Operations Associate for TEFSO, Royal Forest Department, Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand has initiated the negotiation of a bilateral trade agreement known as a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union. This VPA negotiation is part of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the EU which aims at improving legality and governance in the forestry sector in general and the timber industry in particular. A Thailand-EU FLEGT VPA Secretariat Office (TEFSO) has been established under the Royal Forest Department (RFD). The general mandate of the TESFO is to provide secretarial support to Thailand’s National FLEGT Committee, for which the RFD Director General serves as the Secretary and TEFSO Director as the Assistant Secretary. TEFSO provides the needed secretarial and technical support to the Thailand-EU VPA negotiation process and assists with the Thai Government’s correspondence with the EU and EU Delegation. It also provides coordination assistance to the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) established under the National FLEGT Committee, the multi-stakeholder Ad Hoc Working Group on FLEGT and other parties relevant to the FLEGT VPA.

Under the direct supervision of the Forest Officer assigned to the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme based in the Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, the incumbent will provide a range of administrative services in support of efficient project implementation, operations and coordination of FLEGT VPA activities of TEFSO, RFD. The Operations Associate will be hired to provide services for the Government of Thailand (represented by Royal Forest Department). The overall approval of the outcomes of the work by the Operations Associate will be based on the satisfactory completion of work by the assigned Forestry Officer, FAO RAP. The Operations Associate will work in close collaboration with permanent and temporary TEFSO staffs, and the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme. The Operations Associate is responsible for all tasks and products outlined in the terms of reference. All tasks will be considered complete after approval by the assigned Forestry Officer, FAO RAP.

• Knowledge of FLEGT issues;
• Experience in report writing both in Thai and English;
• Experience of coordination with multi-agencies and/or government is a plus;
• Experience in financial management and budgeting.
• Experience preparing meeting minutes and reports;
• Experience of coordinating with multi-agencies is a plus.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Operations Associate will be entrusted with the following duties\:

• To provide and ensure technical, administrative and operational support towards relevant activities undertaken by the Thai side towards the development of its FLEGT VPA;
• To provide secretarial support to ensure effective implementation and coordination of stakeholders on the participatory process, i.e. taking notes, meeting minutes report, meeting arrangement, sharing information, etc;
• To provide and ensure effective documentation of incoming and outgoing official communications between TEFSO and FLEGT stakeholders in Thailand (e.g. the EU, national counterparts and civil society organizations);
• To administer the TEFSO FBA budget in line with project finance, procurement and travel needs in accordance with the ability of the incumbent to externally access FAO administrative management systems;
• To assist with the preparation of documents for meetings and dissemination to all participants in a timely manner;
• To assist in managing and monitoring project finances associated with support from the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme and the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) including budgets and expenses of meeting and workshops related to the project;
• To collaborate with RFD in terms of providing effective coordination of administrative matters related to the project, especially those related to financial and human resources procedures under the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) and the FAO framework and regulations for Administration;
• To prepare TEFSO’s financial reports to be submitted to the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme and the Royal Forestry Department (RFD);
• To assist with TEFSO HR management (i.e. leave record, timesheets, etc.); analyze, and prepare TEFSO’s HR report to be submitted to the Royal Forestry Department (RFD);
• To prepare meeting reports in Thai and/or English of related FLEGT meetings (i.e. Technical meeting, Sub-Working group meeting, etc.) and disseminate to participants and/or relevant FLEGT stakeholders in a timely manner as appropriate;
• To maintain communication with the stakeholder working groups to ensure effective information sharing and collaboration.
• To assist on communication and database as required;
• To provide translation services between Thai and/or English as requested, for written documents and verbal translation during meetings and events;
• To travel domestically within Thailand to provide operational and technical backstopping to ongoing FLEGT activities, trainings, meetings and/or relevant missions from representatives of international organizations.
• To represent TEFSO at national activities relevant to FLEGT and the forestry sector;
• In regular consultation and coordination with the Regional Communications Officer, FAO RAP, the incumbent shall ensure coherence with FAO’s corporate communication policy and operational guidelines for all communication and information outputs;
• Other duties as assigned by the line manager.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

• University degree in Administrative Management, Political Sciences, Communication or other related fields;
• Thai national with working knowledge of Thai and English;
• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience, or at least 3 years experience working directly with the Thai Government.