Office Assistant

The Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA) conducts economic research and policy analysis and provides evidence-based support to national, regional and global policy processes and initiatives related to monitoring and analysing food and agricultural policies, agribusiness and value chain development, rural transformation and poverty, food security and nutrition information and analysis, resilience, bioeconomy and climate-smart agriculture. The Division also leads the production of two FAO flagship publications: the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) and the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).

The post is located in the Economic and Policy Analysis of Climate Change (EPIC) Team within ESA at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

The Office Assistant performs a large variety of routine administrative transactions and office support functions contributing to the smooth and efficient running of the work unit.

Supervision Received/Exercised

The Office Assistant reports to the Senior Economist in the EPIC Team. He/she acts independently in routine matters. Supervision received is focused on the quality of the work performed and provides for on-the-job learning.

The Office Assistant usually interacts with a wide variety of colleagues within the work unit and with immediate clients within the Organization, providing routine administrative and office support services.

Key Functions/Results:

• 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, committees, conferences, etc.
• Review, record, distribute and process incoming mail and correspondence; follow-up on pending actions.
• Respond or draft responses to standard/ routine correspondence and other communications; use word processing package to produce a wide variety of large, complex documents and reports.
• Proofread documents and format texts for accuracy, grammar, punctuation and style, as well as for adherence to established standards.
• Initiate general administrative tasks in the computerized financial / travel / human resources systems.
• Make travel and hotel arrangements and prepare travel authorizations/claims for staff as required.
• Provide assistance in the administrative processing of vacancy announcements and consultants’ contracts.
• Research, compile and organize information and reference materials from various sources for reports; create spreadsheets and presentations; manage and update databases for mailing lists and other information; and maintain electronic and paper files.
• Perform other 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:

• Three years of relevant experience in office support work.

Languages:

• Working knowledge (proficient- level C) of English.

IT Skills:

• Good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment.

Source:  https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/fao_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=2401889