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QED Group, LLC (QED) is the Prime Contractor under the USAID-funded Uganda Learning Activity The project’s general objective is to further strengthen USAID/Uganda performance and improve the performance of its Implementing Partners, with a focus on collaborating, learning and adapting, in order to enhance the impact and sustainability of USAID- supported contributions to Uganda’s development.

USAID/Uganda intends to support the Government of Uganda (GoU) in piloting the concept of Regional Referral Hospitals (RRHs) as centers of excellence, expanding their responsibilities to include strengthening district-level service delivery capacity in HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis (TB). USAID’s support for the pilot will include Government-to-Government (G2G) assistance to Jinja and Mbarara RRHs as well as “wrap around” technical assistance and other support that is designed to:

• Reinforce the RRH’s in meeting their programmatic and accountability commitments under the G2G activity; and
• Position the RRHs to, over time, accept increasing levels of direct USAID assistance as USAID expands its reliance on local counterparts as Implementing Partners (IPs).

An underlying goal of both the original G2G grant and the anticipated longer-term G2G assistance is to help the RRHs reach a level of sustainability in which their responsibilities can be ably met independent of external donor assistance.

• The G2G assistance activity under USAID’s broader program of support for the RRHs will take place in one year; with phase one focusing on:
  Deepening RRH capacity to provide the continuum of HIV/AIDS and TB care in their respective facilities;
• Building RRH capacity to serve as a clinical center of excellence, managing complicated HIV cases including advanced HIV disease and third line patients.
• Upgrading RRH public financial and other accountability systems to ensure the integrity of USAID financial resources and provide the cornerstone of the RRH’s long-term sustainability.

A package of support will be tailored-made to the needs of each of the two respective RRHs, with the nature of support based on the results of and action plan from the separate USAID PFMRAF risk assessments for each RRH as well as respective RRH self-assessments facilitated through the wrap around support.

The USAID Implementing Partners (IPs) indicated below will provide the bulk of the wrap around support:

• Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services (RHITES)
• RHITES South West
• RHITES East Central
• Uganda Health System Strengthening (UHSS)
• USAID mechanism(s) for fiduciary risk monitoring
• Strategic Information Technical Support (SITES)

Other USAID IPs will be engaged should needs in their areas of expertise/responsibility arise.

Duration:
The pilot implementation period is 12 months with three months to verify the final milestones. The financial advisor should be available for 15 months.

Provide hands-on support to the RRHs to implement the corrective actions arising from the PFMRAF stage 2 risk assessment and agreed to in the respective Implementation Letters with each RRH. The advisor will be under the leadership of UHSS and USAID activity manager or designee of the Government-to-Government Agreement Team (GAT).

Specific tasks:

The advisor’s role is facilitative and not expected to perform the roles i.e. provide day-to-day hands-on training and ensure the progressive improvement to strengthen internal controls.

Strengthen leadership, management and accountability systems and processes at the two RRHs:

• Support RRH in developing and completing Expenditure Analysis tools rolled-out by RHITES. The financial advisor will ensure that the RRH uses the tool correctly and submits the report by the established due dates. As required, identify and coordinate necessary hands-on training with RHITES.
• Support the RRH in implementing agreed corrective action to improve procurement processes in:
  • Records management to ensure an established system for complete and accurate records, and easy retrieval of files;
  • Contracts management to ensure compliance to the PPDA act and regulations;
  • Procurement planning and its execution to not only ensure compliance to PPDA act and regulations but also improve budget absorption.
• Support the RRH in implementing agreed corrective action to improve cash management focused on progress towards:
  • Reducing the lead time for payments to established standards; and
  • Improved payments records management to meet GoU and donor standards with attention on adequacy, access and retrieval of supporting documents.
• Support the RRH in transitioning from manual to automated/ IFMS asset register with MoFPED guidance, as necessary.
• Immediately report any fraud, waste or abuse to the USAID Inspector General

Monitoring and verification

• Participate in work planning, periodic review, strategy meetings convened by RRH (e.g. Project Coordination Team), USAID and IPs towards capacity building of the RRH.
• Review financial reports and associated supporting documents prior to submission to USAID - requests for advance and reimbursements; expenditure and liquidation of advances reports; VAT claim tax invoices and receipts; milestone reports; and PEPFAR expenditure reports.

• Bachelor’s degree in a required field, a master’s degree and additional professional certification from (ACCA, AICPA, CIMA, and CPA) is required.
• Six years’ work experience in the required work area; at least three years’ experience in managing development related engagements.
• Excellent communications and writing ability in English
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills with senior level personnel.

Job Knowledge:

• A thorough knowledge and understanding of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS); principles and accepted practices of Ugandan governmental and business institutions with regards to finance, accounting, budgeting and reporting; as well as governmental and not-for-profit accounting, budgeting and reporting;
• In-depth professional-level knowledge of development principles, concepts and practices, especially as they relate to performing audits of development programs and projects; and,
• Knowledge of Public Financial Management systems, Committee of Sponsoring Organizations Internal Control Framework, International auditing standards and related areas.

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to perform sophisticated analysis of management controls and capabilities of partner/beneficiary organizations;
• Ability to evaluate financial aspects of activities and programs, institutional capacities and capabilities;
• Ability to present results and recommendations to a broad audience, both orally and in writing. Exceptional verbal communication skills to be able to explain and interpret GoU attitudes, priorities and concerns to
• USAID officials, and to negotiate the timely and proper implementation of corrective action plans with appropriate GoU organizations and/or USAID implementing partners;
• Excellent interpersonal skills are required, as the advisor will frequently be working with the officials and staff of the host government, contractors, grantees, and others who may be unfamiliar with USAID's programming and budgeting process;
• Excellent writing skills with attention to detail to prepare regular status reports and review documents prior to submission to USAID; and
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment, and to achieve consensus on policy, program/project, and administrative matters to support in the progressive implementation of the capacity building and corrective action plans.