Senior Programme Management Assistant

This position is located in the Vienna Office of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Under the overall strategic guidance of the Chief of Office, the incumbent will report directly to the Fellowship Programme Officer within UNODA’s Conventional Arms Branch (CAB), New York.

Responsibilities

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

• Independently provides full range of programme management and implementation assistance at all phases of the programme cycle for the Fellowship Training Programme on Small Arms and Light Weapons established under General Assembly resolution 77/71, seeking guidance only in exceptional circumstances.
• Manages all travel arrangements, consolidates budgetary, administrative and other procurement matters related to the programme.
• Researches, compiles, analyses, summarizes, and presents basic information/data on wide range of programmes/projects and related topics, highlighting noteworthy issues/trends for consideration by appropriate parties.
• Tracks resolutions and other legislative decisions that affect programme content and oversees the preparation of the relevant database(s) to ensure the incorporation of programmatic and other changes enacted by legislation.
• Reviews, appraises and revises, as necessary, all submissions for substantive programmes, ensuring compliance with guidelines and programme objectives; identifies problems/issues, seek clarification from departments, assess replies, and prepares a summary for the manager with suggestions for further action.
• Drafts budget and forecast based on submissions; prepares monitoring checklists, identifying stages of programme/project development, funding source, inputs by reviewing internal and external bodies, and follow-up actions required.
• Monitors budgetary commitments, including verification of charges and obligation documents in IMIS for all financial transactions; prepares periodic budget revisions and ensures appropriate resource allocations; reconciles accounts with amended budget; evaluates trends of financial implementation and makes necessary recommendations to line manager.
• Prepares newsletters on programme-related activities; drafts inputs for a wide range of documents/reports, briefings/debriefings, correspondence, etc.
• Serves as focal point for coordination, monitoring and expedition of implementation activities and partners and participates in programme evaluation; monitors implementation at all stages to ensure work is proceeding according to established plans, including analysing implementation difficulties and initiating remedial action; liaises with diverse organizational units to initiate requests; prepares standard terms of reference against programme/project objectives, obtains necessary clearances, processes and follows-up on administrative actions and resolves issues related to project implementation, e.g. recruitment and appointment of personnel, travel arrangements, organization of and participation in training/study tours, authorization of payments, disbursement of funds, procurement of equipment and services, etc.
• Arranges for formal closures of projects, final budget revision, transfer of equipment, clearance, publication and distribution of final report.
• May undertake mission/field work in support of above activities, e.g. specific administrative, operational/control tasks for programme activities.
• Establishes internal databases; sets up, files, stores and manages data and information relevant to the scope of programme activities.
• Supervises office support staff, including distribution and review of work assignments, training, and inputs to performance evaluation.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 10 ten years of progressively responsible experience in programme or project administration, technical cooperation or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to eight (8) years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. Experience in Umoja or similar Enterprise Resource Planning platforms is required. Experience in United Nations financial rules and regulations or similar international organization is desirable. Experience working with complex, multi-partner projects is desirable. Experience in travel administration using an ERP travel module is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/231311?language=en