Restricted-Funds Recovery Authority — Humanitarian Networks

The mandate

Rapid emergency activation produced grants with overlapping geography, beneficiary, procurement and cost-eligibility rules, while field partners drew advances before prior liquidation was complete. Donor reports, programme records and entity ledgers now disagree on restricted balances and co-financing. The finance director departed after a material repayment request, leaving no executive owner able to protect current response delivery while rebuilding evidence.

The twelve-month assignment starts within fourteen days and covers award set-up, fund restrictions, partner advances, expenditure eligibility, allocation, procurement evidence, currency, donor reporting, closeout and repayment exposure. The authority must stabilise active grants within ninety days, deliver two accepted donor cycles and prepare permanent leadership. One extension of up to three months is possible only if a named emergency materially delays handover.

Handover requires an award-to-ledger register, restricted cash and receivable bridge, partner-advance ageing, documented allocation bases, donor-calendar control, open-question register and two reconciled reporting cycles. The successor appointed by month seven must resolve an unseen partner liquidation involving currency loss and shared logistics cost, then defend the treatment to the commission without relying on interim-created shadow schedules.

The leader may pause non-essential charging to an award, require partner substantiation, set allocation controls, approve delegated corrections, redirect the authorised CHF 42 million recovery budget and replace temporary grant-control leads. The secretary general retains emergency activation, programme priorities, donor negotiation, grant acceptance, repayment settlement, country closure and permanent appointments. Legal, safeguarding and security owners keep their decisions.

Fundraising, programme design, beneficiary selection, security command, investigation, legal opinion and donor-contract renegotiation are outside scope. The authority may escalate suspected misuse through protected processes but does not conduct investigations or determine culpability. Recovery must not delay lifesaving spend merely to improve ageing statistics, and no cost may be moved to unrestricted funds without authorised evidence.

Why this seat is open

Emergency teams optimised delivery, grant teams interpreted individual awards and country finance maintained local books; the repayment demand exposed that nobody owned the full restriction-to-outcome chain. The incumbent’s departure created immediate donor and liquidity risk. Temporary authority is needed to arbitrate evidence and preserve services until a permanent leader can sustain control.

What you will own

• Reconcile award restrictions, approved budgets, donor receipts, restricted cash, expenditure, receivables, advances and repayment exposure.
• Establish partner-advance release, liquidation, ageing, evidence, escalation and suspension rules proportionate to operational conditions.
• Define documented allocation bases for shared logistics, personnel, premises, procurement and emergency assets across overlapping grants.
• Govern currency conversion, local cash, cut-off, accrual, indirect cost, co-financing and donor-specific eligibility decisions.
• Lead two donor-reporting cycles and scenarios involving access loss, partner delay, currency shock and redirected emergency supply.
• Maintain protected escalation for suspected misuse without assuming investigation, safeguarding, legal or disciplinary authority.
• Transfer grant registers, reconciliations, decision records, field routines and live donor relationships to the permanent executive.

Candidate qualifications

• Held senior humanitarian, development or international-nonprofit finance authority across complex restricted donor portfolios.
• Reconciled donor agreements, partner advances, field expenditure, entity ledgers, restricted cash and programme reporting under emergency conditions.
• Designed defensible shared-cost and currency treatments without shifting unsupported expenditure between awards or unrestricted funds.
• Worked with institutional donors, local partners, auditors, programme leaders and security-constrained field offices through disputed eligibility.
• Protected urgent service delivery while closing evidence gaps, repayment exposure and overdue partner liquidation.
• Completed succession after two controlled donor cycles and tested a successor on an unfamiliar partner-and-currency case.

Non-negotiables

• Can start within fourteen days and complete four field residencies subject to organisational security clearance.
• Will disclose donor, partner, audit, implementing-agency and humanitarian-supplier relationships before appointment.
• Brings restricted-fund recovery under live emergency delivery; general nonprofit controllership alone is insufficient.
• Will not move unsupported cost, investigate misconduct, choose beneficiaries, command field security or negotiate donor contracts.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a restricted-cost decision you reversed after tracing partner or allocation evidence.
2. 49 words maximum. How would you protect lifesaving delivery while suspending unsupported grant charging?
3. 49 words maximum. What unseen partner-advance scenario must the permanent leader resolve before handover?