THE PASET AFRICA REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP AND INNOVATION FUND

Terms of Reference, Project Accounts Intern

Project Name: The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund for Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET Rsif)

Expected duration: 6 months.

Expected start date: March 2023

Supervisor: Rsif Financial Management Specialist

Background

Rsif is the flagship program of the African Government led Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET). It aims to address the human resource gap in the fields of applied sciences, engineering, and technology (ASET) by training high quality PhD and post-doctoral scholars and building research and innovation capacities in those fields in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The program is designed in three complimentary windows which provide scholarships for PhD training with parallel support to African Host Universities to enable them deliver high quality PhD graduates (Window1) and competitive grants for research (Window 2) and innovation (Window 3). In 2018, icipe was selected by the PASET Governing Council to manage the RSIF Program, including its three windows. icipe has made significant progress in the implementation of the RSIF Program including the award of 278 PhD scholarships and 40 research and innovation grants; identification and competitive selection of fifteen (15) PhD programs within African Host Universities which are located across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) spanning West Africa, Central and Eastern Africa; graduation of the first five RSIF students; and creation of the Rsif alumni network, among others.

As part of its operations, the Rsif RCU maintains a Secretariat at icipe that is responsible for program implementation including monitoring evaluation and learning. As part of this function, Rsif ensures that best practices are used for administrative management of the program and as such, continually seeks to update its practices at all levels.

icipe, the Regional Coordination Unit of the Regional Scholarships Innovation Fund (Rsif) is seeking to recruit an intern to support the financial management team for a period of six months from March 1, 2023, renewable subject to funds availability and needs.

Specifically, the intern will:

· Assist in ensuring effective, transparent, accurate, outcome-oriented grantee financial reporting, budgeting and budget monitoring and overall follow-up of actions to ensure quality implementation of Rsif grants.

· Assist in reviewing grantees’ expenditure reports and ensure accuracy and update the same in icipe financial systems.

· Work closely with the Financial Management Specialist and Rsif Project Accountant to consolidate financial reports in line with donor and icipe internal reporting guidelines.

· Assist in reviewing budget- versus-actuals and facilitate forecasting in line with grantee project activities

· Assist in online filing of Grantees and Scholarship financial documents.

· Assist in collating scholars’ documents for payment processing.

· Work closely with the Financial Management Specialist and Rsif Project Accountant to support project audit by donor or external auditors.

· Perform any other tasks as assigned by the Financial Management Specialist.

Minimum Education/ Academic Qualification

· The position holder should have a relevant bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.

· CPA(K) or its equivalent.

Core competencies

· At least 1 year working experience in financial or grant management in a donor funding environment.

· Experience in project management and reporting, financial management and budget monitoring.

· Highly proficient in Microsoft Office suite

· A self-starter with excellent attention to detail, analytical and detail oriented

· Ability to handle multiple tasks and tight deadlines.

Learning Objectives

· Learn Project financial aspects such as budgeting, budget monitoring and execution.

· Gain skills in project audit.

· Learn how to consolidate financial reports in line with donor and icipe internal reporting guidelines.

· Gain skills on review of grantees’ expenditure reports and ensure accuracy.

Terms:

Terms for the position will be according to icipe’s internship policy.

How to apply

Access the online application through this link