Back Administrative & Finance Assistant

This is a hybrid position which requires 8 days per month in the office. You can be based in our office in Addis Ababa; WRI Africa Regional Office. Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission as WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position.

About the Program:

In Africa, WRI’s cities programme covers several initiatives in various African cities. Mobility, Urban Water Resilience, Cities For Forests and Air quality are among these initiatives. The urban mobility program works in key solution areas including sustainable integrated public transport, road safety, walking & bicycling, new mobility, transport demand management, mobility planning and accessibility. The WRI Urban Water Resilience initiative works with city stakeholders to help address their water risks and vulnerabilities through research, spatial analysis, technical assistance, capacity building to undertake strategic planning and identify place-based interventions and securing funding and financing resources to implement solutions.

The Cities4Forests Initiative is a global alliance of more than 90 cities acting to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage nature, especially the world’s forests, for human well-being. Our member cities catalyze major nature-friendly policy changes, facilitate the flow of finance for nature-based projects, and advocate for gender and social equity, tropical forest conservation, and restoration on the global stage. Together these initiatives partner with cities and experts to enhance capacity and demonstrate solutions (policy, program and infrastructure solutions), and support collective action to improve enabling environments. As a key component of this work the initiative aims to help cities better utilize and coordinate public sector funds and climate development aid to leverage private finance to increase access to safe water services and reduce exposure to water and climate hazards.

The African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund) and the NBS Accelerator are two sub-programs jointly initiated by the Urban Water Resilience program and the Cities4Forest program dedicated to help cities improve and scale financing for building climate resilience. The Air Quality initiative of WRI focuses on the identification of the sources of pollution as well as suggesting solutions. Clean air Catalyst is one of the initiatives of the WRI’s Air Quality work. Clean Air Catalyst is a global consortium of organizations that complements traditional efforts to strengthen air quality management capacity. The project achieves this by tackling two critical bottlenecks that hinder clean air action: the gap between recognizing a problem and awareness of the solution; and the often-high cost of reducing emissions, with is unevenly distributed alongside the benefits of action.

Job Highlight:

Reporting to the Director, Cities, WRI Africa, you will support the WRI Africa Cities Program team with overall administrative and finance support & coordination. This will include providing administrative support for financial management, grants & contracts execution, team coordination, and event logistics, international and domestic travel arrangement support. Additional duties may include communications support review work plans, support recruitment efforts, and other appropriate duties as assigned.

What will you do:

Administrative Support to the Cities team (50%):

• Support the Cities program team across all relevant administrative support tasks
• Assist in organizing and coordinating Cities program team internal and external meetings
• Capture detailed notes and key-take-aways from internal and external meetings, and organize follow-up steps
• Record minutes of Cities program team meetings and ensure appropriate follow-up of all internal and external engagements
• Use simplified and automated approach office software to create drafts and summaries, including meeting pre-briefs and de-briefs
• Manage the process of collecting and distributing weekly internal team updates
• Support WRI Africa Cities Program Director to accomplish priority “to-do” list
• Assist in liaising with external partners and WRI colleagues across programs and countries
• Coordinate recruitment and manage onboarding of new staff members and interns, as needed
• Support WRI Africa cities Director and other project managers with fundraising and development efforts Administration
• Support project managers in coordinating with external partners and provides close liaison with WRI program and operational staff in WRI Africa and WRI Global offices
• Develop and update a systematic and organized file-sharing system and keep project documents updated and centralized

  Finance, Grants and Contracts support (30%):

  • Support processing of contracts, work orders, and other formal documentation for project commitments
  • Support monitoring of program/project performance against contract requirements
  • Support documentation for project commitments (i.e., agreements, contracts, payment requests and invoices)
  • Processes invoices and pay applications for projects in compliance with established governance

    Conference, Event & Travel Logistics Support (20%):

    • Coordinate conference and event logistics for domestic and international meetings and workshops, including venue and catering, invitation dissemination, equipment or translators, travel and visa support for team
    • Coordinate event participant travel, accommodation, and any per diem support, including the proper documentation and compliance with any grant terms
    • Support organization of internal and external meetings, workshops, conferences and other dissemination activities
    • Update event trackers and support coordination and planning of events
    • Support Cities Program team in international and domestic travel arrangements including visa processing and bookings
    • Other duties may be assigned

      What will you need:

      • Education: You have completed a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, administration, management or related
      • Experience: You have a minimum of 3 years of relevant, full-time work experience in in administrative management, project coordination support, Conference and event management or other nonprofit operations
      • Must be adaptable to rapidly changing priorities and have the ability to manage varying deadlines
      • Attention to details particularly regarding grant compliance and contract relationships
      • Strong process orientation with sensitivity to quality, timelines, and organizational systems
      • Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to work well in a team
      • Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, including proactively identifying problems and working with team members to develop solutions
      • Strong computer skills including high level of comfort with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook), web-based communications (Skype, GoToMeeting), with CRM database (Salesforce) and budgeting preferred
      • Commitment to WRI’s mission and the values of integrity, innovation and respect that underpin all aspects of our operations
      • Prior experience working in the development field and preferably in international NGO sector and donor funded projects.
      • Languages: Verbal and written English proficiency required
      • Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position is based. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization

        Potential Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

        How to Apply: Please submit a resume with a required cover letter by the date of 16 July 2024. We are unable to consider your application without a cover letter.

        You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

        What we offer:

        • A competitive salary
        • Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US
        • The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission driven organization with access to varied learning and training opportunities.
        • A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
        • The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future of WRI
        • Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible working hours
        • Generous leave