Programme Assistant

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

Under the authority of the Director and Representative of UNESCO in Brazil, the overall supervision of the Natural Sciences (SC) and Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Programme Coordinator, the technical guidance of the SC Programme Officer, the incumbent will provide mainly technical, operational, financial and administrative support in the execution and implementation of project activities under SC and SHS sectors and also – when required – providing support to the other programmatic sectors. To this end, the incumbent shall:

• Support all phases of project implementation: identification of needs, proposing actions, technical and financial monitoring;
• Participate and prepare inputs for meetings involving discussions on the project development; participate and prepare documents for use in conferences, meetings, workshops, seminars, briefing sessions, missions and other events related to the projects;
• Assist the projects on budget control and administration; propose and adopt budgetary and financial indicators to provide inputs for the management of the programmatic activities; elaborate financial and budgetary reports, graphs, charts and tables;
• Assist in the preparation of terms of reference and follow-up the implementation of contracts or sub-contracts related to the projects;
• Act as a liaison among UNESCO and its contractors and donors;
• Support the SC and SHS (and other programmatic units when needed) in regular administrative tasks related to the nature of cooperation of UNESCO, such as (i) preparing reports, correspondence and documents; (ii) arranging travel, meetings and taking notes as directed; (iii) maintaining and keeping current registers, control plans and files updated; and (iv) Following-up and contributing to the proper execution of projects in the science unit;
• Perform other duties as required by the supervisors.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

• University degree in Sciences, Biology, Social Sciences, Education, International Relations or related fields.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Five to Six years of previous experience in managing technical cooperation projects’ activities and expenditures.
• Experience in supporting technical or managerial professionals at the national or international level is also required.

SKILLS / COMPETENCIES

• Strong sense of ethics, initiative, accountability, discretion and maturity of judgement;
• Pro-activeness and ability to work under pressure; accuracy and sense of confidentiality; ability and flexibility to manage workload;
• Team and service-oriented, autonomy, emphasis on quality, efficiency and results;
• Good IT skills (Microsoft package), including experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.). Experience in handling of web-based management systems;
• Ability to maintain accurate files and records; good organization skills;
• Good interpersonal skills with ability to maintain effective working relations within a multi-cultural environment: with people of different national and cultural background. Gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Excellent capacity to collect, synthesize and analyze information from various sources, to prepare draft reports and to write documents in a clear and concise manner;
• Ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural background. Gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

LANGUAGES

• The position requires proficiency in Portuguese and English.

Source: https://careers.unesco.org/job/Brasilia-Programme-Assistant-(SCSHS)/809642602/