Administration Assistant

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE EXD OFFICE

- Ensure smooth running of the EXD office in close collaboration with other administrative staff of the DGO Cluster, the Management Office and Regional Offices;

- Draft general or administrative correspondence on own initiative for the EXD's signature and more technical correspondence according to instructions given by the EXD;

- Ensure that correspondence/documents submitted for the EXD's clearance/signature are prepared according to WHO rules, practices and procedures, redrafting/correcting and returning to departments/programmes for action as necessary;

- Analyze all incoming matters in the light of background material, instructions, policies and precedents; research and attach background documentation in anticipation of EXD's questions and information needs;

- Oversee and monitor the information flow of the office of the Executive Director, screening, sorting, analyzing and identifying and highlighting areas in both incoming documents and background information areas requiring action by the Executive Director and/or department/programme, or points to be taken into consideration in the documents to be prepared by the EXD and/or other professional staff;

- Request information from departments/programmes to facilitate the EXD's action;

- Coordinate presentation to EXD of all documents requested of and provided by departments/programmes under his/her responsibility by ensuring that all such documents are logically complied, formatted and assembled in a manner which facilitates the work of the EXD;

- Maintain, and control access to, the EXD's files;

- Coordinate and monitor office space requirements in close collaboration with the Management Officer as required;

- Coordinate and provides Questions and Answers on Director-General's messages to all staff, both on technical issues as well as staff related matters;

- Provide the administrative support to the Committee on Health and Safety at work.

RESPONSIBITIES RELATED TO EXD'S MEETINGS/PROTOCOL

- Support EXD in all requirements for briefing and related materials for all meetings;

- Provide background information for appointments with official visitors and/or staff members.

- Oversee protocol for WHO in collaboration with GMG/OSS, liaising with Security, Missions, Capitals and United Nations Offices;

- For internal meetings organized by the Executive Director, prepare agenda and list of participants, and/or rescheduling owing to disruption by unforeseen events, redirecting visitors and callers as necessary. Ensure that documentation and briefing files are prepared in due time, and attend meetings to take notes and prepare minutes when required;

- Screen and receive visitors/telephone calls with tact and discretion, make appointments or redirect visitors/callers as necessary; provide background information concerning purpose of appointments with official visitors and/or staff members;

- Coordinate the participation of Headquarter staff to Regional Committees;

- Disseminate information on administrative procedures to GS staff in the team/department and assist staff of in adhering to WHO administrative procedures;

- Management of social events originating from the Director-General's Office (Bill Gates' visit/Executive Board, etc.)

CORRESPONDENCE

- Draft general or administrative correspondence on own initiative; finalize correspondence/reports for signature/clearance;

- Verify that outgoing correspondence is presented in accordance with WHO and department styles and checking language, grammar and accuracy prior to submitting for signature and clearance;

- Analyze incoming correspondence and requests in the light of background material, instructions, policies and precedents, researching, obtaining and attaching background information in anticipation of the responsible officer's needs, or redirecting them as appropriate; identify and highlight incoming documents and attach background information and identify areas requiring action by professional staff, drawing their attention to specific items;

- Ensure that technical reports and documents are in line with WHO standards, rules, practices and procedures, editing and correcting them as necessary prior to their submission for signature or clearance of relevant authority;

- Using appropriate tracking tools, follow-up on and ensure that target dates and deadlines are met, and that correspondence and queries are responded to in a timely manner.

HUMAN RESOURCES

- Supervise the monitoring of the leave and attendance records;

- Act as White Pages administrator, as required.

PROCUREMENT

- Initiate, through Oracle/GSM procurement module, contracts for Consultants, Agreements for Performance of Work(APW), Technical Services Agreements(TSA), and General External Services (GES) requests. Monitor and record receipt of deliverables, and initiate and monitor payments as needed;

- Initiate, through Oracle/GSM procurement module, requisitions for goods procurement, and monitor and receipt of deliverables;

- Monitor requests for goods and services, including receipt, payment and inventory requirements.

BUDGET & FINANCE

- In close collaboration with the Management Office, ensure updated and GSM compliant work plans for the 12 Cluster Budget Centres;

- Ensure that the Executive Director is provided with timely budget information on project and task budget ceilings for the Cabinet, award budgets, expenditure, and funds available, as required;

- Monitor income and expenditures for planning purposes;

- Promp follow-up on financial, budgetary and any outstanding issues concerning the Office of the Director-General, including ensuring timely processing of committal documents;

- Assist in the preparation of financial and technical progress reports to donors.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

- In close collaboration with staff at all levels, obtain documents and information from in-house and external sources as necessary.

MEETING ADMINISTRATION

- Oversee the administrative preparation for meetings, seminars, workshops, including\: preparing event plans in GSM/Oracle, letters of invitation, cost estimates and travel requests; assisting with preparation of documents; dispatching of materials and liaising with participants and others involved;

- Schedule team/departmental meetings, according to schedules and need; taking minutes and following up on action points to ensure timely response to the requests of the Executive Director and preparation of minutes;

- Obtain briefing and background materials for meetings, seminars, workshops, etc. to be attended by the Executive Director, checking availability and ensuring the availability of appropriate briefing files and documents.

TRAVEL

- Using GSM/Oracle, prepare travel requests for official WHO travel;

- Make flight and hotel reservations, prepare travel files and deal with other related matters as requested or on own initiative.

OTHER DUTIES

- Perform other related duties as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Experience

Essential\: Extensive experience of at least 10 years in senior secretarial or administrative positions, preferably with several years' experience in senior secretarial/administrative positions in WHO.
Desirable\: Experience in administrative support positions in WHO or another UN agency. Experience in Oracle-based or other ERP systems.

Skills

- Knowledge of WHO rules and procedures, the WHO Manual, Official List of Addresses, the organization of WHO Official Meetings, Basic Documents, WHO Editorial Style Manual, WHO Official Records, The Programme Budget, Information Notes, Guidelines and standards provided by the Administration is essential.

- Ability to organize the smooth running of an executive office and to maintain a very high level of confidentiality given the extreme sensitivity of issues in the Cabinet.

- Protocol training is important to manage the contacts, communications, appointments and visits of the high-level visitors received in the Cabinet.

- Incumbent must have the ability to exercises discretion at all times in judging the importance, urgency and confidential nature of matters/problems, and tact in dealing with persons of all nationalities.

- Sound knowledge of WHO's structure is a must.

- The incumbent maintains and updates proficiency in the use of modern office technology through of in-house courses, on-the-job training or self-training.

- He/she keeps abreast of changes in procedures and practices, rules and regulations, organizational structure, in the department, the cluster and WHO, to be able to brief others and explain procedures.

- Human relationships are a very important feature of this position in view of the delicacy and scope of the activities of the Office of the Executive Director.

WHO Competencies

Use of Language Skills

REMUNERATION

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link\: http\://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit\: http\://www.who.int.

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons recruited in the local commuting area of the duty station.