Programme Assistant

The Programme Unit of the WFP Regional Office for Southern Africa  supports WFP Country Offices in the region in developing the strategic orientation and technical capacity required to support national government counterparts in addressing underlying and structural causes of food insecurity and malnutrition. It consists of several teams with technical experts in nutrition, school feeding, resilience and smallholder farmers support and market access, amongst others.

WFP is seeking a suitably qualified candidate to fill the role of Programme Assistant in the Programme Unit (PU). The successful candidate will be expected to provide both programme and business support services to Programme Unit staff at the Regional Bureau for Southern Africa 

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the supervision of the Senior Regional Programme Advisor, the duties and responsibilities of the Programme Assistant shall include the following:

• Perform specialized and/or standardised processes and activities within the specific technical area of work supporting alignment with wider programme policies and guidelines.
• Provide project management and/or general office support following established targets and WFP’s policies and procedures.
• Within the specific area of responsibility, compile data and support analysis and preparation of reports (e.g. food assistance needs, resource utilization, programme status, performance) in order to support operational decision-making.
• Perform accurate, timely recording of data within the specific technical area of work (e.g. food security and vulnerability assessments) following corporate standards and guidelines.
• Work and exchange information with internal counterparts to support effective collaboration, implementation and monitoring of ongoing project activities.
• Support communication and activities with local partners, agencies, NGOs and government institutions.
• Provide effective programmatic support to the Country Capacity Strengthening (CCS) Officer and contribute to the enhancement of CCS programme activities and initiatives across country offices, while also supporting the Gender, Inclusion, and Protection portfolio of work.
• Enhance knowledge-sharing and organisational learning by serving as the Knowledge Management Focal Point, fostering the efficient utilisation and dissemination of valuable information within the organisation.
• Act as a point of contact for resolution of general operational queries requesting assistance where necessary.
• Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP is able to quickly respond and deploy needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.

Under the Business Support role, the duties and responsibilities include:

• Coordinate administrative arrangements for workshops: booking of venues, preparation of budget estimates, administrative notes, flight schedules, airport pick-up lists, rooming lists and ordering stationery and equipment;
• Process all procurement requests: sourcing of quotations, processing of purchase requisitions, purchase orders and invoice payments;
• Assist country offices with processing of FLAs, PODAs and invoices;
• Conduct monthly follow ups with finance on Programme Unit extra-budgetary fund consumption reports and ensure commitment items are cleared;
• Prepare annual budget estimates and procurement plans for Programme Unit;
• Follow-up on the submission of back to office reports (BTORs), maintain a reports database on the Programme drive and update the tracking sheet regularly;
• Update the Programme Unit oversight mission tracking sheet, follow-up on recommendations and upload reports on SharePoint;
• Update the Programme Unit and RD’s leave and mission plans regularly;
• Coordinate the completion and signing of monthly timesheets by all Programme Unit staff and submission of leave forms to HR;
• Coordinate the induction, onboarding and setting up of workstations for new Programme Unit staff;
• Provide administrative support to the Programme team and country office staff;
• Perform other duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Education: Secondary school education accompanied by a tertiary qualification in Business administration, Social sciences, Agriculture or related field
• Experience: As at least 5 years of experience in Project and Programme management, Business support and Administration,
• Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English.

Source: https://career5.successfactors.eu//career?career_ns=job_listing&company=C0000168410P&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&rcm_site_locale=en_GB&career_job_req_id=833298