Office Assistant

Organizational Setting

The Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) works to ensure that countries and stakeholders respond to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. OCB provides a cross organizational coordination role on these issues and is the focal point to major multilateral environmental agreements including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Office also assists FAO Members in their responses towards the interlinked challenges of food security, climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation including through facilitating access to climate and environmental financing such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In addition, OCB hosts the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as well as FAO's work on environmental safeguards and leads the Programme Priority Areas on Climate Change (PPA BE1) and Bioeconomy for Sustainable Food and Agriculture (PPA BE2).

The position is located in the Office of the Director, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Main Purpose

The Office Assistant coordinates and performs the full range of office support, management support and administrative tasks, providing for the smooth and efficient running of the Office. The incumbent ensures quality and consistency of the flow of office work and information in the work unit.

Supervision Received/Exercised

The Office Assistant reports to the Director OCB.
The incumbent operates independently and takes decisions on work priorities and exercises initiative for dealing with cases without precedents. Supervision received is focused on the quality of work outputs. The incumbent provides guidance and advice to other office support staff.

Working Relationships

The Office Assistant works closely with a wide range of colleagues in the division /region, with central units and external clients, performing and coordinating office- and management support services, and providing procedural guidance and information.

Key Functions/Results

• Screen requests for appointments with supervisor; maintain supervisor's calendar; confirm mutually convenient schedules and arrange appointments; receive visitors; place and screen telephone calls; respond to queries and correspondence, often of a sensitive, confidential or technical nature;
• Coordinate office support services for meetings, trainings, seminars, committees, and special projects and events; attend meetings, prepare minutes, monitor follow-up activities; make arrangements for formal editing, translation, etc., of documents and publications;
• Review, record, distribute and process incoming mail and correspondence; follow-up on pending actions; prepare draft responses to a wide range of correspondence and other communications, often requiring knowledge of technical terminologies and/or detailed office procedures; carry out quality control functions for outgoing documents; proofread texts for adherence to format, grammar, punctuation and style;
• Perform a variety of administrative duties, e.g. contract extensions and requests for temporary staff, leave and attendance recording, budget preparation and follow-up; coordinate with other units to ensure smooth running and expedition of work within the unit;
• Research, compile, and organize background information and reference materials from various sources for reports, briefs and speeches; generate a variety of statistical and other reports from various databases;
• Coordinate the work of other office support staff, establish priorities and ensure equitable distribution of work; train new staff to relevant administrative procedures and practices and provide general assistance as required;
• Create and maintain the work unit's filing and reference systems; review the efficiency of office procedures and make recommendations for improvements; update office websites;
• Perform other duties as required.

Impact Of Work

The incumbent's work impacts directly on the smooth and efficient running of the Office. The incumbent plays a lead role in the provision of office support services for successful achievement of the organizational unit's mandate.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

Education: Secondary School Education
Experience: Four years of relevant experience in office/management support work.
Languages: Working knowledge (proficiency - Level C) of English.

IT Skills: Very good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment.

Residency: General Service Staff are recruited locally. To be eligible for this position, candidates must be nationals of the country of the duty station or possess an existing valid visa to work or a valid work permit, and reside within commuting distance of the duty station at the time of the application. "Commuting distance" means the distance within which staff members can travel daily between their place of work and their residence.

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical Skills

• Very good knowledge of communication and documentation standards.
• Very good knowledge of corporate computerized financial, travel, human resources systems and administrative procedures and policies.
• Very good knowledge of the organizational structure.

Desirable Qualifications And Skills

• Very good English written communication skills.
• Progressively responsible experience in office and administrative support and in providing for smooth and efficient running of front office operations.
• Relevant experience in and knowledge of the preparation for and management of high-level meetings and engagements.
• Very good knowledge of communication and documentation standards, including drafting high level official correspondence/letters.
• Proven experience in applying innovative approaches to improve the management of correspondence or workflows.
• Good planning and organizational skills, including working as part of a team.
• Ability to work under high pressure and make progress on multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
• Highly degree of discretion in dealing with confidential matters.