Project Finance Officer (Part-time Consultant)

SCOPE OF WORK (SOW)
PROJECT FINANCE OFFICER (STTA)

Project: USAID Green Annamites Project
Office: ECODIT, 5th  Green Plaza, Da Nang, Vietnam
Positions: Project Finance Officer (Part-time Consultant)
Duty station: To be based in Huong Van Ward, Huong Tra Town, Thua Thien Hue Province.
Work area: Huong Van Ward with occasional duty travel to ECODIT Project Office and the Provincial city of Hue when needed
Starting date: As soon as possible

I.    PROJECT OVERVIEW

ECODIT is implementing the USAID-funded Green Annamites activity (GA Project) in Quang Nam (QN) and Thua Thien Hue (TTH) provinces in central Vietnam. The purpose of the Green Annamites activity is to assist Vietnam’s transition to climate-smart, low emission, and resilient development that protects people, landscapes, and biodiversity in Vietnam’s priority forested provinces. The project’s overall period of performance is September 26, 2016 to December 16, 2020, subject to the availability of funding, and includes three main tasks:

1. Increase application of low emission land-use;
2. Strengthen biodiversity conservation; and
3. Increase resilience for vulnerable communities.

Key program results include improving the livelihoods of 20,000 forest dependent people; improving biodiversity of over 400,000 hectares of natural forest, mobilizing at least $20 million in public and private resources for sustainable livelihoods and forest conservation; and avoiding and/or removing the equivalent of at least 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The GA Project awarded a grant to Huong Van Agricultural Production Cooperative for implementing the “Project for developing Thanh Tra Hue pomelo value chain in accordance with VietGAP standard to improve people's livelihoods, with link to biodiversity conservation”.

II.    WORK BACKGROUND

Huong Van Agricultural Production Cooperative (in short: HVC) was established in March 1979 and located in the hilly areas of Huong Van Ward, Huong Tra District. The main crops of the Cooperative are rice, other crops and Thanh Tra special fruit tree. As of December 31, 2017, the HVC had 1820 members and organized activities to supply input material for production and to provide others services such as: agricultural supplies services, irrigation and drainage services, land preparation services, seedling services, plant protection and harvest services, construction and maintenance of concrete channels.

The grant awarded by the GA Project will support HVC to promote the Thanh Tra pomelo value chain. To increase the HVC’s capacity in financial management and accounting, the GA Project seeks one Project Finance Officer as a part-time consultant to build the capacity of the HVC in financial management and accounting and support for implementation of the project.

III.    DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the overall management of the GA Project’s Chief of Party (COP), and the direct supervision of the ECODIT’s Project Manager (PM) of Huong Van Grant, the Project Finance Officer (“PFO’) will provide financial and accounting support to the HVC to implement the “Project for developing Thanh Tra Hue pomelo value chain in accordance with VietGAP standard to improve people's livelihoods, with link to biodiversity conservation”.

The position is mainly based in Huong Van ward, Huong Tra Town, TTH Province with required regular travels to GA Project Office in Danang, Provincial Coordination Office in Hue, related organizations in Huong Tra Town and Hue City.

The main duty of the PFO is to provide financial and accounting support for HVC to implement the project (fixed amount award agreement) in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards and in compliance with the grant agreement between HVC and the GA Project.

Specific duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Review all detailed activities and associated budget in the technical and financial proposal.
• Work closely with the ECODIT Grant Manager and assigned ECODIT’s Project Manager as well as the Project Implementation Consultant of Huong Van Grant and HVC Management Board (MB) to ensure that HVC staff has a strengthened understanding of the requirements and budget of the FAA grant agreement.
• Provide daily support and guidance to the accountant of HVC in development of specifications/Terms of References for equipment, materials, and services to be purchased;
• Build capacity for HVC members, including the accountant to ensure that procurements and payments to service providers are in compliance with the grant agreement and USAID rules and regulations, in close cooperation with the ECODIT Activity Fund team.
• Provide guidance and advice to administrative staff of HVC on logistic support and arrangement for meetings, workshops and other events of the project.
• Build capacity for the management board and the accountant of HVC on computer-based financial and accounting skills.
• Coordinate with the Project Implementation Consultant and the ECODIT’s Project Manager to support HVC-MB to prepare and submit relevant required documents and reports in accordance with the grant agreement requirements and due dates. 
• Support and guide the HVC-MB in preparing monthly, quarterly and annual budget of the project.

IV.    TIME AND LOCATION

• Time: 12 months starting from August 2019 to August 31, 2020.
• Location: Huong Van ward, Huong Tra District, Thua Thien Hue province.

V.    REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, or other relevant field.
• At least 2 years of professional experience in accounting, financial management, and/or administrative/ grant management is required;
• Experience on other international development projects, especially USAID-funded projects is desirable.
• Basic command in both written and spoken English required.
• A strong command of financial and other computer applications such as MS Word, Excel, and accounting software is desirable
• Good knowledge of Vietnamese laws on Accounting and Tax.
• Detail-oriented with interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team.
• Prior field project working experience in Thua Thien Hue is an advantage.

Interested candidates should send application including:

• A cover letter
• Latest CV, and
• Three references.

By August 10th, 2019 to the following address: [email protected] [1]

Table 1. Tasks/Deliverables, LOE and Due Dates

Please note that these are estimated lengths of time to complete tasks. Direct supervisor will work with the Consultant on timeline and schedule.