Administrative Associate

Position Information

Job Title: Administrative Associate
Department: UNOCHA    
Reports to: Administrative & Finance Officer    
Grade Level: G6
Direct Reports: 4
Duty Station: Beirut, Lebanon
Career Track: General Service
Career Stream: Corporate Operations – Administration and Operations Support    
 

Background and Organizational Context

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)’s overall goal in Lebanon is to support the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC) in his/her function to ensure a principled, efficient and accountable collective humanitarian response to all people in need in Lebanon.

OCHA Lebanon’s focus is to:

• Enhance coordination mechanisms at the strategic and operational levels, in support of the HC and the HCT, to support planning, implementation and monitoring of a principled, efficient and accountable collective response to humanitarian needs in Lebanon; 
• Under the purview of the HC and the HCT, support the coordination of emergency response to the compound crisis in Lebanon and facilitate an early transition out of emergency response into longer-term recovery and development activities.
• Strengthen situational awareness in a fluid context, and support a coherent collective analysis of humanitarian needs, gaps and response, with the view to facilitate the development of a coherent narrative shared across the aid community on humanitarian needs and response priorities; 
• Mobilize flexible and predictable humanitarian funding for the collective response to humanitarian needs in Lebanon; and, 
• Advocate for improved protection and operational space for all humanitarian actors involved in the collective response under the RC/HC purview.

Position Purpose

Under the guidance and supervision of the Administrative & Finance Officer, the Administrative Associate provides support to administrative services ensuring high quality of work, and accurate, timely and properly recorded/documented service delivery.The Administrative Associate promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach.

The Administrative Associate works in close collaboration with OCHA team to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery.

Key Duties and Accountabilities

Ensure implementation of operational strategies in alignment with governing rules and regulations and with a focus on consistency and quality.

• Ensure full compliance of administrative activities in adherence to UN rules, regulations, policies and strategies.
• Provide inputs to the CO administrative business processes mapping and implementation of the internal standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Ensures effective administrative and logistical support, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Administrative & Logistics support to meetings, conferences, workshops, retreats, VIP missions  and other events including agenda development, scheduling and sending out of invitations, booking of conference rooms and facilities, requesting access to visitors, preparation of in-session documentation, minutes and material distribution.
• Arrangement of hotel reservations for missions, and processing requests for visas.
• Support with protocol matters & coordination with local authorities for official visits.
• Arrange receipt of shipments and diplomatic pouches, arrange customs clearances and prepare documents for UNDP/ESCWA shipments. 
• Assist the drivers in the weekly schedule of the fleet management and other related matters. 
• Check & maintain the vehicles log sheets and arrange for the maintenance of OCHA fleet. 
• Book and prepare conference rooms for meetings in ESCWA and facilitate the access of the visitors.
• Organize the weekly team meeting including agenda, minutes of meeting and action points to follow-up, and other ad hoc meetings. 
• Prepare Security Clearances for trips inside Lebanon 
• Provide support to staff members and their dependents by processing requests for visas, identity cards and other documents in accordance with requirements of the United Nations and national government. 
• Maintenance of the filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials and official documents.
• Liaise with provided ad-hoc support to other OCHA offices in the region.

Ensures effective and efficient provision of administrative, Travel & HR support services, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Arrange travel and hotel reservations and assist the Admin & Finance Officer in the preparation of the Travel Requests and Expense Reports on Umoja.
• Assist the Admin & Finance Officer on following up with UNDP on the recruitment process for national staff and consultants.
• Prepare the attendance records for national staff and to keep track of the leaves for national and international staff in addition to the CTOs for the drivers;
• Assist the Admin & Finance Officer in the coordination of assets management in the country office and in updating the inventory for the serialized and non-serialized equipment
• Assist the Admin & Finance Officer in the procurement of Goods & Services through Geneva or locally on UMOJA.
• Perform other duties as requested by the Supervisor and/or Head of Office.

Support knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the country office, focusing on achievement of the following results
 

• Briefing to staff members on general administrative matters; provision of advice and administrative support;
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:  The incumbent will be responsible for the supervision 4 drivers

Requirements

Education

• Secondary education is required 
• University Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, or equivalent field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.
• Certifications in Administration is desirable

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• Minimum of 6 years (with high school diploma) or 3 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in administration or programme support services. 
• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), database packages, and web-based management systems.
• Previous experience working with UN and International Organizations is desirable
• Experience in providing administrative and logistical support for donor meetings, country/region specific meetings, workshops, trainings, conferences, retreats, and any other events is desirable.

Language Requirements

Fluency in written and spoken English is essential; 
Fluency in written and spoken Arabic is essential; 
Knowledge of French is an advantage

Expected Demonstration of Competencies

Core

Achieve Results
LEVEL 2:  Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively
LEVEL 2:  Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously
LEVEL 2:  Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility 
LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination     
LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner
LEVEL 2:  Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion
LEVEL 2:  Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

Business Management    
Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: 

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. 
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. 
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. 
• Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Management
Operations Management: 

• Ability to effectively plan, organize, and oversee the Organization’s business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner. 
• Knowledge of relevant concepts and mechanisms

Business Management
Communication:

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Administration & Operations
Documents and records management:

• Overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving

Administration & Operations
Events management (including retreats, trainings and meetings):

• Ability to manage events, including venue identification, accommodation, logistics, catering, transportation, etc.

Keywords

• Administrative Operations
• Logistics
• Asset Management 
• Document management