Position Title: Finance & Administrative Officer
Projects: EcoPeace Spaces: Youth Leading Resilience in Central Africa (Lot 2) Youth Futures In Action: Green Jobs and Digital Futures in East & Southern Africa (Lot 3)
Duration: 30 months (aligned with project timelines)
Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya (with remote support to partner countries)
Reports To: Project Manager – AEYA at The Youth Café
Collaborates With: Consortium Partners, Donor Representatives, Expertise France
1. Background
About the Africa-Europe Youth Academy (AEYA) Project
The Africa-Europe Youth Academy (AEYA) is a flagship initiative of the European Union, funded under the Youth Action Plan in EU External Action (YAP) and the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package – specifically the ‘Youth Mobility for Africa Flagship’. It is implemented by Expertise France in close partnership with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). AEYA’s overarching goal is to strengthen the role of young people aged 18–30 as agents of sustainable development, while building lasting bridges between Africa and Europe.
AEYA was established in direct response to a pressing demographic and development reality: Africa is home to the youngest population on earth, with nearly 70% of Sub-Saharan Africans under the age of 30. This generational majority represents an unprecedented opportunity for innovation, civic participation, and sustainable growth but only if young people have the resources, capacities, and enabling environments to lead. At the same time, young Africans face overlapping structural barriers including high unemployment, limited access to finance, under-resourced education systems, exclusion from decision-making, climate vulnerability, and fragile civic spaces. AEYA was designed precisely to address these gaps through a combination of financial support, capacity building, and regional networking.
The AEYA supports youth-led and youth-focused organisations by strengthening their capacities, financing the creation or expansion of Spaces for Youth, and promoting meaningful youth participation in civic and economic life. The programme operates across eleven (11) countries in Central, East, and Southern Africa, structured into two geographic lots with distinct country coverage and thematic priorities.
The Two Project Lots
Lot 2 – EcoPeace Spaces: Youth Leading Resilience in Central Africa
Countries covered: Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Rwanda. This lot operates in some of the most challenging development contexts on the continent. Civic space in Central Africa is rated as “repressed” or “obstructed” (CIVICUS, 2023), and more than 6.9 million people remain internally displaced, many of them young people (UNHCR, 2023). The lot prioritises peacebuilding, environmental protection, civic leadership, and inclusive governance. The Finance & Administrative Officer will be responsible for all financial oversight related to sub-grantee organisations in these four countries, including disbursement processing, financial monitoring, and Francophone-context compliance documentation.
Lot 3 – Youth Futures In Action: Green Jobs and Digital Futures in East & Southern Africa
Countries covered: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. In East and Southern Africa, over 60% of employment is concentrated in climate-sensitive agriculture, exposing youth livelihoods to recurrent droughts, floods, and food insecurity. At the same time, mobile penetration now exceeds 80% and ICT sectors are expanding at double-digit rates yet skills mismatches prevent youth from fully participating in green and digital economies. Lot 3 therefore prioritises renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, ICT, digital entrepreneurship, circular economy, and civic innovation. Sub-grantees under this lot are predominantly English-speaking, and the Finance & Administrative Officer will manage their financial reporting and disbursement schedules directly from TYC’s Nairobi office.
The Youth Café’s Role in AEYA
The Youth Café (TYC) is a Pan-African, not-for-profit youth organisation headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Established in 2012, TYC convenes youth advocacy, policy, research, and innovation to empower young people across Africa. As the executing partner for AEYA in East, Southern, and Central Africa, TYC serves as the contracting authority for the sub-grant mechanism under this programme. TYC is responsible for sourcing and selecting eligible youth organisations across eleven countries in close collaboration with Expertise France; launching and managing the two-phase sub-granting mechanism including disbursements, financial monitoring, and compliance oversight; providing tailored training, mentorship, and technical assistance to selected sub-grantees; ensuring inclusive outreach with a strong focus on young women and youth in situations of vulnerability; and facilitating meaningful collaboration and partnerships between African youth organisations and European actors. All staff recruited under AEYA operate within TYC’s administrative and programmatic structure, in full compliance with EU financial regulations, Expertise France reporting requirements, and TYC’s internal human resources and safeguarding policies.
Beyond financial support, AEYA provides a comprehensive capacity building package delivered through its implementing partners. The Youth Café leads organisational diagnostics and tailored coaching for youth CSOs, delivers training on leadership, civic participation and advocacy, facilitates peer learning exchanges across East, Southern, and Central Africa, and provides guidance on EU compliance, financial accountability, and reporting standards. AFD Campus delivers structured training sessions for all selected organisations on project management, financial systems, and donor compliance, as well as advanced workshops on scaling, innovation, and sustainability.
Note to Applicants
The position for which you are applying is part of The Youth Café's AEYA project team. This background section is a standard introduction provided with all AEYA Terms of Reference and should be read alongside the specific position description that follows. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate in their application how their financial management experience relates to EU-funded donor compliance, sub-grant portfolio management, and TYC's implementation responsibilities across both Lots.
2. Purpose of the Role
The Finance & Administrative Officer is the financial backbone of TYC's AEYA project team, responsible for ensuring that every transaction is accurately processed, every account is reconciled, every report is correct, and every document is audit-ready across both Lot 2 and Lot 3. The role manages TYC's day-to-day financial operations, maintains full compliance with EU financial regulations and Expertise France audit requirements, and provides the financial data and documentation that underpin the Project Manager's reporting and compliance work. Beyond internal finance, the role carries a direct partner capacity-building responsibility by training and mentoring sub-grantee CSOs on financial compliance and reporting systems to ensure TYC's sub-grant portfolio is financially sound at every level.
3. Key Responsibilities
A. Financial Management and Accounting
Develop, maintain, and monitor project budgets for both Lot 2 and Lot 3, producing monthly budget-versus-actual variance reports and flagging significant variances or risks of over- or under-expenditure to the Project Manager in a timely manner.
Manage all project bank accounts and donor-designated accounts, processing payments, monitoring balances, reconciling statements monthly, and ensuring strict separation of restricted EU donor funds from TYC's general operating funds at all times.
Process all payment requests for AEYA activities across both lots by verifying completeness and accuracy of supporting documentation, confirming alignment with approved budget lines, and obtaining required authorisations per TYC's payment authorisation matrix.
Manage payroll processing for all AEYA project staff, verifying timesheet allocations against project budget lines, processing salaries and consultant fees on schedule, and ensuring all statutory deductions (NSSF, NHIF, PAYE) are calculated correctly and remitted on time.
Maintain a complete, chronological, and audit-ready records system for all financial transactions across both lots, ensuring every payment has a full paper trail from requisition through to bank confirmation, retrievable within 48 hours of any audit or donor review request.
Manage sub-grant disbursements to youth organisations in Rounds 1 and 2, tracking payment schedules against milestones, processing approved transfers, and maintaining sub-grantee financial records in compliance with Expertise France's sub-granting framework.
B. Financial Reporting and Donor Compliance
Prepare accurate monthly, quarterly, and final project financial reports for both Lot 2 and Lot 3, meeting the timelines and formats specified in TYC's grant contracts with Expertise France.
Collaborate closely with the Project Manager to ensure financial and narrative reports are fully aligned by ensuring budget expenditure figures and activity descriptions are consistent, cross-referenced, and presented coherently in every donor submission.
Coordinate and support external audits and Expertise France financial reviews, providing auditors with timely, complete, and well-organised access to all financial records, vouchers, and supporting documentation.
Prepare financial due diligence assessments for prospective sub-grantees, reviewing financial statements, existing audit reports, and financial management capacity against TYC's risk profiling criteria.
Prepare management responses to any financial audit findings, coordinate corrective action plans with the Project Manager, and track implementation of agreed corrective measures.
Ensure compliance with EU financial regulations.
C. Administrative Management
Maintain TYC's AEYA administrative systems across both lots, including physical and digital filing, document version control, asset registers, and office supply management, consistent with TYC's document management standards.
Coordinate administrative support for all project activities, manage room bookings, travel advance processing, per diem calculations, and post-activity expense liquidations for training events, workshops, partner visits, and consortium meetings.
Manage contracts, procurement, and logistics for project activities, verifying invoices against purchase orders and delivery notes, processing supplier payments in line with TYC's procurement policy, and maintaining EU audit-compliant procurement records.
Support HR processes relevant to the project, including consultant contract administration, timesheet collection and verification, and management of staff expense claims, travel advances, and liquidation processes.
D. Sub-Grantee Financial Capacity Building
Design and deliver financial management and accountability training for sub-grantee youth organisations under both lots, covering bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, financial report preparation, supporting documentation standards, and internal control principles adapted to youth-led organisational contexts.
Develop and maintain standardised financial reporting templates and tools for sub-grantee use, including cash books, payment voucher formats, bank reconciliation templates, budget monitoring tools, and documentation checklists aligned with EU and Expertise France requirements.
Review sub-grantee financial reports submitted through TYC's sub-grant management process, providing first-level financial accuracy checks and identifying recurring errors or capacity gaps for targeted follow-up support.
Conduct periodic financial monitoring visits to sub-grantees remotely or in-country to verify financial management practices, review documentation, and provide on-site coaching.
Track improvements in sub-grantee financial management and report on financial capacity development outcomes to the Project Manager as part of regular project monitoring.
4. Deliverables
Approved financial management framework and filing system for both Lot 2 and Lot 3 within 60 days of contract commencement.
Monthly and quarterly financial reports for both lots, submitted on schedule throughout the 30-month project period.
Sub-grant disbursement records and financial tracking schedules for all Round 1 and Round 2 youth organisations.
Audit-ready financial documentation maintained throughout the project.
Payroll records and statutory remittance confirmations for all AEYA project staff.
Financial capacity building training sessions delivered to partner CSOs and sub-grantee youth organisations, with supporting materials and attendance records.
Final consolidated financial report for both Lot 2 and Lot 3 at project close.
5. Qualifications and Experience
Essential
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field. CPA-K, CIFA, or ACCA certification is strongly preferred.
Minimum 3 years of progressive experience in financial and administrative management for donor-funded development projects.
Demonstrated knowledge of EU financial compliance frameworks, audit standards, and reporting requirements applicable to EU-funded grants.
Proven experience in full-cycle financial management, budgeting, payment processing, bank reconciliation, payroll, and donor financial reporting.
Experience managing sub-grant financial portfolios, including disbursement tracking, sub-grantee financial monitoring, and compliance documentation.
Demonstrated experience delivering financial management capacity building to CSOs, youth-led organisations, or community-based organisations.
High attention to detail, strong numerical accuracy, and excellent organisational skills.
Fluency in English.
Desirable
Direct experience on EU-funded grants, including familiarity with Expertise France or similar implementing agency procedures.
Experience using accounting software or financial management information systems in a multi-country project context.
Experience working in multi-currency environments across Sub-Saharan African countries.
Proficiency in French, given the project's Francophone country coverage (DRC, Cameroon, Republic of Congo).
6. Duration and Compensation
Duration: 30 months, aligned with AEYA project timelines.
Compensation: Competitive salary aligned with EU donor budget provisions.
Location: Based in Nairobi, Kenya, with remote support to partner countries and occasional travel to project sites in Central, East, and Southern Africa.
Payment Schedule: Monthly, upon submission of deliverables and approved timesheets.
7. Application Process
Interested candidates should submit:
A cover letter of not more than one page setting out your suitability for the role and confirming availability.
An updated CV of not more than four pages.
Contact details for two professional referees. Referees will not be contacted without prior notification to the candidate.
Email applications to: human.resource@theyouthcafe.com
cc: admin.compliance@theyouthcafe.com
Subject Line: Finance & Administrative Officer – AEYA Project
Deadline for submission: 30th June 2026
Equal Opportunity
The Youth Café is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion and strongly encourages applications from women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.