Contracting organization: Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights
Assignment type: Short-term, part-time institutional capacity-development consultancy
Duration: Four months; an estimated 40 working days, subject to final contracting
Duty station: Amman, Jordan, with regular on-site engagement and limited remote support
Application deadline: 2-9-2026
1. Background
Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights seeks to strengthen its institutional capacity in financial management, budgeting and related administrative controls. The assignment is intended to improve the consistency, transparency and practical application of systems governing multi-donor budgets, shared costs, expenditure monitoring, compliance, internal controls and audit follow-up.
Tamkeen therefore seeks a senior Financial Management & Budgeting Advisor to work alongside finance, programme and relevant administrative and management staff. The Advisor will provide practical, real-time coaching through active budgeting, reporting, allocation and control processes while supporting the development, testing and institutionalization of sustainable tools and workflows.
2. Purpose and objectives
The purpose of the assignment is to strengthen Tamkeen’s institutional financial-management capacity through embedded advisory support. The Advisor will not act as an auditor, replace finance staff, approve transactions or assume responsibility for routine accounting, budgeting or donor reporting. Tamkeen staff will retain full operational and fiduciary responsibility while progressively leading the improved processes.
The specific objectives are to:
• Assess staff capacities, systems and priority gaps in financial management, budgeting and related administrative controls.
• Strengthen practical staff skills in institutional and project budgeting, multi-donor cost allocation, forecasting, variance analysis, multi-currency management and financial reporting.
• Improve internal controls and operationalize relevant policies and SOPs through clear, workable processes, roles and approval steps.
• Strengthen compliance with donor requirements and applicable Jordanian financial, tax, e-invoicing and record-retention obligations.
• Establish and pilot standardized tools that staff can maintain independently and use consistently across projects.
3. Approach and guiding principles
The assignment shall be implemented as a collaborative capacity-development process rather than a stand-alone review or policy-writing exercise. The Advisor will:
• Work side by side with finance, programme, procurement and relevant administrative staff using active budgets, reports and transactions as the main learning environment.
• Co-develop, test and refine tools with their users instead of delivering generic templates.
• Use a progressive handover approach in which Tamkeen staff increasingly lead analysis, documentation and review with diminishing Advisor support.
• Distinguish clearly between coaching and assurance: the Advisor may identify control weaknesses but will not provide an audit opinion or certify compliance.
• Recommend systems proportionate to Tamkeen’s size, staffing, funding portfolio, risk profile and available technology.
4. Scope of work
4.1 Institutional assessment and inception
• Review relevant policies, SOPs, staff roles, accounting and budgeting processes, donor agreements, audit and management-letter findings, and current administrative-financial workflows.
• Assess staff competencies and identify priority gaps, bottlenecks, duplication and control risks.
• Agree on the staff, active grants and live financial cycles to be used for coaching.
• Prepare an inception report, workplan, mentoring schedule and measurable capacity-development targets.
4.2 Institutional and project budgeting
• Coach staff to prepare realistic institutional and project budgets linked to implementation plans, staffing assumptions, procurement needs and organizational sustainability.
• Strengthen budget narratives, unit-cost assumptions, full-cost recovery, direct and indirect cost treatment, contingency treatment where permitted, and donor-specific formats.
• Improve forecasting, cash-flow planning, budget-versus-actual monitoring, commitment tracking and variance analysis.
• Support staff to prepare justified budget revisions, reallocations, cost and no-cost extension budgets, and associated donor submissions.
4.3 Multi-donor cost allocation and payroll charging
• Develop and pilot transparent allocation methodologies for shared staff, premises, utilities, vehicles, equipment and other common costs.
• Strengthen controls for time allocation, payroll charging and reconciliation of personnel costs to contracts, timesheets and actual payments.
• Establish procedures to prevent duplicate charging, inconsistent allocations and recovery beyond actual cost.
• Coach staff on documenting allocation bases, reviewing them periodically and maintaining a clear audit trail.
4.4 Accounting, reporting and multi-currency management
• Strengthen monthly grant and institutional financial close, reconciliations and management review processes.
• Coach staff to prepare accurate donor and management reports that reconcile to the accounting records and supporting schedules.
• Improve treatment and documentation of exchange rates, exchange gains and losses, currency conversions and multi-currency budget monitoring.
• Strengthen filing, supporting-document standards, document referencing and readiness for sample-based donor or external-audit review.
4.5 Internal controls and administrative-financial workflows
• Translate relevant financial and administrative SOPs into practical workflows, checklists, approval matrices and segregation-of-duties arrangements.
• Review key controls over bank and cash management, payment authorization, advances and liquidation, receivables and payables, payroll, procurement-to-payment and journal adjustments.
• Strengthen fixed-asset registration, tagging, custody, physical verification, transfer and disposal procedures.
• Clarify interfaces among finance, programme, procurement, HR/administration and management, including responsibilities, documentation and review deadlines.
• Support practical follow-up on relevant audit and management-letter recommendations without assuming management’s implementation responsibility.
4.6 Donor and statutory compliance
• Develop a grant compliance matrix covering key budget, eligibility, procurement, reporting, documentation, exchange-rate and approval requirements.
• Coach staff to assess cost eligibility and document exceptions or donor approvals before expenditure is incurred.
• Strengthen awareness and practical application of relevant Jordanian tax, withholding, social-security, e-invoicing and record-retention requirements, while referring formal legal or tax interpretations to qualified specialists where necessary.
• Support periodic compliance self-checks and timely escalation of uncertainties or potential non-compliance.
4.7 Fraud-risk awareness and ethical financial management
• Strengthen awareness of red flags relating to conflicts of interest, duplicate or unsupported costs, split procurement, payroll irregularities and inappropriate allocation of shared expenditure.
• Integrate conflict-of-interest declarations, exception documentation and escalation routes into relevant workflows.
• Promote a control culture based on accountability, documentation and timely management review rather than reliance on individual staff knowledge.
4.8 Institutionalization and sustainability
• Prepare concise user guidance and standard operating tools for the agreed processes.
• Support staff-led completion of at least one budgeting and one financial-monitoring/reporting cycle with progressively reduced Advisor involvement.
• Assess improvement against the baseline and recommend a realistic roadmap for continued strengthening, resourcing and oversight.
5. Deliverables and indicative timeline
No. Deliverable Minimum content / acceptance basis Timeline
1 Inception report, capacity baseline and coaching plan Systems and competency assessment; priority risks and bottlenecks; participating staff and grants; capacity targets; detailed methodology, workplan and schedule. End of Week 2
2 Monthly progress updates Coaching delivered; staff participation and progress; live processes reviewed; tools tested; management decisions required; priorities for the next month. Monthly
3 Co-developed financial-management toolkit Institutional and project budget templates; budget narrative and forecasting tools; budget-versus-actual and commitment trackers; shared-cost and payroll allocation methodology; grant compliance matrix; close and reconciliation checklists; approval and roles matrix; audit-readiness checklist. End of Month 2
4 Guided live financial cycles Staff-led application to active budgets and grants, including allocation, forecasting, variance review, reconciliation, compliance checks and preparation of a financial reporting output with documented coaching feedback. Month 3
5 Final tools and practical guidance Finalized tools incorporating pilot feedback, together with concise workflows, user guides and coaching materials in editable formats. End of Month 4
6 Final capacity and sustainability report Comparison against baseline and capacity targets; evidence of skills transfer; status of institutionalized controls and workflows; unresolved risks; and roadmap for continued improvement. End of assignment
Acceptance of deliverables: Deliverables will be reviewed by Tamkeen against the agreed workplan and capacity targets. Tools will be accepted only after joint development, testing through live processes, revision based on user feedback and handover in editable formats. Periodic and final deliverables may be shared with RDPP for monitoring the agreed institutional capacity-development support.
6. Expected results
• Finance, programme and relevant administrative staff demonstrate improved ability to prepare, monitor and explain institutional and donor budgets.
• Shared costs, payroll and multi-funded expenditure are allocated consistently, transparently and without duplicate recovery.
• Key financial and administrative controls are documented, understood and applied through practical workflows.
• Financial reports reconcile to accounting records, allocation schedules and supporting documentation, with clearer variance analysis and management review.
• Tamkeen can maintain the agreed tools and processes with limited or no external support and has a feasible roadmap for continued improvement.
7. Level of effort and working arrangements
• The assignment will run for four months and is expected to require approximately 40 working days, subject to the final agreed workplan and contract.
• The Advisor will maintain regular part-time on-site presence at Tamkeen’s offices. The proposal should specify the proposed allocation of on-site and remote days.
• The Advisor will report to [Tamkeen position/title] and coordinate with designated finance, programme, procurement, HR/administration and management staff.
• Progress meetings will be held at least monthly with Tamkeen management. RDPP may participate in agreed progress or final review meetings as supporter of the capacity-development measure.
• Any travel outside Amman must be agreed in advance and clearly costed.
• The Advisor provides technical coaching and recommendations; Tamkeen retains all approval, management, operational and fiduciary responsibilities.
8. Qualifications and competencies
• Advanced university degree in finance, accounting, business administration or a related field; CPA, CMA, ACCA or equivalent professional qualification is an asset.
• At least eight to ten years of progressively responsible financial-management experience in civil society, non-profit or international-development settings.
• Demonstrated experience with institutional and multi-donor budgeting, cost allocation, payroll charging, grant reporting, internal controls and audit preparation.
• Sound practical knowledge of donor compliance, cost eligibility, procurement-finance interfaces, multi-currency reporting and financial systems.
• Knowledge of Jordanian tax, withholding, social-security and e-invoicing requirements relevant to non-profit organizations is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience coaching finance and non-finance staff and institutionalizing practical systems, not only reviewing policies.
• Strong analytical, facilitation and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain technical matters clearly to operational teams.
• Excellent written and spoken Arabic and English.
9. Ownership, confidentiality, independence and conduct
All tools, schedules, guidance materials and other outputs produced under the assignment will be the property of Tamkeen and must be provided in editable formats. The Advisor shall maintain strict confidentiality regarding organizational, staff, donor, partner and beneficiary information and shall not disclose, reproduce or reuse such information without prior written authorization.
The Advisor must preserve professional independence, disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest, and comply with Tamkeen’s applicable code of conduct, safeguarding, anti-fraud, data-protection and confidentiality requirements. The Advisor shall not authorize transactions, make management decisions or provide an audit, legal or tax opinion under this assignment. For firms, substitution of the named Advisor requires Tamkeen’s prior written approval.
10. Submission requirements
• Technical proposal (maximum five pages) describing the coaching methodology, institutionalization approach, workplan, allocation of working days and quality-assurance measures.
• Curriculum vitae of the proposed Advisor, highlighting relevant financial-management, NGO/CSO, mentoring and systems-strengthening experience.
• One anonymized sample or short extract of a relevant budgeting, cost-allocation, compliance, internal-control or financial-management tool previously developed by the applicant.
• Financial proposal stating the daily professional fee, total number of working days, total lump-sum cost, applicable taxes and any travel or reimbursable expenses.
• Contact details for two recent professional references familiar with comparable advisory or capacity-development assignments.
• Declaration of any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest.
11. Evaluation of proposals
Criterion Weight
Relevant technical and sector experience 30%
Quality of the coaching and institutionalization approach 25%
Qualifications and demonstrated competencies of the proposed Advisor 20%
Understanding of the assignment, workplan and availability 15%
Financial proposal and value for money 10%
12. How to apply
Applicants should email the complete application package to jobs@tamkeen-jo.org with the subject line “Application: Financial Management & Budgeting Advisor” no later than 2-9-2026. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted; Tamkeen may request clarifications, conduct interviews and verify references.
بدعم من
