This call is advertised as a short-term assignment with a duration of initially 6 months and expected to start shortly after selection.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.
The External Relations and Governance Department (ERG), comprising the Communications Division (COM), the Global Engagement Partnership and Resource Mobilization Division (GPR) and the Office of the Secretary (SEC), leads IFAD’s engagement with Member States and other stakeholders, including through public and political advocacy, global policy engagement and effective institutional governance.
The Office of the Secretary of IFAD (SEC) is responsible for IFAD’s institutional governance and promoting effective relationship between IFAD and its Member States. SEC is composed of the Front Office, the Conference and Languages Services (CLS) Unit, and the Institutional Governance and Member Relations (IGMR) Unit. The corresponding units work together in support of the Fund’s institutional governance, organizing formal and informal sessions of IFAD’s governing bodies, from the Governing Council to the Executive Board and subsidiary bodies, through the provision of a series of services and interactions ranging from official contact with Member States and potential Member States, provision of documentation for Governing Bodies in the four official languages of the Fund, organization of formal and informal governing body meetings and safeguarding multilingualism through the provision of translation and interpretation services.
The Office of the Secretary of IFAD is responsible for the effective and efficient planning and organization of IFAD's governing body meetings as well as for establishing, building and effectively maintaining relations with IFAD's Member States and their representatives to the governing bodies. Conference and Language Services is responsible for all logistical aspects related to the efficient programming and servicing of formal and informal meetings of IFAD’s governing bodies and Executive Board country visits; ensures the provision of editing, translation and terminology in IFAD's four official languages (Arabic, English, French and Spanish), and, on request, the provision of language processing and interpretation of non-official languages, including sign language interpretation. It also sets the linguistic standards for the organization, and establishes and periodically revises editorial and translation policies and procedures for official documentation. In addition, the team is engaged in maintaining a state- of- the-art knowledge base of linguistic expertise in all official languages to ensure high-quality and cost-effective services.
The Office Associate (Resource Management) works under the direct supervision of the Secretary of IFAD.
The incumbent is accountable for the overall management of administrative services and workflows at departmental or divisional level, including business support, resource management and planning and office communications. The incumbent executes and manages processes and transactions ensuring efficient and high quality and accuracy of work to enhance the smooth running of the organizational unit and its workflow and management of information.
1. BUSINESS SUPPORT TO THE DIRECTOR: The Office Assistant organizes and manages the office business and support the Division Director, to ensure integrity and adherence to established rules and procedures. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to: (i) Maintaining the supervisor’s calendar and managing travel arrangements; (ii) Preparing briefing materials for official trips or meetings; (iii) Drafting responses to written inquiries on routine and non-routine queries and coordinating responses to sensitive or complex issues; (iv) Liaising with internal (HQ and field) and external clients for the smooth functioning of business operations; (v) Organizing the logistics of internal and external meetings/committees; (vi) Reviewing all correspondence and official documents for style, factual and grammatical accuracy, as well as conformance with established guidelines and procedures; (vii) Preparing the submission of correspondence for the supervisor’s signature.
2. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING: The Office Assistant contributes in the planning and delivery of the divisional/departmental work plan(s) and budget. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to: (i) Consolidating, monitoring and administering divisional budgets including regular and non-regular budgets; (ii) Assessing budget trends and future requirements; (iii) Preparing and delivering presentations and reports on budget utilization if required; (iv) Originating and/or administering the procurement of goods and services (e.g. non-staff recruitments, commercial and non-commercial entity contracts); (v) Coordinating divisional or departmental work plan(s) and generating regular reviews and final reporting; (vi) Initiating HR-related actions for recruitment/contract extension and ensuring timely and efficient completion of actions.
3. DIVISIONAL/DEPARTMENTAL OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES: The Office Assistant is responsible for ensuring timely submissions by staff of reports, correspondence and documentation within stipulated deadlines, as well as adherence to corporate standards and processes. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to: (i) Coordinating work flows for divisional/departmental documents/correspondence going to or through the AVP or Division Director; (ii) Effecting quality checks of official documents/correspondence; (iii) Ensuring organization and logistics for meetings and events; (iv) Providing guidance on corporate administrative processes, through induction and briefing/debriefing of staff and consultants; (v) Coordinating work of junior staff assigned to the office; (vi) Ensuring proper office management of goods and tools for an effective running office; (vii) Coordinating divisional travel plans. (viii) Recording divisional absences.
4. DIVISIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: The Office Assistant coordinates the communication and workflow of the office of the Division Director to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and timeliness of office operations and outputs. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to: (i) Maintaining the office filing and reference systems, both traditional and digital; (ii) Ensuring the inter/intra-net websites are up to date and accurate; (iii) Maintaining and updating corporate IT platforms.
5. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: Is accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of assigned IFAD resources, including equipment, supplies and, as applicable, staff supervised.
The incumbent is accountable for applying a broad range of specialized administrative rules and procedures in the coordination of administrative support to the organization served. Initiating, monitoring and ensuring provision of administrative services allows the professional staff of the organization to focus on substantive core work. This may include supervisory responsibilities with accountability for the work of administrative assistants, temporary and/or contract staff.
The incumbent represents the Director in initiating, following up on and resolving issues pertaining to administrative requests. The incumbent undertakes a specific coordination role for specific cross-cutting activities or services. External contacts include counterparts in international organizations, bi-lateral and multi-lateral institutions and national governments to organize meetings and events. Communications involve the exchange of information across the Fund at the most senior levels and externally to governing body representatives.
Organizational Competencies:
Level 1:
Building relationships and partnerships - Builds and maintains effective working relationships Communicating and negotiating - Communicates effectively; creates understanding between self and others Demonstrating leadership - Personal leadership and attitude to change Focusing on clients - Focuses on clients Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating - Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge & innovates Managing performance and developing staff - Managing time, resources and information - Manages own time, information and resources effectively Problem-solving and decision-making - Demonstrates sound problem-solving and decision-making ability Strategic thinking and organizational development - Personal influence Team working - Contributes effectively to the teamEducation:
High school diplomaExperience:
High school diploma - 5 YearsLanguages:
English (4 - Excellent)Skills:
Budgeting, resource management: Know-how in budget administration and accounting, resource allocation and planning at divisional level Contract Management: Know-how in contracting of external workforce (e.g. contracting of interpreters, subeditors and proof-reader falling under international agreements) Procedure adherence: Ability to strictly adhere to established, formal guidelines, including in new situations Record management: Know-how in record keeping (e.g. proper handling of records and systems to preserve institutional memory, including correspondence logs, office filing and reference systems, etc.) Topical expertise - Administration: Expertise relevant to the specific role (e.g. For ethics office assistant, procedures outlined in the Code of Conduct, Discipline and Anti-harassment provisions of applicable rules and guidelines) Data management: Data collection, cleaning, transformation and consolidation; data-base architecture & development; data presentation Basic ICT & digital fluency: High level of digital literacy and ability to quickly get familiar with new digital tools (e.g. ability to carry out EPR data entry and extraction when budgeting; monitoring security systems, uploading content to inter/intra-net websites, etc.) Initiative and good judgment: High sense of proactive initiative-taking and good judgement (including on security matters) Interpersonal skills: Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with others (e.g. visitors, clients, callers, etc.), including senior individuals (e.g. high-level meeting participants) Problem solving: Strong systemic and structured thinking, ability to identify and dissect problems into components and formulate a comprehensive set of creative viable and sustainable solutions and strategiesThis call is advertised as a short-term assignment with a duration of initially 6 months and expected to start shortly after selection.
IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.
IFAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnic, social or political background, colour, nationality, religion, age, gender, disability, marital status, family size or sexual orientation.
Please be aware of fraudulent job offers. IFAD does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Official communication from IFAD will always come from e-mails ending in @ifad.org.
In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.