strengthen district council capacities to structure, negotiate and monitor public private partnerships;
  • Support district councils in the effective and efficient management of and assets and liabilities;
  • To support District councils in planning and budgeting through use of evidence-based data in the allocation of financial resources to attain set objectives;
  • Support district councils in planning and budgeting through use of evidence-based data in the allocation of financial resources to attain set objectives.

Other duties

  • Provide leave of absence cover for staff as required;
  • Escalate any issues to his/her supervisor immediately;
  • Travel to partner districts as required;
  • Perform any other duties as assigned.

Place of Performance and Reporting

  • Based in a Local Impact provincial office Kabwe or Chinsali;
  • Reports to the Provincial Manager;
  • Occasional travel to partner districts in the province.

Minimum Qualifications, Experience and Competencies

  • University degree in Accountancy or Full ZICA, Full CIMA or Full ACCA or relevant field required;
  • 6+ years of relevant experience;
  • Experience in working on local level public financial management activities on cooperating partner-funded projects (USAID experience preferred);
  • Knowledge of decentralization and public financial management at the local level in Zambia, including
    o Own source revenue collection
    o Budgeting
    o Expenditure management
    o Auditing
    o Public private partners
  • Ability to respond effectively to time sensitive demands & inquiries;
    Demonstrated commitment to exceptional customer relations (both internally & externally);
  • Excellent organizational skills with a willingness to take initiative and be proactive;
  • An energetic, forward-thinking and creative individual with high ethical standards and appropriate professional image;
  • Fluency in English is required.

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