Operations Assistant - Agriculture Fast Track Fund (AFT) at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: 50094577
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: GS7
Position N°: 50094577

The Complex

• The Vice-Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are:
  • To develop, policy and strategy;
  • Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions;
  • Develop new financing instruments;
  • The VP will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Position

• The main purpose of the Operations Assistant will be to assist in the implementation of Agriculture Fast Track Fund Work Programme.
• The Operations Assistant will work directly with the Agriculture Fast Track Fund Coordination Unit.
• There are a number of areas in which the Agriculture Fast Track Fund will need in-house expertise and experience in portfolio management to support its operations:
  • The grants to be provided will be used for project preparation activities that will assist the investors in developing credible financing proposals to commercial banks, private equity/debt institutions, and/or multilateral finance institutions (such as the African Development Bank or the International Finance Corporation).
  • The grants may also be used to procure the services of experts to advise on structuring the investments and financing, counselling investors on discussions and negotiations with potential lenders, undertaking of feasibility studies or market analyses.
  • The Agriculture Fast Track Fund will apply the African Development Bank's Rules and Procedures for the procurement of services for both the public and private sector project proposals that will be received.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the general supervision of the Coordinator Agriculture Fast Track Fund, Operations Assistant will primarily assist the Unit in implementing the work programme, including technical support in specific areas such as SAP entry of data relating to procurement and disbursement under the Agriculture Fast Track Fund and work program monitoring and undertake preliminary analyses of operations dossiers. The Operations Assistant will therefore:

• Carry out the tasks entailed in providing assistance for operations, using the appropriate Bank software;
• Prepare records of operations-related meetings;
• Keep abreast with projects and the experts managing them, so as to facilitate orientation of clients or external parties requiring project information;
• Assist the Coordinating Unit team and Task Managers with day-to-day activities;
• Assist experts in the presenting and formatting documents;
• Assist with the programming and monitoring of operations activities using the appropriate software
• Produce weekly portfolio reports (on supervision, disbursement, audit…) and periodic budget implementation reports
• Enter data for SAP processing of Consultant contracts and ensure their timely approval
• Monitor the administrative budget implementation;
• Assist with recruitment of consultants, initiate SAP processing of their contracts, prepare service orders, process their payments and follow them up with the Accounting and Treasury units concerned;
• Monitor the status of missions involving the Agriculture Fast Track Fund teams;
• Perform any other duty pertinent to the role and functions of the Agriculture Fast Track Fund as may be assigned by the Supervising Manager of the Agriculture Fast Track Fund Coordination Unit.

Selection Criteria
Including Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• Hold at least a Bachelor's Degree or is equivalent in Management, Economics or Human Resources, or a closely related discipline.
• Have a minimum of five (5) years’ experience in project management, work program preparation and information management.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Ability to work as part of a team, and providing support to other team members where needed.
• High integrity and accountability in all aspects of portfolio management and programme implementation.
• Professional approach: a good grasp of the Bank’s organizational functions and procedures; self-control and a commendable personality, sound research skills.
• Permanent quest for learning and self-improvement, including through self-training.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.