General Service Vacancy Announcement No: Gs-07/12-RAF
Grade: G-6
Organizational Unit: Regional Office for Africa
Duration: Fixed term 12 Months
Occ Code: 2.2.01

Duties and Responsibilities:
Under the overall supervision of the Senior Operations Officer, in cooperation with the operations Officers and the head of the Administration Unit, with a high degree of initiative and independent judgment, the position leads and performs a range of varied complex and responsible functions covering administration and programme subject areas that contribute to the effective support of the Field Programme in the Region. In particular, the incumbent will:

•  Lead, coordinate perform a wide range of complex and responsible functions, autonomously taking care of a substantial amount of the organisation and monitoring work related to the administrative and operational activities of the Office in close collaboration with mission leaders, relevant Budget Officer, Shared Services Centre staff and staff in the Regional, Sub-regional and FAO Representations, consultants and has contacts with counterparts in International Financing Institutions;
•  Plan, coordinate, monitor and integrate all administrative and operational activities in support of the delivery of the Office's programme and its mandatory and ad hoc reporting activities ensuring that all projects/missions are timely processed;
•  Supervise, distribute work to and provide guidance to teams/staff members involved in a wide variety of activities such as international/national recruitment of consultants, staff/consultants mission travels, human resources actions and general administrative and office work;
•  Ensure maintenance of various tracking, monitoring and reporting systems analyzing information and reports, investigating discrepancies or inadequacies, making corrections or proposing changes;
•  Provide general administrative support to the Senior Operations Officer, ensure organization of high-level meetings/seminars/workshops, analyse correspondence, monitor deadlines for response;
•  Regularly, prepare consolidated reports on relevant expenses and incomes, statistical tables and implementation plans;
•  Analyze current processes and procedures, assess proposed changes, recommend improvements and implement new practices;
•  Brief staff and consultants on a variety of rules and administrative procedures; including with backstopping visits to decentralized offices and to FAORs/Budget Holders and/or experts; coordinate with administrative units for follow-up actions;
•  Contribute to the capacity building, training and strengthening of the decentralized offices operational capacity;
•  Prepare complex correspondence, spreadsheets, consolidated statistics and reports; ensure all correspondence, documents, reports are submitted in accordance with FAO rules, format and layout;
•  Perform other related duties as required
•  Liaise with staff various levels within the Office and the FAO, Shared Services Centres, with FAO Representations, travel agency, UNDP offices, international consultants and International Financing Institutions

Qualification Required & Experience

Qualifications - Essential:
Applications are normally not considered from candidates who do not possess ALL of the Essential Qualifications

•  Education: Secondary School Education supplemented by additional technical courses in general administration
•  Experience: Five years of experience in the provision of office support and administrative services including operations support
•  Language: Working knowledge (Level C) of English and French

Other:

•  Extensive knowledge and proficiency in all aspects (administrative and operational) of the Office work including rules and regulations governing international and national recruitment/travel
•  Good knowledge of the work programme of the Office
•  Administrative and office support work experience
•  Ability to work with minimal supervision, to solve operational problems, to organize work, set priorities and meet very tight deadlines
•  Excellent time management skills
•  Work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve objectives and generate positive results with a view to achieve team goals, motivating staff, initiating and enhancing team cooperation with other staff/units
•  Computer literacy and ability to effectively use standard office software tools as well as corporate systems
•  Ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds

Qualifications - Desirable:

•  Supervisory experience would be an asset

How To Apply For The Job

Application should be submitted to the:

Snr.  Administrative Officer
Administrative Support Unit
FAO, Regional Office for Africa
P. O. Box 1628
Accra

Closing date: 15th November, 2012

Staff members: Complete form ADM75

Other entitled candidates: Complete FAO Personal History Form available on: www.fao.org (type "vacancies" and CLICK search then current vacancies to select the Personal History Form) Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted