World Food Program is looking for a GS6 Business Support Assistant, Bangkok, Thailand

Terms and conditions :

About WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

Background

As the Asia-Pacific region continues its dynamic transformation, WFP is assessing its relevance and repositioning its role in the region. This is imperative not only due to the transition of many countries to Lower Middle/Middle Income status in the Asia Pacific region, but also because of the recurring and increasing ferocity of natural disasters. Against this background, the emerging post-2015 sustainable development agenda and other global frameworks at play, call for a shared vision and common goals, with partnerships taking centre stage to support implementation at the national level.

The Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (WFP-RBB) supports operations in the region and in line with the strategic shift to national capacity building to achieve zero hunger, provides technical assistance to staff and managers in the Asia Pacific region to test and apply new innovative programmatic approaches – including the broadening of transfer modalities, increased focus on resilience-building and national capacity-development. Towards this, RBB promotes innovative methods and tools to meet new information needs for evidence based decision-making.

Organizational context

Job holders required to support Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director.

Job holders are expected to demonstrate responsibility and initiative to respond independently to queries with only general guidance. They have responsibility for undertaking specialised business support work in the front office of Bureau Senior Management, such as organisation and coordination of work. There is a requirement to use judgment in dealing with unforeseen problems on a daily basis. Job holders are expected to manage resources, and coach and/or coordinate a team of support staff.

Job purpose

To coordinate and control a full range of business support services for a specific professional area of work, to ensure that services are delivered effectively.

Key accountabilities (not all-inclusive)

1. Monitor and extract documents from Executive Management Group Teamwork Space in preparation for Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director’s participation in the meetings ;
2. Take Notes in the meeting and prepare Note for the Record of meetings attended ;
3. Support the Regional and Deputy Regional Director in disseminating all relevant Executive Management Group documents to appropriate Heads of Units and coordinate collection of all comments as per deadline ;
4. Assist the Regional and Deputy Regional Director in compiling the Management Plan and Investment Case Budgets ;
5. Assist the Regional and Deputy Regional Director in monitoring monthly budget expenditures on all funding sources ;
6. Support Head of Partnership Unit to organize all documentation related to Executive Board and follow-up with Country Directors;
7. Coordinate with all Heads of Units on behalf of Regional Bureau Management, inputs for compiling Annual Performance Plan and Risk Register ;
8. Follow-up with all Country Offices in the region for their Annual Performance Plans and Risk Registers ;
9. Coordinate and organize Regional Country Directors meetings together with Management Business Associate ;
10. Coordinate the Regional Training events calendar and event management ;
11. Coordinate and organize the annual all Staff Retreat ;
12. Liaise with Regional Administration team for space and office refurbishment follow-up ;
13. Organize monthly and quarterly analytical dashboards for the Regional and Deputy Regional Director using WFP corporate systems.

4ps core organisational capabilities

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field.
•  Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity.
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work.
•  Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team.
•  Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field ;
•  Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners ;
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives ;
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfill the needs of internal and external partners.

Standard minimum qualifications

Education : Completion of secondary scool education. A post secondary certificate in business administration and management ;

Experience : Six or more years of responsible experience in a progressive global/ multinational organizational environment, with specific experience in data analysis, budget monitoring and general administrative work. Experience in working with Chief Executive of the organization at Regional Office and demonstrated experience in data crunching and analysis.

Technical Skills and Knowledge :

• Specialised knowledge of the application of common business processes, practical business support methods, procedures and systems used in area of work, gained through technical training and work experience ;
• Knowledge of financial and information dashboards generated through digital tools (e.g., Tableau) ;
• Good communication skills in order to provide specialised business support services to a wide range of individuals ;
• Ability to analyse and interpret financial data and monitor budgets ;
• Ability to proactively identify and recommend areas for improvement to the design and delivery of specialised services ;
• Ability to build relationships with a variety of individuals across functions ;
• Experience in coordinating the work of others and self and training and supporting others ;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.

Language : Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Thai

Deadline for applications

Friday 19 October 2018 (Midnight Bangkok Time)

Only short-listed candidate will be contacted

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WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

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Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.