Admin and Resource Assistant at British Council

Role Type: Advisory, Policy & Expertise
Pay Band: 4
Duration: Fixed Term (till January 2021)
Reports to: Procurement and Estate Manager

Role Purpose

• To provide logistical and administrative support to the FCR programmes managed through the Abuja office that will enable the programmes to achieve their outcomes and targets including close collaboration with the State Offices.

Geopolitical/SBU/Function Overview
The British Council in Nigeria is implementing the European Union Conflict Management in Nigeria programme under their Trust Fund (EUTF) and the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption programme in Nigeria under their Development Fund programme (EUDF). We have agreed with the EU to deliver the Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation under the development fund. In partnership with COFFEY, we are delivering the Policing work under their Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and have plans to position ourselves for DFID’s forthcoming Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (ACorN) programme.

To support our existing contracts as well as future contracts, we are developing flexible structures that meet the global British Council standards to provide support to our FCR (Justice, Security and Conflict) work in Nigeria. The Conflict Management programme in North Eastern Nigeria is a €21m EUTF-funded Programme (2017-2021) and works with the overall aim of enhancing state and community level conflict management capability to prevent the escalation of conflict into violence in a number of locations in North-Eastern Nigeria.

The Programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and work in 3 states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as well as in Abuja. The programme is being delivered alongside a partner (International Alert) with the British Council leading the contract. The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme in Nigeria is a €25m EUDF-funded Programme (2017-2021) and has the overall aim of enhancing good governance in Nigeria by contributing to strengthening of the rule of law, curbing corruption and reducing impunity. The programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and work in 4 states - Adamawa, Anambra, Kano and Lagos as well as in Abuja.

The Agents for citizen-driven Transformation Programme is a €15m EDF-funded Programme which aims to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria through enhancing the credibility of CSOs and enhancing their role as independent development actors and drivers of change. The programme will be implemented at the Federal and in selected states where EU programmes concentrate.

The ACT programme has commenced with a 6 months inception phase from July 2018. The Nigerian context is generally challenging, having poor infrastructure and currently facing a volatile security situation. There is still a significant reliance on the cash economy, corruption is high and the regulatory and compliance structures that exist are highly ineffective. The overall economic situation is not good with the low oil prices leading to high unemployment, increasing inflation and a shortage of foreign currency causing the value of the Naira to weaken considerably.

This makes Nigeria a very challenging environment in which to deliver programmes. The Programmes Support Office is located in Abuja, but in an office separate from the main British Council office. The post holder must therefore have the ability to work in an ambiguous and difficult environment in which British Council processes need to be adapted or developed to cope with unusual requirements and difficult context. The post holder will work closely with the programme delivery and management teams as well as having significant interactions with the technical teams and Nigerian partners.

Main Accountabilities
Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties:

• To support all administrative processes affecting the arrival, presence and exit of programme staff (internal and external) to ensure they can carry out their duties effectively
• Receipt and despatch of international staff personal effects on arrival and departure
• To support the effective delivery of the programme through knowledge of key processes and official organisations applicable to incoming international staff including immigration, National Planning Commission (NPC) residence registration, driving licences, etc.
• Lead in documenting appropriate processes/procedures for various residence permits for visiting international staff and consultants
• Building and maintaining effective relationships with key individuals who facilitate the official status of expatriate staff in country
• Facilitating all clearances necessary to ensure effective entry, presence and exit of international staff and consultants
• Make key programme policy documents available to visitors, e.g. Equality policy; IT Usage Policy Code of Conduct and ensuring that necessary papers/documents required from visiting consultants/staff are submitted on time and filed appropriately.
• Provide Visa application and processing support to programme staff on official duties; provide relevant visa letters and liaise with relevant embassies and visa agents to obtain visas
• Handle all hotel accommodation, venue and flight booking arrangements for staff and consultants as requested and to raise the relevant purchase orders (PO)
• Seek feedback from visitors and staff to check quality of and satisfaction with arrangements (hotels, transport etc)
• Develop and update data of various contact details of the hotels and ticketing agents used by the programme (including immigration and National Planning Commission)
• Lead in providing timely data on costs (hotel accommodation, hall/venue and flight) to the technical team to support preparation of budgets and analysis of VFM ratios
• Line management of Abuja Driver/Office Assistants including overseeing the maintenance office of the vehicle fleet and ensuring that drivers complete and record details of all the vehicle safety checks
• Raise purchase orders and process vendor invoices on time
• Cover the Abuja front desk and ensuring mobile phone top-up is available for staff and visitors
• Provide support to the Procurement & Facilities Manager around Inventories, Procurement, Office and Residential issues etc including being the first contact point for any maintenance issues required at the office or any of the residences
• Ensure that appropriate service contracts are in place for the state office and necessary services of the equipment are carried out in line with the agreed schedule
• Ensuring that fire drills are completed and fire equipment is maintained and that any security issues are reported promptly back to the Management team.

Standards:

• Programme team and external contacts are satisfied with logistical and administrative support
• Financial administration is prompt and in line with British Council and EU standards
• All logistic arrangements for staff, consultants and visitors are made in accordance with agreed standards, in good time and communicated effectively to the persons concerned
• Effective relationships are maintained with external contacts in relation to visit management, visas, flight bookings etc.
• Positive feedback from visitors and other team members about arrangements for workshops and Events
• Service is delivered in line with Equality Diversity and Inclusion standards to internal and external stakeholders
• Personal information is stored in compliance with data protection legislation and agreed standards
• Detailed vendor contacts documented, filed and shared with other resources team members
• Line management is carried out in accordance with the British Council standards
• Inventories are maintained to global standards as verified through audits.

Staff Management:

• Line manage the Abuja drivers

Other Administrative Work:

• As required.

Key Relationships:

• Internal:
  • National Programme Managers, Operation Managers, State Teams, Procurement and Estate Manager, HR Manager, Finance Manager, IT and Web Support Officer, Programme Officers, Admin and Resource Assistants in other locations.
  • All Visiting National and International Consultants.
  • Other Project Teams.
• External:
  • External relationship management where appropriate (i.e. linked to function of role), to include: Immigration Office, Officers of the National Planning Commission, Vendors, Hotel Account Managers and other Suppliers, etc.

Person Specification
Qualifications:

• Essential:
  • Graduate level education
• Desirable:
  • Evidence of continuous professional development.

Role Specific Knowledge & Experience:

• Essential:
  • Minimum of 2 years experience of working on programme logistics for an international organization
  • Experience of working as part of a successful team/function
  • Experience working with SAP.
• Desirable:
  • Experience of managing fleet of vehicles
  • Experience of operating in a complex, multi-cultural context.