Administrative Assistant (Corporate Services) - Panama City, Panama G-4

at  International Fund For Agricultural Development

ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING

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 Corporate Services Department (CSD), led by the Associate Vice-President, CSD, provides IFAD with the human resources, administrative services, safety and security, information technology resources and medical support services required to allow IFAD to meet its objectives of enabling rural people overcome poverty. The work of the CSD is undertaken by three divisions: (i) Administrative Services Division (ADM); (ii) Human Resources Division (HRD); and (iii) Information and Communication Technology Division (ICT) and three units: (a) Front Office CSD (FCS); (b) Field Support Unit (FSU); and (c) Medical Services Unit (MSU).
FSU services colleagues and offices in the field, with the ambition of being a strategic, business-oriented and fully trusted professional partner with IFAD managers and staff assigned to IFAD regional, multi-country, country and liaisons offices. The Unit provides a dedicated partnership to IFAD workforce and offices in the field to ensure the efficient delivery of corporate initiatives related to its field activities as well as UN Reform initiatives directly linked to CSD mandate, namely Business Operations Strategy (BOS), Common Back Office (CBO) and Common Premises (CP). To achieve this, FSU is mandated to manage CSD-related field operations and provide coordination and advisory services aimed at strengthening the functionality of IFAD Regional, Multi-Country, Country and Liaison Offices. This includes functions of field-related general administration, administrative support staff pool, CSD-related administrative budget monitoring and analysis for the portion of corporate administrative budget for rent and common services centrally managed by the Unit, coordination of outsourced services with local UN entities or through UN Reform initiatives (BOS and CBO), service level agreements with host agencies, host country agreements, accreditation of offices and staff and privileges and immunities.
The incumbent works under the supervision of the Administrative Assistant (Corporate Services Coordination), and under the overall guidance of the Corporate Services Manager. In performing her/his duties in line with the Delegation of Authority and aligned to the annual work plan as defined by the Corporate Services Manager, the incumbent will work in close collaboration with the Regional Office Administration.

JOB ROLE

The Administrative Assistant is accountable for communications, operational and secretarial support services to enhance the smooth running of the team and its workflow and management of information.

Job role specific

• Conferences management: Know-how in conference management, including optimal utilization of human and physical resources;
• 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;
• Time management, Adherence to deadlines under time constraints and pressure (e.g. to deliver governing body documents on time); ability to coordinate and manage complex workflows and in-house and external teams;
• Basic ICT & digital fluency, Expertise relevant to the specific role, end-user computing configuration management;Procedure adherence, Ability to strictly adhere to established, formal guidelines, including in new situations.;
• 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)