Office Associate (Resource Management)

Position details

• Job ID: 37861
• Organizational unit: Near East & North Africa Div.
• Grade: G-6
• Appointment: Regular
• Schedule: Full-Time
• Assignment duration: 2 Years
• Application deadline: 09/29/2026 (Rome time)

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 Department for Country Operations (DCO) oversees the origination, design and management of IFAD investments, including sovereign and non-sovereign operations, as well as the design and implementation of non-lending activities within country programmes, including policy engagement and SSTC. DCO is the department that primarily interfaces with governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver IFAD's programme of work and to provide oversight to ensure quality of the portfolio.  

DCO is led by an Associate Vice-President and is composed of five (5) regional divisions: Asia and the Pacific Division (APR), East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), Latin America and Caribbean Division (LAC) , Near East, North Africa and Europe Division (NEN) and West and Central Africa Division (WCA), the Private Sector Operations Division (PSD), and two (2) units:  the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Unit (SSTC) and the fragility unit (FRU).

The Regional Division NEN is led by a Divisional Director, based in IFAD Headquarters, Rome, Italy.  The Division leads on the design and delivery of IFAD country and regional programmes in NEN.  The precise country coverage of the division varies across replenishment periods.

Job Role

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. They execute and manage 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. This may involve close collaboration with staff in IFAD Country Offices, Multi-Country Offices and Regional Offices.

Key Functions and Results

1. BUSINESS SUPPORT TO AVP or DIRECTOR: The incumbent organizes and manages the full range of business and executive support to the AVP or Director, to ensure integrity and adherence to established rules and procedures. Accountabilities include but are not limited to: (a) Maintaining the supervisor's calendar and managing their travel arrangements; (b) Preparing briefing materials for official trips or meetings; (c) Drafting responses to written inquiries on routine and non-routine queries and coordinating responses to sensitive or complex issues; (d) Liaising with internal (HQ and field) and external clients for the smooth functioning of business operations; (e) Coordinating the organization and logistics of internal and external meetings/committees; (f) Reviewing all correspondence and official documents for style, factual and grammatical accuracy, as well, as conformance with established guidelines and procedures; (g) Managing the preparation and submission of correspondence for the supervisor's signature.
    
2. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING: The incumbent contributes substantially in the planning and delivery of the divisional/departmental work plan(s) and budget management. Accountabilities may include: a) Consolidating, monitoring, and administering departmental/divisional budgets including regular and non-regular; b)Monitoring and assessing budget trends and future requirements; c)Supporting ICO staff with financial reconciliation of monthly and quarterly Service Clearance Accounts and State of Expenditures ensuring compliance with IFAD rules and regulation; d)Liaising with hosting agencies on financial matters and HR-related matters; e)Training of staff in light of Delegation of Authority with budget responsibilities on monitoring of allocated budgets and approval of transactions in compliance with IFAD rules; f)Preparing, organizing and delivering presentations and reports on budget utilization; g)Originating and managing procurement of goods and services (e.g. non-staff recruitments,  commercial and non-commercial entity contracts); h)Liaising with responsible officers inside and outside as well as the Procurement Office with regards to standardization, renewals and termination of contracts and monitoring of contract portfolio; i)Coordinating and formulating divisional or departmental work plan(s) and generating regular reviews and final reporting;j)Contributing to the planning of divisional human resources requirements and initiating HR-related actions for recruitment/contract extension and ensuring timely and efficient completion of actions.
    
3. DIVISIONAL/DEPARTMENTAL OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES: The incumbent is fully 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 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 high quality checks of official documents/correspondence; (iii)Ensuring effective organization and logistics for supervisor's and divisional meetings and events; (iv)Providing expert guidance on corporate administrative processes, through induction and briefing/debriefing of staff and consultants;(v)Supervising and coordinating work of junior staff assigned to the office; (vi)Ensuring proper office management of goods and tools for an effective running office; (vii)Managing divisional travel plans; (viii)Managing divisional absences.
    
4. DIVISIONAL/DEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: The incumbent fully manages the communication and workflow of the office of the AVP or Director to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and timeliness of office operations and outputs. Accountabilities typically include: (i)Establishing and 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)Administering, 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.

Key Performance Indicators

The incumbent typically reports to an AVP or a Director. In addition, they are 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.

Working Relationships

The incumbent represents the supervisor 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.

Job Profile Requirements

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 team

Education:

• High school diploma

Experience:

• At least five (5) years of progressively responsible secretarial and administrative experience.
• One (1) year of relevant experience in office support in a multi-cultural organization or national organization providing support on a global scope.
• Familiarity with the IFAD project cycle and corporate systems such as GRIPS, ORMS and related planning and reporting tools is desirable. Experience working in a decentralized environment and supporting multiple stakeholders across headquarters, regional and country office structures would be a strong advantage.

Languages:

• 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 strategies

Other Information

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 in line with its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy and the Policy to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

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