Background:

The Roma Education Fund (REF), founded in 2005, is a non-profit organization promoting the access of Roma children to quality education in sixteen countries of Europe.  It provides grants, technical assistance and policy advice to governments and civil society organizations, and scholarships to tertiary education students. The REF Office is located in Budapest, Hungary, with sixteen staff.  In addition, five Country Facilitators and a Policy Development Advisors are working for REF in different partner countries. In 2009 REF applied to Early Childhood Education and Care program of EU Roma pilot call advertised by DG Regional Policy of the European Commission. In March 2010 the Commission announced that REF was the winner of this call. It is expected that the project will start implementation in June 2010. The pilot project will be implemented in 16 locations across four countries (Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia).

Objective:

The REF is seeking a Financial and Administrative Coordinator for its office in Budapest, Hungary. The Financial and Administrative Coordinator will work closely with the Financial and Administrative Manager of REF and the manager of the EU Roma Pilot project and thus provide support to the operation of the office. 

The Finance and administrative coordinator will work full time, according to the terms of his/her employment contract, which includes a three-month probation period as per the Hungarian Labor Law. The position is for a fixed term, coinciding with the period of the funding for the project.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

Financial and Administrative Coordinator’s responsibilities will include, but be not necessarily limited to, the following activities:

1.      Financial Management exclusively on the pilot project

• preparing documents necessary for bookkeeping and accounting
• maintaining the internal financial system (expenses coding)
• tracking and updating the cash flow management of the pilot
• preparing periodic expenditure reports for the pilot
• taking part on financial monitoring of REF projects to check the proper usage of the REF funds based on the REF financial requirements

2.      Administrative management exclusively on the pilot project, including

• contracting with all partners and releasing disbursements (co-beneficiaries, local partners, subcontractors, associates, external consultants)
• assisting in preparing periodic management reports on finances, expenditures and budget to the Commission, including assisting all partners in the preparation of their reports to REF
• keeping track of project financial management documents to be received from the beneficiaries, checking their quarterly reports
• liaising with the beneficiaries as necessary

In all interactions with external stakeholders, the finance and administration coordinator will provide capacity building for the beneficiaries related to finance and administration operation as it relates to the pilot project to ensure a consistent and transparency approach.

In addition, the finance and administration coordinator will be part of the administrative team of REF and may be required from time to time to assist other colleagues with their tasks, at the direction of the finance and administration manager and in consultation with the Pilot project manager

Required Qualifications:

• BA or MA degree in Finances, Accounting or similar fields
• Minimum of three years of experience working on EU Commission/Structural Fund projects financial and administrative wise
• Strong knowledge and experience on reporting to EU Commission
• Fluency in English and good English writing skills
• Fluency in Hungarian, both written and oral
• Good analytical skills and attention to details
• Ability to work in a multinational team, under pressure, large number of tasks and meeting tight deadlines
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office programs
• Experience of projects addressing Roma inclusion issues, especially in education, will be an advantage

Starting Date:

June 1, 2010

Reporting:

The Financial and Administrative Coordinator will work in close collaboration with the Financial and Administrative Manager; therefore, the Financial and Administrative Coordinator will report to the Financial and Administrative Manager.

Application Deadline:

May 14, 2010

Applications, consisting of a CV and a motivation letter with wage level welcome, should be sent to the following email address: jzsiga@romaeducationfund.org, to the attention of Mr. Jeno Zsiga.