Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) - TAAT Financial Management Specialist

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE (IITA)

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ADVERTISEMENT

Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) - TAAT Financial Management Specialist

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to generating agricultural innovations to address Africa's most pressing challenges, including hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Collaborating with partners across sub-Saharan Africa, IITA aims to improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resources. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agricultural research partnership working towards a food-secure future. For more information, visit www.iita.org.

The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), is a major continent-wide program designed to boost agricultural productivity across the continent by rapidly delivering proven technologies to millions of farmers. The overall goal of TAAT is to double crop, livestock, and fish productivity by expanding access to productivity-increasing technologies to more than 40 million smallholder farmers across Africa. TAAT aims to generate an additional 120 million metric tons (MT) of food while lifting 130 million people out of poverty. Getting certified seeds of the most modern varieties into the hands of tens of millions of farmers is the primary objective of TAAT.

The program supports the Feed Africa Initiative of the AfDB by providing the needed, proven agricultural and food processing technologies and implementation strategies for inclusion within the Bank’s loans to Regional Member Countries (RMCs). It is implemented by the Regional Technology Delivery Infrastructure (RTDI), made up of the Commodity Technology Delivery Compacts (Compacts); the TAAT Clearinghouse (CH); the Program Management Unit (PMU), and a Program Steering Committee (PSC).  The Compacts are currently composed of 11 CGIAR centers, 3 Advanced regional R&D African centers, National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) institutions, private sector partners, and development partners. IITA is the executing agency of TAAT.

The Program Management Unit (PMU) is responsible for overall coordination and implementation of the TAAT program, providing oversight and direction of the program.  This is achieved through the provision of technical assistance from technical experts supporting the project. Specifically, the PMU team consists of experts from M&E, Procurement, Financial Management, Environment and Social Safeguards, and Gender, all working together to ensure delivery of TAAT activities in close collaboration with partners to get proven technologies into the programs of the government’s agricultural infrastructure.

As the Executing Agency (EA) for TAAT, IITA will continue to oversee program implementation in partnership with other CGIAR Centers and specialized agencies acting as Implementing Agencies for specific components. TAAT currently spans activities across more than 37 African countries.

OBJECTIVES OF CONSULTANCY SERVICES

The objective of this assignment is to engage an Individual Consultant for the Position of a Financial Management Specialist for the TAAT Program Management Unit to lead in all areas of financial management with the goal of ensuring that adequate fiduciary safeguards are maintained to assure accurate, reliable and timely financial reporting for the TAAT Program.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

The Financial Management Specialist (FMS) will be the head of financial management and shall have the overall responsibility for implementing and managing the agreed program FM arrangements as well as supervising all accounts staff of the PMU.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Overall lead for the program in the areas of budgeting, accounting, implementing internal controls, financial reporting and treasury management, and ensuring compliance with approved procedures.
• Lead the budget preparation process and present the program budget to the Program Steering Committee (PSC) and IITA.
• Manage budget execution and controlling expenditure to ensure that activities executed are in line with the approved budget and within the budgeted expenditures.
• Monitor budget execution and progress, including input to progress reporting for the program.
• Ultimate responsibility for the preparation of quarterly interim unaudited financial reports, as well as the annual program financial statements.
• Lead the development and regular update of the Program Financial Procedures Manual (PFPM) to standardize and streamline financial management practices within the program. The PFPM will also contain the relevant accounting policies and standards to be followed in the preparation of the program financial reports.
• Develop and implement business process improvement where appropriate, including computerization and automation of accounting and reporting.
• Develop and implement appropriate treasury procedure to ensure that the program never runs out of funds in the Special Account and Counterpart Funds Account.
• Ensure that advances are justified in line with Bank rules, and that monthly bank reconciliations are performed timeously for all program accounts, checked for accuracy, and that reconciling items are followed up promptly.
• Supervise all staff and activities of the program financial management unit, provide career guidance to staff, and conduct performance reviews (measuring subordinates’ performance against agreed targets at agreed intervals).
• Liaise with the internal/external auditors and follow up on any audit queries or recommendations.
• Support the procurement process by reviewing and monitoring, in conjunction with the procurement specialist and the program coordinator, the FM aspects of procurement of goods, works, and services in accordance with the agreed procurement policy and procedures.
• Must possess good archiving and presentation skills, ability to follow up on Bank queries in a timely manner and avoid loss of program funds.
• Assist in field monitoring of program activities and help track physical progress of projects against their expenditures, providing variance reports and documenting reasons for such variations.
• Train the finance staff on using reporting tools for data analytics and on consolidating financial reports promptly for management and audit purposes.
• Carry out any other duties as assigned by the Program Coordinator or the Chief Financial and Risk Officer.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A qualified accountant with full membership of an internationally recognized accounting professional body such as CA, CPA, ACCA, CGMA.
• Possess a minimum of ten (10) years of post-qualification experience, of which four (4) years must be in a related position, preferably working on donor-funded projects.
• Possess a master’s degree in accounting, business administration, public administration or related social sciences.  

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Have familiarity with the use of accounting software in recording, processing, and preparing financial reports.
• Have sound knowledge of IPSAS, IFRS or local accounting standards that comply with IPSAS or IFRS requirements, and application of those standards in practice.
• Have extensive experience in planning, budgeting, budgetary control, and financial reporting.
• Possess knowledge and experience of donor disbursement procedures and justification practices.
• Must be a team player and have the ability to meet reporting deadlines both at the PMU and compacts levels through the finance officers using a good tracking system.
• Must be prepared to undertake extensive field visits in support of implementation.
• Knowledge of data analytics and report consolidation.
• Knowledge of Oracle accounting system will be an added advantage.

LOGISTICS AND REPORTING

The Consultant will be a member of TAAT PMU, based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The Consultant will primarily report to the TAAT Program and Head of the PMU who is coordinating the entire Financial and Fiduciary Management of the Program. He will also report to the Chief Finance and Risk Officer of IITA who manages the entire IITA Finance Management portfolio and holds overall fiduciary responsibilities of TAAT.

DURATION

The duration of the assignment will be for an initial period of one year, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and fund availability from the donor. The assignment will commence in January 2027.

Eligibility criteria, establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s Procurement policy framework, October 2015, which is available on the Bank’s website at https://www.afdb.org/en/projects-and-operations/procurement/new-procurement-policy

Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below during office hours from 08:00-16:30

Expressions of interest should be sent to the address below on or before Wednesday 21st October 2026.

Attn: Zozo Rachel

Interim TAAT Program Coordinator | Program Management Unit

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, www.iita.org

Headquarters & West Africa Hub

PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan 200001, Oyo State, Nigeria

International Mailing Address: IITA, Carolyn House, 26 Dingwall Road, Croydon, CR9 3EE, UK

Email: R.Zozo@cgiar.org    and

Copy: m.a.bakare@cgiar.org