Finance Officer

UNDP has been supporting the Government of Ethiopia at various level by building capacity and mobilizing resources to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes in ways that support its bold ambitions of becoming a carbon neutral middle-income country by 2025 and meets its commitment to SDGs, Paris Agreement, and AU Agenda 2063, and its national plans and strategies such as the Ten-Year Perspective Plan, Climate Resilience Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). In this context, UNDP Ethiopia country office prioritizes engagements around policy as well as community level engagements to enhance the country’s resilience through building national capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In this connection, with financial and technial support by the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF)[1], the” Ethiopian Global Basic Observation Network - Systematic Observation Financing (ETH-GBON-SOFF) project “was designed by the Government of Ethiopia in collaboration with UNDP and the Norway Meteorological Institute (MET Norway).

Ethiopia’s economy is highly dependent on climate, with agriculture, water resources, power generation, and other key sectors being weather-sensitive. Extreme events like floods and droughts have increased in frequency and intensity due to climate change, disproportionately affecting women, children, and disadvantaged communities. The country has experienced eight major droughts in the past 15 years, severely impacting food security, with millions requiring food assistance. Strengthening weather forecasts, early warning systems, and climate information services is crucial for building resilience. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) resolution on the Global Basic Observation Network (GBON), Ethiopia is required to operate 29 surface weather stations and 5 upper air stations, reporting data consistently. Surface stations must report hourly, while upper air stations should report twice daily. The Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI) is responsible for collecting and exchanging weather and climate data with the global community, in accordance with Proclamation 201/80, Article 3, and agreements under the WMO. Currently, Ethiopia only operates 16 manual surface stations, which provide observations five times a day, with intervals of three hours during daylight hours. There are no active upper air stations or reporting. As a result, Ethiopia is significantly behind in meeting its GBON obligations, which impacts the accuracy of weather and climate forecasting at the global, regional, and national levels, as well as the effectiveness of early warning services. 

UNDP, in partnership with the Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI) and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway), is implementing the Ethiopian Global Basic Observation Network - Systematic Observation Financing (ETH-GBON-SOFF) project. The project aims to enable EMI to upgrade its existing 16 surface and 2 upper air stations, install an additional 13 surface and 3 upper air stations, and enhance human and ICT capabilities in order to meet its obligations under the WMO-GBON framework. Through financial and technical assistance, the project will improve Ethiopia’s observational network, data collection, and data sharing with the global community. As a result, the quality and accuracy of weather and climate forecasts will improve, strengthening Ethiopia’s climate change adaptation and resilience to extreme events. The project will also contribute to better global and regional weather and climate modeling. UNDP is the SOFF Implementing Entity for Ethiopia, working in collaboration with EMI as the Implementing Partner and MET Norway as the Peer Advisor. The project follows the UNDP Support Services to National Implementation Modality (Support to NIM).The project consists of four components:

Outcome 1: GBON institutional and human capacity development.

Outcome 2: Put in in place GBON infrastructure.

Outcome 3:  Sustain compliance with GBON.

The project has four planned interventions. These are: a. putting in place of new land-based weather stations and related equipment, ICT systems, data management systems and standard operating practices; b. Improving land-based weather stations and related equipment, ICT systems, data management systems and standard operating practices; c. Setting up new upper-air stations and related equipment, ICT systems, data management systems and standard operating practices; d. Improving upper-air stations, related equipment, ICT systems, data management systems and standard operating practices in place.

The Finance Officer is expected to closely work with the team working on ETH-GBON-SOFF project within UNDP as well as the team at EMI. He/she is expected to ensure the provision of high-quality support for the overall financial management activities.

Specific Roles and Responsibilities

Ensure Effective Project Planning & Budgeting

• Prepare and maintain the project budget in collaboration with the project team and partners.
• Monitor and track project expenditures against the approved budget.
• Advise the Project managers and Officers in identifying and addressing any financial deficiency and issues, if any.
• Produce a monthly summary report on the budget against the AWP for review by the Project managers and officers concerned. 
• Support the Project Implementing Partner (IP) in preparing budgets that are compliant with UNDP’s financial rules and regulations.
• Ensure proper documentation and filing of IP documents (forms, signed contracts, work plans, budgets, grants assessment reports, M&E frameworks, correspondences, etc.).
• Provide financial information on Implementing Partners for audit purposes.

Provide Financial Management Services

• Prepare accurate and timely financial reports based on compliance with donor requirements and UNDP organizational standards.
• Analyze financial data to identify trends, areas of improvement, and potential challenges.
• Provide the project team with regular financial updates and insights to inform decision-making.
• Perform regular monitoring of the project budget/delivery and review for correctness and alert Finance for any deficiency, wrong entry, insufficient funds, etc., before quarterly financial closures by UNDP HQ.
• Regularly monitor and track disbursements/advances to the IP every month;
• Review NEX advance requests/Direct Payment/Reimbursements sent from the responsible parties for compliance with the standard template, accuracy of amounts/exchange rates, etc. in collaboration with the M&E Officer and the Project Manager and provide technical advice to the IP.
• Jointly with the UNDP CO’s focal persons, undertake regular spot checks as per Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) guidelines to ensure that all expenditures/payments by the IP are adequately documented and adhere to established guidelines.
• Generate Quarterly and Annual financial reports for the UNDP CO review and assist in their analysis.
• In liaison with the Project Manager, UNDP Operations Managers, and Climate Resilience and Environmental Sustainability (CRES) Unit, assist in coordinating the provision of information and documents for the project’s audits/ verifications as and when appropriate.
• Provide regular budget/resource/delivery updates to the Project Manager when requested.
• Ensure adequate supporting documents for all payments as per the POPPs and maintain an organized, well-documented, and sequential filing system for finance records and documents.
• Produce a monthly summary spreadsheet per IP on the financial status of the project for review by the UNDP CO.
• Ensure that LOA for Support to NEX is prepared/Updated and sent to Min. of Finance and uploaded in the HACT share drive.

Provide General Administrative Services

• Handel and follow-up procurement of services and goods in consultation with the project team, procurement and operations team. Critically follow up on the proper Transfer of Title, Inventory, and Registration of Capital Assets procured by the IP. Ensure that the IP adheres to the UNDP’s standards of procurement when Support to NEX is preferred.
• Facilitate the travel inland and outside of Ethiopia for the IP as deemed necessary.
• Facilitate the logistics for workshops/meetings/seminar etc. as and when required.

Ensure Integrated Programme Implementation & Capacity Building:

• Contributing to project work planning and reporting exercises, participating in the process to collect inputs from various teams (programme, operations, country offices) and consolidate them into a holistic plan.
• Identifying synergies and collaborative areas of work between the programme and operations teams, to maximize the project’s overall impact by working together with the Project Manager.
• Collects and provides necessary data, statistics, and information to support integrated work planning and reporting.
• Guide/share knowledge and information with Implementing Partners on acceptable accounting principles and procedures.

General Administrative Support:

• Participate in project meetings and contribute to project planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Assist with the development of project proposals, budgets, and other financial documents as needed.
• Carry out other responsibilities as assigned by the Supervisor.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance of the ETH-GBON-SOFF project and the direct supervision of the CRES Unit Team Leader or his/her designate and EMI Deputy Director General or his/her designate, the Finance officer will work in close collaboration with the programme, operations, and project teams in ETH-GBON-SOFF project at UNDP and EMI, to ensure successful implementation of the project.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is a pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

• Business Management: Project Management – Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
• Business Management: Communication – Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels
• Business Management: Resource Management – Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity
• Administration & Operations:  Finance, Budget management – Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets
• Administration & Operations:  Documents and records management – overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving.
• Administration & Operations:  Finance, Financial reporting, and analysis – understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector. Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance.
• Audit & Investigation: Financial and Managerial Accounting and Finance key concepts – key concepts and principles of financial accounting, interpret financial analysis, managerial accounting, etc.