Administrative Assistant

This position is located in the Emergency Response Section, Response Support Branch, Coordination Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva.   OCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response efforts. OCHA’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.   The Administrative Assistant will report to the Chief of the Emergency Response Section.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Administrative Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:   

Human Resources Management

• Initiates, reviews, processes and follows-up on actions related to the administration of the unit’s human resource activities, e.g., recruitment of staff and consultants, placement, promotion, relocation, performance appraisal, job classification reviews, separation of staff members, training etc., ensuring consistency in the application of UN rules and procedures. 
• Responds to enquiries and provides information and advice to staff regarding their entitlements, administrative procedures, processes and practices, conditions of service, duties and responsibilities, and entitlements under the Staff Rules and Regulations. 
• Monitors staffing table and prepare relevant statistical data/charts. 

Budget and Finance 

• Assists in the preparation and review of financial and human resource proposals/requirements.  Consolidates budget/work   programme with respect to Headquarters’ budget, trust funds, grants and procurement.   
• Monitors expenditures and compares with approved budget; prepares adjustments as necessary. 
• Assists managers in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions.
• Assists in preparation of budget performance submissions and finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures
• Prepares or customizes financial reports from UMOJA system generated reports.
• Co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.

General Administration

• Drafts routine correspondence to respond to enquiries in respect to relevant administrative, financial audit, personnel matters. 
• Coordinates extensively with service units and liaises frequently with internal team members both at Headquarters and in the field.
• Performs other related administrative duties, as required (e.g., operational travel programme; monitoring accounts and payment to vendors and individual contractors for  services; physical space planning; identification of office technology needs and     maintenance of equipment, software and systems; organizing and coordinating seminars, conferences and translations).
• May be responsible for guiding, training, and supervising the work of more junior General Service staff.

Contract Administration

• Assists with day-to-day administration of contracts between the UN and external contractors for outsourced services.
• Audits the contractors’ invoices against the goods and services provided by the contractor and approved by the UN.
• Processes the payment of contractors’ invoices and monitor payments.
• Prepares and processes all UN forms and permissions for contractual and work Unit, Section or Service UN staff, including UN grounds passes and property passes,

Education

High school diploma or equivalent.

Work Experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years of experience in administrative services, finance, accounting, audit, human resources or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (5) for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher.    Experience in reporting and monitoring through SAP or other Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is required.   
• Relevant work experience in applying rules and regulations of the UN common system organization and/or comparable international organization is desirable.   
• Experience in roster management and in deploying emergency response teams is desirable.   
• Experience in supporting international humanitarian response is desirable.

Languages

• Fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/232233?language=en