Commodity / Transfer Officer

Job Summary

Review project's commodity reports and their supporting documents; prepare monthly/quarterly commodity reports to donors/regional offices.  Responsible to reconcile commodity records of the project with each store site. He/she will advise project Commodity Storekeepers on monthly commodity reporting, donor’s policy, and procedure in handling food aid commodities. He/she is responsible to keep track of commodity movement records from FDP to final distribution.

Principal Responsibilities

Key Result #1 – Process commodity payments, Commodity receipts/collections, and management 

• Checks all payment commodity documents, payment for allocation, and other related issues prior to the project manager’s approval.
• Receive information on the food allocation of the woreda for the year from the Commodity team in Addis Ababa.
• Manage any warehouse or food stock in the designated area under FH control to ensure safe, orderly, clean, and vermin-free storage.
• Maintain inventory control and conduct at least monthly physical inventories to ensure that losses are controlled in storage.
• Prepare distribution plans in coordination with the project partners to ensure the timely delivery of the required commodities at each distribution site
• Maintain complete lists of all program beneficiaries; including, types, quantities, and dates of rations received by each (as verified by signature or thumbprint of the beneficiary) and reconcile with original consignments
• Set up complaint and response mechanisms in all final Distribution points.
• Establish post Monitoring and Distribution systems in FDP, and ensure the activities are conducted with M&E.
• Conduct field trips to ensure compliance with commodity and warehouse management standards and provide on-site capacity building.
• Do reconciliation of warehouse and other commodity records and take timely corrective actions if there exist discrepancies.
• Manage Field to verify that distribution has occurred according to the intentions of the donor and FHE, noting anomalies and taking swift action to notify the Commodities coordinator/Manager when abuses are suspected.

Key Result #2: E-payment 

• Actively engage in participants' selection and verification process. He/she should liaise with the woreda DRM and kebele leaders in targeting beneficiaries as per the agreed selection criteria
• Receive MBL list from the government and undertake verification.
• Communicate the Area Project Manager in case of any inconsistencies between the MBL and the woreda allocation.
• Produce payroll based on the corrected information and get checked by the Project Admin and Finance Officer.
• Monitor cash disbursements to ensure that disbursement is conducted in accordance to the established procedure after verifying clients and clients are receiving their entitlements;
• Send weekly and monthly cash disbursement updates to E-Payment and Partnership Advisor on a timely manner and with quality
• Conduct timely supervision to verify reasons for those who failed to take their cash on time and produce timely reports to be submitted to the Area Project manager and E-Payment and Partnership Advisor

Key Result #3 – Recording commodity movements, produces commodity reports for Addis office review

• Actively engage in participants' selection and verification process. He/she should liaise with the woreda DRM and kebele leaders in targeting participants as per the agreed selection criteria
• Receive MBL from the Kebeles and liaise with the woreda DRM office for verification of the lists.
• Obtains monthly commodity status report from the storekeepers, and supervisor and reconciles them with the ledger and stock record and sends it to the senior commodity officer.
• Record commodity movements by commodity type and distribution site
• With the consultation of the Administrative and Finance Officer, the Commodity Officer arranges the transportation of commodities from the main warehouse to the specific distribution sites.
• Prepares monthly commodity movement summaries for the project and submits them to the Head Office on time.
• Advise the Area Project Manager with regard to commodity management.
• Prepares monthly, quarterly, and annual project commodity and other regular reports.
• Keep attendance sheet, and payroll of commodity transfer.
• Responsibility for commodity accounting and reporting for the FH Ethiopia in emergency programs.
• In the event the CTS system is deployed in the centralized locations where the project information is consolidated, work with the project warehouse keeper to make sure field information is transferred from the project offices to the main office in a timely manner and with quality.
• Submission of data packages and reports on a monthly basis to the Area Project Manager.

Key Result #4 – Supervises administrative and commodity staff; assist an area project manager in administrative matters

• Conduct regular supervision cleaning, security, and warehouse management activities
• In consultation with the immediate supervisor, schedules staff annual leaves, and keep and update personnel files.
• Assists the Area Project Manager in commodity management and related matters.
• Evaluate the performance of commodity transfer-related staff.
• Ensure commodity staff at all levels are well equipped with necessary skills, and provide job training when necessary.

Key Result #5 – Make sure internal control is in place, commodity inventory management 

• Ensure timely and right commodities allocation.
• Ensure organizational/donor standards are met.
• Checks inventory and commodity records of the entire distribution sites monthly.
• Makes sure the accurate stock record is in place and reconciles on a monthly basis as appropriate
• Checks all commodity movement reports for project manager approval.

Job Requirements

• Strong Interpersonal skills,
• Emotional maturity,
• Cross-cultural Sensitivity,
• Ability to work effectively under pressure

Education and Experience

• B.A Degree in Agriculture, Agricultural economics, business administration, or a related field of study and at least 3 Year experience in a similar position preferably in an NGO setting. Previous experience in Commodity Management is preferred. 

Distinguishing Competencies

• Strong computer skill and knowledge in the area of MS word, MS Excel, MS Access, PowerPoint and email communication.
• High level of initiative taking.
• Training on gender mainstreaming, gender analysis, community dialogue facilitation skills is an added advantage

Language

• Proficiency in both spoken and written English. Ability to write reports and business correspondence. Knowledge of the context in Borena and the local language of the intervention area is preferred.

Supervisory Responsibility

• The position holder supervises Commodity Storekeepers, Commodity Distributors.

How to Apply

Women Candidates are highly encouraged to apply

Competent candidates can submit ONLY their application and CV to: [email protected]

Candidates MUST refer to the position title “ Commodity/ Transfer Officer ” in the subject line of their emails and applications.