Office Assistant

FAO Bangladesh assists the Government to formulate policies, programmes and projects to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and utilize environmental and natural resources in a sustainable way. It contributes to the development of FAO’s field programme projects in the country and implements them in the sectors of food security, agriculture and rural development.

“Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH)” is the follow-up project of the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) and is based in the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food (MoFood) in Bangladesh. The MUCH project broadens the scope of NFPCSP’s interventions by extending support to other core ministries, civil society organizations (CSOs) and the private sector, endeavouring to achieve a strengthened enabling environment for eradicating food insecurity and malnutrition. It does this by improving in particular (i) cross-sectoral and sectoral policies and investment programmes for food security and nutrition (FSN) that are gender sensitive; (ii) human and organizational resource development for FSN; (iii) financial resource allocation for FSN; (iv) inclusiveness of governance and coordination mechanisms for FSN; and (v) comprehensiveness of information generation to support FSN policy formulation and programming.

The post is located in the MUCH project office hosted by the FPMU, MoFood in Bangladesh as well as in the FAO Representation.

The Office Assistant works under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative for Bangladesh and the direct supervision of the MUCH Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) in close consultation and collaboration with the MUCH Project Team, while acting independently in routine matters.

Technical Focus

Provision of administrative and office assistance, including human resources and data processing support, for the implementation of a field project in the context of strengthening an enabling environment for the eradication of food insecurity and malnutrition and achieving national and international goals, such as national five-year plans’ objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Arrange appointments for the supervisor, receive visitors, place and screen telephone calls and respond to routine requests for information
• Provide office, administrative and logistics support to meetings, workshops, and conferences
• Review, record, distribute and process incoming mail and correspondence and follow-up on pending actions;
• Respond or draft responses to standard/routine correspondence and other communications;
• Support producing a wide variety of documents, reports and publications;
• Proofread documents and format texts in line with the FAOSTYLE and UN standards;
• Initiate general administrative tasks in the Organization’s computerized financial/travel/human resources systems;
• Make travel and hotel arrangements and prepare travel authorizations/claims for staff as required;
• Provide assistance in the processing of vacancy announcements and consultants' contracts;
• Research, compile and organize information and reference materials from various sources for reports;
• Assist the project team in creating spreadsheets and presentations as well as information and visibility products;
• manage and update databases for mailing lists and other information, and maintain electronic and paper files; and
• Perform any other duties to ensure successful implementation of the assignment.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
• Secondary School Education
• Three years of relevant experience
• Working knowledge of English (Level C), including the ability to communicate clearly in both speaking and writing - working knowledge of Bangla is desirable
• IT skills - knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment
• National of Bangladesh

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

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.