Project Administrative and Procurement Assistant

Organizational Setting

For more than four decades, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been working with the Government of the Philippines, civil society, community-based organizations and the private sector to address challenges in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector. Joint efforts have included increasing sustainability in agricultural production, promoting value-adding practices, improving post-harvest management, enhancing productivity and increasing the resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods to natural disasters, climatic hazards, and armed conflict.

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP) with the support of six countries from Southeast Asia, has developed the first multi-country GCF Readiness project for the Asia region. The three-year readiness project is entitled “Agriculture Sector Readiness for Enhanced Climate Finance and Implementation of Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture Priorities in Southeast Asia”. The countries included in this collaborative project are Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The project will be implemented in close coordination with the respective NDAs and the Ministries of Agriculture through the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network focal points of each participating. This regional project will build capacity to access climate finance for the agriculture sector and create opportunities to scale promising models at national and regional levels. The project countries will also share experiences and co-create proposals for sector-specific climate action at the regional level with public and private sector climate and agriculture finance experts. Investment plans will focus on facilitating farmer’s access to capacity, resources and finance to address climate change risks.

A regional project team and six country-based national project teams will be established for the effective implementation of the project. While the regional project team will oversee project implementation progress and maintain communication with the rest of the PMU to ensure a smooth flow of work, the national project team will lead the implementation of the project activities in the country and coordination for the regional activities.

Reporting Lines

The Project Administrative and Procurement Assistant will be under the overall supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative for Administration and directly reports to the National Coordinator and Climate Finance Specialist.

Technical Focus

Providing support in project administration and project implementation are the main responsibilities ensuring coherence with FAO’s policy in finance and procurement.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support the National Coordinator and Climate Finance Specialist with day-to-day management of project activities at the national level including procurement of national experts, arrangement of venues and logistics for national level workshops and meetings, preparation of inputs for project monitoring and progress reports, support dissemination of project knowledge products and materials on digital and other media platforms, support coordination between the project teams and the relevant staff at the NDA and Ministries of Agriculture.

• Prepare and finalize the project procurement plan in coordination with the National Coordinator and Climate Finance Specialist.
• Provide operational support in the preparation and conduct of project activities (e.g. trainings, workshops, and input distributions, among others) by closely coordinating with relevant government, non-government counterparts, and target farmer’s cooperatives/associations;
• Assist in project administration and maintain up-to-date and accurate financial records of all disbursements and receipts related to the project, and use these records as the basis for preparing quarterly and annual financial reports for submission to Donor, Government etc.
• Facilitate the preparation of purchase requisitions, travel requests of project staff, including consolidation, submission to and follow-up with the FAO Representation for approval;
• Process payments in accordance with prescribed guidelines for disbursement of Operational Cash Advances (OCA) and Outposted Petty Cash (OPC);
• Maintain electronic and paper filing of relevant administrative and financial information;
• Provide administrative support in the submission of timesheets, QARs and other related HR documents in a timely manner;
• Prepare and regularly update the project procurement, delivery and distribution schedule.
• Prepare procurement documentations, solicit quotations according to FAO procurement procedures and as may be required;
• Compile the resulting quotations and after endorsement by the Project Coordinator, submit for actions by the FAO /Administration/Procurement Unit;
• Establish and maintain an inventory of all project properties (equipment, furniture, fixtures, other attractive items and supplies); and
• Carry out any other relevant duties within his/her technical competence as may be requested by the FAO Representative.

FAO Standards and guidelines\:

• Liaison with OCC will be maintained, either directly or through an agreed focal point/coordinator, to ensure compliance with OCC standards, aligned messaging, and appropriate review and clearance processes.
• All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including\:
FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31\: https\://www.fao.org/strategic-framework/en
FAO social media policy and guidelines\: https\://www.fao.org/2/socialmedia
Social Media Branding Guidelines\: https\://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb5044en
FAOSTYLE (https\://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb8081en
FAO terminology http\://www.fao.org/faoterm
FAO Names Of Countries https\://www.fao.org/nocs/en   
Story guidelines, Story template, UN map standards, FAO logo policy and related branding guidelines (available to staff).
• Further guidance regarding FAO communications, policies and procedures can be found through the FAO intranet, OCC section.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in accountancy, business administration, management, or other related discipline relevant to the assignment;
• At least three (3) years of relevant experience in procurement activities and office support work
• Working knowledge (level C) of English and Filipino;
• National of the Philippines

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to an evolving and complex humanitarian context and within multidisciplinary and different cultural background teams;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Tagalog;
• General knowledge and skills in the use of standard software, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point);
• Experience in ERP (Oracle, SAP, etc.) is an advantage.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION