Administrative Assistant

Organizational Setting

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.
• The Subregional Office for Mesoamerica (SLM) is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed-upon strategies and projects for transforming food, agriculture and rural development. It also develops and maintains relations with subregion-wide institutions.
• The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC).
• The position is located in the Subregional Office for Mesoamerica in Panama City, Panama.

Main Purpose

• The Administrative Assistant coordinates and performs the full range of office support, management support and administrative tasks, providing for the smooth and efficient running of the Office. He/ she ensures quality and consistency of the flow of office work and information in the work unit.

Supervision Received/Exercised

• The Administrative Assistant reports to the Subregional Coordinator for Mesoamerica and may receive guidance from the Administrative Officer.
• The incumbent operates independently and takes decisions on work priorities and exercises initiative for dealing with cases without precedents. Supervision received is focused on the quality of work output. He/ she provides guidance and advice to other office support staff.

Working Relationships

• The Administrative Assistant works closely with a wide range of colleagues in the region, with central units and external clients, performing and coordinating office- and management support services and providing procedural guidance and information.

Key Functions/Results

• Maintain financial records and monitor systems for the office; maintain imprest accounts; reconcile expenditures, balances, payments, statements and other data for day-to-day transactions and reports; manage the Country Office petty cash; monitor project and programme accounts for which responsibility is assigned.
• Retrieve, enter, select and analyse data from a wide variety of sources, including FAO’s corporate systems and databases; verify accuracy of data documents; make necessary calculations.
• Verify availability of funds under all programmes; ensure that operational expenditures are in accordance with approved budgets and that all committing documents are complete and consistent.
• Prepare correspondence of administrative and financial nature; draft correspondence to verify data, answer queries and obtain additional information on transactions and financial matters, as required.
• Maintain detailed records of budget estimates, obligations and available balances; participate in the consolidation of budget proposals; prepare financial data for budget estimates and financial planning.
• Provide reports on budgetary performance of office accounts and if required, of project accounts; report variations from budgets.
• Maintain local inventory records with responsibility for proper recording of assets, their maintenance and safeguard.
• Maintain a filing system of administrative and financial documents.
• Monitor the receipt of Government contributions and the transfer of ownership of the Organization’s equipment.
• Maintain liaison with local banks and financial institutions to keep up-to-date with financial and regulatory information (exchange and interest rates, procedures and rules, maintenance of bank accounts, etc.).
• Support the streamlining of procedures and practices and the introduction of new information technologies to the office.
• Support the administration of personnel and equipment.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Impact Of Work

• The incumbent’s work impacts on the timely and efficient delivery of office support services and on the overall output of the work unit.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Secondary school education.
• Experience: Four years of administrative, accounting and office management experience.
• Languages: Working knowledge (full proficiency – level C) of Spanish and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency – level B) of English.
• IT Skills: Very good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment.

Source: https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/fao_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=2403231