Compliance Officer

Job Description

Solthis Sierra Leone is an international medical NGO that contributes to the strengthening of health systems  to improve access to quality care in countries with limited resources and/or with vulnerable populations.  Solthis is registered and has been operating in Sierra Leone since 2011 where our teams have been providing  comprehensive technical support at both health facility, national, and community levels to improve the quality  of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV, and TB care. 

To complete our team based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, we are looking for a: 

 COMPLIANCE OFFICER  

Contract duration: 1-year fixed-term contract (renewable) 

Duty station: Freetown, Sierra Leone 

Availability: On or before 03/02/2025 

CONTEXT 

The role of the Compliance Officer will be to contribute to the efficient management of activities carried out  by Solthis’ partners and to the internal control of the Solthis Sierra Leone mission procedures. In particular,  he/she will be responsible for supporting partners in their development, as part of a partner support approach  that includes regular exchanges and visits to their premises. He/she will help Solthis’ teams to take ownership  of the procedures and challenges of compliance with donor requirements, as part of a process of capacity  building and continuous improvement. 

MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES 

Under the supervision of the Country Director, the Compliance Officer is responsible for ensuring the  improvement of operations at the Solthis Sierra Leone mission (Hereafter designed as the mission): • Ensures the mission and partners have a good understanding of the risk they are taking in finance,  procurement, and programming, a proper visibility on the status of their organization/project in this  regard and supports the teams in tackling them. 

• Ensures that compliance matters are appropriately considered throughout the mission • Liaises with the managers to address compliance gaps identified during audits and assessments.
•  Organizes training on internal policies, donor requirements, and applicable government laws and  regulation changes and topics identified as potential risk areas. 
• Makes recommendations to the mission that will increase the efficiency and/or effectiveness of the  control systems of functions reviewed. 

The Compliance Officer works closely with the Project and Program Coordinators (PC), Administrative,  Finance, HR, & Logistics Manager (AFM), partners; RCT and HQ support (HRD, CAF, and DAF) 

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS 

1: Risk management:  

• Prepares compliance activities, short and long-term plans, and annual budgets for the compliance  activities. Undertake the comprehensive compliance activity of the mission. Based on the same  conduct-focused compliance review on topics of concern 
• Identifies potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risk; propose corrective plans for resolution  of problematic issues and follow up with managers; and provide guidance and advice on how to  prevent or address similar situations in the future 
• Understands the root cause of risk at a granular level and provides crisp and precise guidance to the  organization regarding the execution of compliant practices and activities.

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• Evaluate and contribute to the improvement of risk management, control, and governance processes  in the following areas: 

o Compliance with internal policies and external regulations; 

o Accomplishment of operational objectives; 

o Reliability and integrity of information; 

o Efficiency of processes; 

o Safeguarding assets from loss and misuse. 

• Ensures that the Line Manager is immediately notified of concerns or reports of violations relating to  accounting, procurement, or financial matters; or violations of Solthis’ Code of Conduct and Internal  Rules & Procedures; 
• Propose changes in Solthis’ policies and procedures. 

2: Compliance functions  

• Undertakes the comprehensive compliance activity of the mission and conducts focused compliance  audits on topics of concern; 
• Provide appropriate recommendations to partners and the country office team to ensure the country  office’s compliance with donors’ requirements;  
• Prepares and shares with the Line Manager the quarterly reports on the mission’s significant risks,  compliance, and management issues and makes recommendations for appropriate action; • Checks accounting documents submitted by partners and ensures that they comply with Solthis’ procedures and donor procedures and rules; 
• Ensures that project expenditure is correctly coded, checks that NGOs/CBOs partners’ accounting  documents are accurate, and ensures that they are archived; 
• Validates expenditure and requests for funds from partners, monitors advances, and cheques;  • Participates in drawing up and reviewing budgets allocated to NGOs/CBOs partners; • Participates in the preparation of project financial reports. 

3: Audit and internal control:  

• Ensures mission policy on fraud and corruption – awareness, prevention, reporting, and response is  understood and complied; 
• Coordinates the preparation of external project audits with the various stakeholders (Solthis teams  and partners), conducts pre-audits if necessary; 
• Manages external project audits in conjunction with head office, partners, and/or audit firms; • Prepares due diligence for capacity assessments carried out by new donors and partners; • Ensures that Solthis regulations and procedures are properly applied through regular compliance  

checks (in particular, completeness and archiving of accounting documents and HR files); • Suggests changes and adjustments to procedures; 

• Communicates and trains employees and partners on current regulations and procedures; • Analyses compliance risks and proposes solutions for improvement; 
• Carries out any other tasks relating to finance and grants management that may be requested of it.  4: Diagnosis and support for partners: 
• Participates in partner diagnostics during project development; 
• Participates in the capacity assessment of partners at the start of the project and in the development  of capacity-building plans; 
• Analyses the needs and provides capacity-building for the key financial management staff of  NGOs/CBOs partners, particularly about donor accountability; 
• Analyses partner procedures to determine their level of compliance with donor procedures, and  assists partners in introducing additional procedures if necessary 
• Coach partners’ teams on their areas for improvement; 
• Provides support on all these aspects via frequent meetings within the NGOs/CBOs partners’ offices  and the Solthis Sierra Leone mission;

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• On request, participates in the recruitment of ad hoc consultants on administrative and financial  issues, in support of the AFM and the PC. 

Education/Qualification: 

• Typically, a Master´s Degree in Business Administration; 
• Accounting, risk management, audit, finance background, or similar; 
• Certification in auditing, grants management, and/or compliance management; • An equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be accepted instead of  a Master’s degree. 

Experience 

• Typically, 5+ years of relevant experience working in related fields within a humanitarian and/or  development organization. 

HOW TO APPLY? 

Application: CV, cover letter, and 3 professional references (of which one is the current/latest managers) To be sent to recruitment.sierra-leone@solthis.org with the subject “Compliance Officer-First Name LAST  NAME“. 

Application deadline: 27/11/2024 

Procedures: Please note only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis and the vacancy will be closed when filled. Early applications are therefore encouraged. Any application submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

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