Duties and Responsibilities
A, Basic Function
The USAID Development Program Specialist (Budget) is located in the Program Office. S/he serves as the USAID/Madagascar senior budget specialist and advisor to senior Mission leadership for program operations, budget systems and procedures. S/he has a wide range of responsibilities that include: 1) managing the mission’s annual program budget process and 2) coordinating Mission relationships with counterpart Madagascar Government (GOM) officials. S/he has substantial and frequent interactions and corresponds with USAID/Washington (USAID/W) on program budgeting matters and with senior level GOM officials for budget negotiations and on the implementation of USAID funded programs in Madagascar. S/he will report to the Program Office Director and will supervise up to 5 subordinates. The USAID Development Program Specialist (Budget) serves as the Acting Program Office Director in the absence of the Senior Foreign Service Officer USDH Office Director. While serving as the Acting Office Director, the USAID Development Program Specialist (Budget), provides guidance and approval on all program/project design and strategic documents.
The USAID Development Program Specialist (Budget) serves as the Mission subject matter expert on USAID budget systems and procedures. The job holder advises technical teams in the development of budget and procurement plans, liaises between technical and support offices to reconcile budget/financial data and coordinate actions. S/he collaborates with USAID/Washington to ensure the timely and adequate availability of funding and prepares/utilizes financial data for Mission-wide planning/reporting (e.g. OPS Master, Operational Plans (OP), Mission Resource Request (MRR), Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ), Congressional Notifications (CN), etc.). S/he is the lead liaison with the GOM (primarily the Prime Minister and Ministry of Planning on procedural and specialized technical matters (e.g., Assistance and Bilateral Agreements) and general information sharing with Madagascar. As a recognized budget specialist, the job holder plays a key role in the formulation, implementation and management of the overall USAID development assistance program in Madagascar and independently performs the full range of professional consultative, advisory, analytical, operational and informational services of broad scope in connection with the muti-million-dollar average annual U.S. economic assistance program in Madagascar, one of the Bureau’s largest/high profile programs.
This position is a senior FSN program specialist with complex responsibilities, involving the facilitation of relationships between senior governmental partners, USAID, and the US Embassy. The Development Program Specialist (Budget) has the authority to resolve unusual and difficult budget problems, advises on priorities for supplemental funds received, and ensures that emergency funding is requested to avoid gaps in critical activities on an annual basis. The Job Holder will be required to perform work related travel approximately 10 % of the time.
B- Major Duties and Responsibilities
a. MANAGE MISSION’S PROGRAM BUDGET (60%)
● Serves as the Mission’s principal specialist on USAID/Madagascar Program Budget and keeps leadership and staff abreast of agency’s annual budget guidelines and policies.
● Serves as key advisor and subject matter expert to the Mission Director, Deputy Mission Directors and Team Leaders on the full range of program budgeting over multiple years for U.S. development assistance programs in Madagascar.
● With minimum supervision, independently executes the full range of program budget and operations functions for USAID/Madagascar in the Program Office including development of annual program plan and budget documents, and extraordinary budget requests with USAID/W.
● Liaises with USAID/W and Regional Legal Officer, manages the annual Operational Year Budget (OYB) and recommends major decisions for allocation and distribution for bilateral, unilateral and field support funds to comply with all earmarks, directives, and Agency priorities.
● Interprets USG appropriation legislation and programming guidelines established by USAID/W and ensures and tracks budget compliance by USAID Mission leadership and staff.
● Coordinates with USAID/W, monitors implementation and obligation/deobligation of program funds and ensures appropriate approvals and clearances obtained from Mission Director beforehand.
● Responds to numerous program budget and operations questions from USAID/W, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Department of State, and Mission technical and support offices.
● Advises Mission Offices on U.S. legislation pertaining to USAID budget and programs and GOM policies and priorities.
● Identifies and tracks all necessary steps from activity design to the formal signing of various agreements to ensure timely obligation of the entire OYB annually, including working with Technical Teams on funding requirements, OYB allocations across programs, and presenting the final budget to the Mission Director.
● Ensures all requirements for obligating funds are met by USAID/Madagascar technical officers prior to the Mission Director's signing of any bilateral agreements.
● Leads the technical offices to draft and complete the Mission’s Annual Operational Plan for clearance by Front Office and Embassy and for final approval by the Office of Foreign Assistance (F) at the Department of State.
● Advises USAID and State Department/W, U.S. Embassy and USAID/Madagascar senior management on agreement parameters to ensure transparent relationships based on agreements that align with USG policies.
● Oversees preparation, draft and review all budget documents and tables documents for required reporting, e.g., Operational Plan, Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ), and USAID budget inputs into the U.S. Embassy Mission Performance Plan (MPP), Post’s Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) etc. ● Provides and manages inputs to multi-sector briefing materials and other ad hoc reports required by senior Mission leadership, USAID/W and Department of State officials and GOM authorities to respond to budget concerns or issues.
● Drafts budget inputs to various reports for numerous internal and external audiences and responds to public enquiries addressed to the U.S. Ambassador, the USAID Mission Director, and Madagascar Desk regarding USAID/Madagascar funding.
b. OFFICE MANAGEMENT and ADMINISTRATION (20%)
● Serves as the Office Director’s alter ego, representing the Director both internally with Mission, the Front Office, USAID/Washington and externally with the U.S. Ambassador, senior U.S. Embassy officials and State Department.
● Works closely with the Program Office Deputy Director to support day-to-day office management and administration as well as supervise the Budget Team.
● Acts as the Acting Office Director or Acting Deputy Office Director in office management and administration to ensure smooth operations of the Program Office during absences of USDH staff.
● Supports the Program Office Director to streamline office administration operations, systems, procedures, and approvals, such as project design and implementation, travel, training, workshops, and procuring routine services.
● Coordinates with EXO on HR matters for Program Office positions to ensure staff roles and responsibilities are current, mentors staff, and ensures supervisory staff conduct annual performance reviews and professional training, as required.
● Identifies opportunities for and implements task shifting to empower staff and increase efficiency in Program Office teams.
● Advises the Program Office Director, Front Office, U.S. Ambassador and USAID/W on programming strategies to improve USAID/USG operations, problem solves and/or alerts senior management and/or USAID/Washington on issues requiring their attention.
● Supervises, coaches and mentors the FSN Budget Assistant who is responsible for the day-today monitoring of all actions related to the obligation of funds.
c. GOVERNMENT AND DONOR COORDINATION (20%)
● Serves as the principal coordinator with the GOM on all matters relating to the USAID program and budget in Madagascar.
● Presents the approved OYB to GOM, provides briefings, if necessary, and negotiates any changes to the OYB.
● Negotiates all Mission bilateral grant agreements with main government counterparts.
● Ensures that all bilateral agreements are finalized and accurately reflect discussions prior to being forwarded to Madagascar officials.
● Negotiates with the government on modifications/adjustments to the agreements, based on a detailed understanding of each project, prior to signing.
● Provides official responses to questions from the Minister of Madagascar and Prime Minister’s office on mission program budget and related matters.
● Briefs the U.S. Ambassador’s/Chief’s of Mission and Head’s of Cooperation Donor groups to coordinate all aspects of the U.S. development assistance program in Madagascar, covering both past history and current programs and trends.
● Supports USAID/Madagascar Front Office donor coordination work by providing material for briefers, historical context, and talking points for discussions on Madagascar’s development.
C Supervisory relationship
The Deputy Program Office Director receives supervision from the Supervisory Program Officer, and/or his/her designee. S/he will directly supervise, coach and mentor, and conduct required performance evaluations for up to 5 subordinates on a timely basis.
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