Legal Aid Secretary/Cashier – Gambella

• Location/Place of work: Gambella Branch
• Employment Type: Full time
• Sex: Female
• Salary: As per the Association’s scale
• Duration: One-year contract with possibility of Extension
• Application deadline: 7 working days from the post of the position
• About the Organization

The Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association (EWLA) was established at the federal level in 1995 by female legal professionals and was registered as a civil society organization. For the last 30 years, it has been working to stand for justice and equality for Ethiopian women. It implements 5 major programs, including Advocate for Women’s Rights, Public Education and Capacity Building, Comprehensive Free Legal Aid Service, Empower Female Legal Professionals and Foster Networking in the Legal Sector, as well as Professional Ethics and Quality Legal Services. It The Association has its headquarter in Addis Ababa, and regional branch offices in Adama, Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Gambella, Asosa, Jigjiga, Semera, and Dire Dawa. Moreover, it has established 57 volunteer committees at zonal and district levels and launched a multilingual Toll free Hotline center “7711” which provides services in Amharic, Afaan Oromo, and Tigrigna.

Job Summary

Under the supervision of the immediate supervisor, the Legal Aid Secretary and cashier will perform secretarial tasks including handling incoming and outgoing letters, documentation, arranging appointments, and performs other related tasks.

She/he shall be responsible for handling of receipts, payment, bank advices, bank statements and forwarding those well compiled documents to the Finance Officer/accountants for posting and reconciliation purpose. S/he will also collect cash and make deposits; prepares petty cash replenishment and reconcile cash balance

Duties and responsibilities

• Maintains control over incoming correspondence and reviewing letters/reports/ documents prepared for approval;
• Schedules and arranges appointments and reminding the head or staff when they are due;
• Ensures that confidential information is kept safe and files that contain classified information are only referred by those with the authorization of the head;
• Receives and transmits messages properly;
• Facilitates timely accomplishment of tasks assigned by maintaining proper follow-ups;
• Prioritizes all secretarial tasks on a weekly and daily basis so as to accomplish tasks competently;
• Receives approved and authorized payment requests, checks calculations and the attachment of necessary supporting documents, and process payment immediately;
• Prepares check when requested and obtains signatures from authorized signatories and issue check without delay;
• Reconciles cash book with bank statement; balance cash drawer and receipts, documents discrepancies;
• Counts money, gives change and issues receipts for funds received;
• Maintains files of all receipts from cash transactions and pay association bills by cash or checks;
• Keeps safe all cash related documents (Check, saving books, receipts) of the Association;
• Collects cash and cash equivalents by attaching related documents, which clarify the purpose of the collection and makes bank deposit in daily basis;
• Prepares petty cash replenishment and the summary for posting;
• Collects bank statements and advices;
• Registers check payments and cash receipts on register books and determine the balance on monthly basis;
• Reconciles main cash balance monthly;
• Registers/controls association’s fixed asset and stock necessary supplies
• Performs other related tasks as maybe assigned by the immediate supervisor.

Reporting Relationship:

The Legal Aid Secretary/Cashier is accountable to the Branch Legal Aid Coordinator and shall report to her.

Competencies

• Flexible and adaptable
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Corporate Competencies
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the EWLA’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of EWLA
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

• Organize and accurately complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions and deadlines
• Plan, coordinate and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing Priorities and competing deadlines;
• Establish, build and maintain effective working relationships with staff and clients to facilitate the provision of support;

Qualification:

Academic Qualification

• Certificate or college diploma

Work Experience

• 2 years of relevant work experience

Desirable Trainings

• Computer literate, documentation and record keeping

Other Requirements

• Legal research skills,
• communication skills,
• investigation skills,
• legal writing,
• citation and reference management,
• mooting skills,
• using databases effectively and
• navigating reading lists