Grant Accountant at Smart Africa Secretariat

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.

Terms of Reference 

Recruitment 

GRANT ACCOUNTANT 

• Position: Grant Accountant
• Contract Duration: until 31 December 2023
• Location: Kigali, Rwanda
• Deadline for application: 28^th March 2023 

About the Smart Africa

The Smart Africa Alliance is a partnership among African countries adhering to the Smart Africa Manifesto (herein after referred to as “the Manifesto”), the African Union (AU Commission, AUDA, specialized institutions and Regional Economic Communities), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Private Sector, Academic and Research Institutions.

The Smart Africa Alliance (or 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 the usage of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

On 30th-31st January 2014, the Smart Africa Manifesto was endorsed by all Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa. This development places the Manifesto at the heart of the ICT agenda in Africa beyond just the 7 original signatories at the Summit to all African countries. The Smart Africa Alliance has since grown to include 36 African countries that represent over one billion people.

The Smart Africa Manifesto aims to put ICT at the center of the continental and national socio-economic development of Member States. This means increasing access to ICT solutions, improving accountability, efficiency, and openness through ICT, promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication, strengthening the private sector, leveraging ICT to promote sustainable development.

The Smart Africa Alliance is a multilateral organization and serves as the framework for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Manifesto, designed to make it actionable. The Smart Africa Alliance is a not-for-profit organization.

The organization develops continent-wide goals and milestones as well as best practices to guide the implementation of the Smart Africa Initiative. In light of the above, each adhering country develops and implements flagship projects with clear targets and milestones. These need to be strongly aligned to the Smart Africa Alliance principles. The Alliance provides technical support to countries in the development and implementation of the flagship projects. The organization also assists governments to the extent possible to mobilize funding from development partners and the Private Sector in order to implement their flagship projects.

Visit https://smartafrica.org/ for more information about Smart Africa.

Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA)

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need of sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce. Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society. 

• Responsibilities and Work Relationships

The Grant Accountant provides support on grant budget preparation and execution, and grant financial reporting, in compliance with grants requirements. She/He will work under the direct supervision of Finance Manager.

The responsibilities of the Grant Accountant will include the following:

• Ensure compliance of the grant with Smart Africa and Donor’s policies and procedures as well as specific grant compliance requirements
• Forecast the cash flow and ensure that donors’ disbursements are received timely as per and grants’ disbursement schedules
• Review grant compliance requirements and liaise with Procurement Unit to ensure that procurement requests and processes comply with the grants’ procurement requirements
• Support the preparations grants’ audits and follow-up on implementation of audit recommendations.
• Ensure that grants financial reporting deadlines are met
• Reconcile deferred grant income accounts
• Monitor and update the grants reporting and audits calendar for timely submission of grants’ financial reports and audit reports
• Proactively coordinate monthly reviews of budget vs actual, committed expenses, spending plans between Program unit and Procurement Unit for preventing the risk of overspending/underspending and completion of budgeted activities within the planned period
• Monitors grant spending and work with project managers to alignment with the grant disbursement schedules
• Prepare disbursements and ensure proper allocation of received disbursement to the correct grant funds
• Support the Program unit in preparing requisitions and proper funds budget allocations
• Review expenditure transactions to ensure correct amounts are recorded where applicable excluding VAT, proper account classification and proper funds/budget line allocations
• Support program unit with actual spending and estimates inputs in the development of grant budget proposals and budget revisions
• Performs other assignments as may be assigned by the Supervisors and the Smart Africa leadership.

Key Qualification Requirements 




Experience and Skills

• At least 5 years of experience as financial accountant, grant accountant, financial auditor with good understanding of the international financial reporting standards.
• Experience in donor grant reporting.
• Experience in using QuickBooks or other accounting software, and advanced spreadsheet skills.
• Strong analytical and presentation skills with focus on accuracy of data
• Good communication and problem-solving skills

Education and Training

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related fields.
• Professional accounting certification is required.

• Key attributes

Language Requirements

Proficiency of English is required, and knowledge of French is an asset. 

Duration of the contract

The expected duration of the contract will be until 31 December 2023 and may be extended subject to availability of funds.

Duty Station

The position is fultime and will be based in Kigali, Rwanda.

• Application Instructions and Deadline

Candidates should send the following documents to the following email address: hr@smartafrica.org not later than 28^th March 2023.

• A CV detailing the specific experience of the candidate;
• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the terms of reference;
• Copies of academic, professional accounting, and other relevant certificates