COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale is an humanitarian, non confessional and independent Foundation (NGO) that fights against all kinds of poverty to make the world a better place. Founded in 1965, COOPI is based in Milan and it has 24 headquarters in the South of the World.

COOPI works in different sectors: agriculture, water and sanitation, health care and nutrition, humanitarian assistance, human rights, education, socio-economic services, migration and relies on the expertise of 32 employees and 47 consultants in Italy, 121 expatriates and 4.500 local operators. In 2012, COOPI reached 3,6 millions beneficiaries.

Coopi is looking for a motivated candidate who will be in charge of the financial and administrative aspects of our country programme, to fill the position of.

Position: Country Administrator

Location: Abuja

Objectives
Nigeria is the country with the largest GDP of the whole African continent and it is currently living strong internal crisis due to several factors. In the coastal area, tensions are still ongoing, sometimes in a very violent way, and are related to environmental associations and to the kidnapping of several technicians who were working for oil extraction. In the south and in the centre of the country tensions are very strong too, and really violent, especially between farmers and breeders. But the two main issues that are really concerning the humanitarian community are the persistence of malnutrition and food insecurity in the Sahel area in the north of the country and the considerable increase in the fresh wave of attacks of the terrorist movement, the Islamic fundamentalist Boko Haram. 

In all the states of the North and Centre, but especially in the three states of the North East (Yobe, Borno and Adamawa) where the state of emergency has been declared, there are ongoing attacks in schools, churches, shopping centers, markets and any crowded place. The IDPs are fleeing from the most insecure areas and they are about 1,5 million while there are several thousand of refugees in the neighboring countries (Cameroon, Niger and Chad).

Coopi is currently carrying out an humanitarian intervention in 3 Local Governmental Authorities (LGA) of the Yobe state which has the following general objective to provide multi sector assistance to IDPs: NFI, food security (cash voucher, land access, seeds and tools), wash, child protection and nutrition. At the moment we are carrying out a project in Yobe and Bauchi State.

Objectives and Responsibilities of the Position

• We are looking for a highly qualified Country Administrator with overall responsibility for supervision, management and quality implementation of all aspects of COOPI financial and administrative operations in Nigeria.
• The Country Administrator will be part of the senior management team and is expected to contribute to the future strategic development and professional dynamics of COOPI in Nigeria.

Responsibilities

Safe and bank account management:

• He/she ensures the correct management of the safes and the project’s bank accounts, by directly managing or by regularly controlling the project accountant, if available.

Accountancy management:

• He/she ensures the correct project accountancy and all accountancy documents filing.
• He/she does this by monitoring the accountants or by directly performing the accountancy, in case there was no accountant.

Administrative management:

• In collaboration with the project manager he/she verifies the correct administrative management of the projects (contracts, goods and services purchase, calls for tenders etc.) in compliance with COOPI and the donor’s procedures (ECHO, UNICEF, FAO, USAid).
• He/she ensures the correct filing of all project’s administrative documents.

Expenses planning and monitoring:

• In collaboration with the Project Manager (and the logistician if present) he/she makes the project’s financial planning.
• He/she monitors expenses, in accordance with the budget.
• He/she provides the accountancy data to the Project Manager so as to allow him to monitor and plan the expenditures and to request funds.
• Contract modifications and administrative documents:
• He/she collaborates with the Project Manager in the elaboration of contract modifications (including the budget), and in the preparation of all necessary projects documents.

Financial reporting:

• In coordination with the Head of Mission and with the Project Manager he/she prepares the intermediate and final financial reports for the projects under his/her responsibility.

Budget preparation:

• Support the Head of Mission and Project Managers in budget preparation as well as proposals development.

Staff management:

• He/she plans the work, supervises, and collaborate to train the staff of the project’s accounting-administrative area upon request by the Head of Mission.
• Upon request her/she collaborates to staff evaluation activities.
• She/he will be the focal point of the complaint mechanism and the code of conduct

Procurement:

• He/she provide technical oversight to the procurement process and ensure proper supply chain management procedures are in place and that standard logistics and related administrative systems are established and implemented within COOPI country programme.

Requirements
To be successful in this role you must have:

• Minimum of 5 years' relevant work experience in large organizations.
• At least 3 years’ work experience in a similar role within a international non-governmental organization (NGO), donor or multilateral agency.
• Substantial experience working with International NGO’s, UN agencies and networking and negotiating with authorities.
• Very strong financial analysis skills# and an extensive practical experience working with financial tools, highly proficient with excel such as using pivot table, developing macros, etc.
• Ability to motivate and guide staff working in a complex conflict environment, preferably experience from an African context. Previous experience in Nigeria is an advantage.
• An excellent interpersonal skills (Good analytical, negotiation, advocacy and communication skills) and demonstrated ability to establish effective team and external relations
• Experience with capacity building of national staff.
• Ability to work under pressure in a rapidly changing and sometimes insecure environment
• Excellent English language skills both written and spoken are essential.
• Experience with donors such as ECHO, UNICEF, FAO, USAid etc.