Executive and Administrative Associate

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Afghanistan

With more than 20 years of experience in the country, UNOPS Afghanistan focuses on providing maximum support to the Government and people of Afghanistan through delivery of projects and services in line with the government’s national priorities. The UNOPS Afghanistan Operations Center (AFOC) serves as an organizational mechanism to deliver a range of projects for which UNOPS has been designated as the implementation agency. At present, UNOPS AFOC is implementing a number of projects in a range of sectors including infrastructure (roads, bridges, justice and security, health, and water supply) development, procurement services, HR services, capacity building, and humanitarian protection, amongst others, on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan, the international donor community, and other UN agencies.

The functional objective of UNOPS AFOC is to contribute to the achievement of the development outcomes sought by the Government of Afghanistan. The aim of UNOPS AFOC is to provide efficient and cost-effective implementation services on behalf of all our partners to support the reconstruction and development of the country. UNOPS AFOC’s mission is to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders in the delivery of AFOC’s services, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, in order to improve significantly the lives of all Afghans in need.

The Executive and Administrative Associate may supervise secretarial and clerical staff of the office.  She/he will work in close collaboration with UNOPS AFCO staff, Regional Office and HQ in Copenhagen, UN Agencies and senior government officials to ensure efficient communication, flow of information, follow-up of actions, agendas, etc. Specifically, the incumbent shall perform the following duties and responsibilities including but not limited to:

1. Ensures effective and efficient functioning of the AFCO Director and Representative’s office focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Management of the AFCO Director and Representative’s office, ensuring an environment of professionalism and teamwork at all times, and setting exemplary standards of conduct for the office team.

• Efficient and discreet management of the AFCO Director and Representative’s schedules and transport requirements.

• Organisation of regular and ad-hoc meetings; preparation of minutes and summaries of actions to be taken; tracking of progress on planned issues; follow-up with focal points.

• Organisation of special corporate events, such as luncheons, receptions for high-level invitees from missions, governments, UN agencies, governmental/non-governmental organisations and other partners

• Establishment of an effective network and exchange of information with internal partners and important business clients

• Screening of all incoming communications, filter outgoing correspondence for supervisor’s signature, clearance and further action by other staff; wherever possible

• Adherence to appropriate protocol and correspondence guidelines by the office team when communicating with Government and other external partners

• Development of effective systems and procedures to improve and streamline work and communication flow within the team to meet high paced job demands and business requirements

• Use of technology and electronic systems and tools to initiate work, share information with colleagues and clients.

2.  Ensures provision of effective communications and administrative support to the office focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Establishment and maintenance of all hard copy and electronic files, reference materials and confidential records as required, and evaluation of information for retention or disposal.

• Coordination of the information flow in the office and dissemination of corporate and interoffice communication to staff as required.

• Facilitation of information sharing with Management Support and Business Development, Programme and Operations Teams.

• Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports to the Director and Representative.

• Drafting of routine correspondence, interoffice circulars, general briefing notes, documents, reports, and minutes of meetings when requested, translations when required.

• Preparation of spreadsheets, database files, presentation slides and tables ensuring appropriate style and accuracy of information.

• Management of the Director and Representative’s missions and representation schedule, as well as related travel arrangements.

• Preparation of high quality briefing and background materials for the Director and Representative for appointments, meetings, missions.

• Initiation and presentation of proposals to change priorities, appointments and scheduling conflicts, eliminate communication bottlenecks in the office and streamline office procedures between the supervisor’s office and subordinate divisions.

• Provision of all other related administrative, logistical, protocol and secretarial services for the Director and Representative.

3.   Provides support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• organisation of training for UNOPS staff on coordination, administration and protocol issues;

• Training of new or temporary support personnel on office methods, systems and procedures;

• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

• Completion of secondary school with specialised secretarial training or office management is required. 

• First University Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration or equivalent disciplines is desirable but not required.  In the absence of a degree, administrative certification is an asset and may substitute for some of the required years of experience.

• Minimum of six years of relevant experience in general administrative or operation support services in national or international public or corporate organizations is required with a high school diploma.

• Prior experience in UN system organizations is desirable.

• Proficiency in computers and office software packages (MS Office, G Suite) and experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.

• Experience in use of Enterprise systems including OneUNOPS is desirable.

• Full working knowledge of English is essential. 

• Fluency in the local language/s of the duty station (Dari, Pashto) is essential.

• Knowledge of another official UN language (French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian) is an asset.

Contract type: Local ICA Contract level: LICA-6
Contract duration: Ongoing ICA - Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance 


For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx 

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.