Program Support Assistant

Terms of Reference:

Recruitment of a Program Support Assistant

1. About Smart Africa

SMART Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through affordable access to Broadband and usage of Information and Communications Technologies.

The Smart Africa agenda is led by visionary Heads of State who believe in the power of ICT for the advancement and betterment of the African continent. This agenda will lead the continent to the 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services as well as creating locally relevant content for Africa while developing a vibrant ICT industry and creating jobs.

The Smart aims to put ICT at the Center of National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries; improve access to ICT especially Broadband; to improve accountability, efficiency, and openness through ICT promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication; to put Private Sector first, and to leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.

1. Background and Context

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Program Support Assistant who will be in charge of grants and contract management as well as record-keeping. He/she implements the administrative and operational aspects of the activities’ grant-making and contracting. She/he works with colleagues to ensure grants, contracts or other agreements that are made in accordance with SAS and donor policies and requirements.  The incumbent is accountable for maintaining complete documentation about all contracts and grants agreements

1. Duties and Responsibilities

The main responsibilities of the Program Support Assistant include, but not limited, to the following:

• Proactive assistance in the proposal development process by coordinating with technical specialists, finance, HR, procurement and other relevant departments to receive quality input in a timely manner to develop and submit high-quality proposals that are aligned to donor regulations;
• Support the Director of Finance and Administration with a compilation of data and documentation for grants and contracts reports submission to donors and or management;
• Track the implementation of each program/project actions and decisions in compliance with the grants/contract requirement, until completion;
• Maintain grants and contract documentation;
• Develop a sustainable reporting system that tracks daily, weekly and monthly actions, and put processes into place to ensure its utilization for grant management;
• Manage project finances including meeting financial spend deadlines both internally and externally by demonstrating a strong understanding of project financing and the importance of ensuring value for money;
• Provide accurate and timely quarterly financial reports on project activity including forecasting future expenditure/financial profiling, and preparing updates to donors to meet financial reporting obligation requirements;
• Ensure programme guidelines for the management of project records such as grant agreements, proposals, and financial / audit requirements are met through effective information management;
• Contributes to electronic filing of the team documents using Microsoft Team;
• Work with other Program assistants to coordinate work activities, meet deadlines, and provide support where needed;
• Contributes to the invoicing to donors, membership contribution and maintain the A/R records;
• Performs other related duties, as delegated from time to time from the team members.

1. Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

The Program Support Assistant must possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Excellent written and spoken English and French. Any other language is a plus;
• High sense of responsibility, organization, prioritization and the ability to take initiative with minimal supervision;
• Excellent project management skills, including the ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines;
• High intercultural sensitivity;
• Ability to engage and work cooperatively with external stakeholders, such as Government Departments, private sector and international organizations;
• Ability to handle sensitive issues with a high level of integrity, discretion, and confidentiality;
• Gracefully handle pressure and remain a constantly reliable resource to management;
• Ability to work independently;
• Flexible and motivated team playe;
• Excellent skills in Microsoft Office – especially Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint;
• Demonstrated ability to cooperate and work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams and build a positive work environment.

1. Experience Required

The Program Support Assistant must have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Management, Economics, Project Management or other related fields;
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in managing and administering grants program;
• Experience in proposal writing or coordination;

1. Duration of assignment

The duration of the assignment will be for one (1) year.

1. Reporting requirements

The Program Support Assistant will report to the Director of Finance and Administration.

1. Application Procedure

• A one-page cover letter describing your motivation for applying to Smart Africa Secretariat and why you are qualified to fill the post described in this announcement;
• A one-page Curriculum Vitae (CV) with 3 contact information of referees.

How to Apply:

You will send your Curriculum Vitae (CV), cover letter, and essay in English. All the above should be sent to the following email address: hr@smartafrica.org not later than Friday, May 08^th, 2020 at 5 pm.