Senior Administrative Assistant at UNESCO

Overview Of The Functions Of The Post

• Under the overall authority of the Head of the Office and the direct supervision of the Finance and Administrative Officer, the incumbent provides high-level administrative and support services in a range of specialized areas and plays a lead role within the unit in ensuring application and compliance with the rules, regulations, policies and practices in place. Specifically, the incumbent shall:

General Accountabilities

• Act as certifying officer up to an authorized level delegated by the Chief Financial Officer;
• Provide guidance and interpretation on administrative rules, regulations and procedures;
• Advise on operational and technical routine transactions;
• Recommend process and system related modifications and improvements to support successful administration and financial monitoring and control;
• Interpret provisions and provide guidance on complex and non-recurring issues;
• May supervise activities related to office maintenance, security, transport and similar services.

Finance Accountabilities

• Ensure that the Office’s financial resources and expenditures are fully and properly accounted for and that internal control systems are adequate and functioning; schedule payments and disbursement of funds;
• Ensure accurate and timely processing of assigned accounts, developing budget estimates and monitoring expenditures, participating and advising in the preparation of financial statements and budgets;
• Assist in the preparation and coordination of financial activities under Regular Programme funds and Voluntary Contributions.
• Compile and consolidate data from various sources into financial statements, prepare worksheets.
• Monitor expenditures, review payments and reconcile accounts.
• Investigate anomalies and erroneous charges and take corrective action.
• Provide assistance and guidance to undertake coding and data entry task and to extract information, to run reports.

Budget Accountabilities

• Prepare and communicate on budget reports;
• Assist and advise on planning and budgeting and recommend modifications;
• Prepare budget proposals and cost estimates and ensure that data is correct;
• Identify irregularities and undertake transactions to correct errors/omissions

Human Resources Accountabilities

• Handle non-routine or complex cases, prepare associated documents/ correspondence for personnel actions;
• Follow-up on HR actions and maintain the database;
• Issue non-staff contracts, advise on recruitment process and entitlements;
• Liaise with UNESCO central services at headquarters, as necessary.

Logistics Accountabilities

• Procurement: research and retrieve information on supply sources, vendors by commodity and obtain specifications on the market.
• Review contractual documents (TOR, budget, contract nature and type).
• Resolve issues/ problems related to delivered goods.
• Prepare requisitions for supplies and equipment; ensure that payments are processed and provide information to the assigned Sector on invoicing and payment issues.
• Arrange for control and distribution of inventory records.
• Security: Ensures compliance of staff with security travel requirements and monitor completion of mandatory security trainings.
   

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

• Accountability (C)
• Communication (C)
• Innovation (C)
• Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (C)
• Planning and organizing (C)
• Results focus (C)
• Teamwork (C)
• Professionalism (C)

Required Qualifications

Education

• Completed secondary, technical and/or vocational education.

Work Experience

• Minimum 8 years of relevant professional experience in administration, finance, accounting, or audit.

Skills and competencies

• Excellent analytical skills and capacity to make sound judgements.
• Proven experience in problem solving in the field of Human Resources, finance and budget.
• Ability to provide quality and timely support and services.
• Ability to deal with confidential matters with tact and discretion.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with a variety of internal and external partners.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to establish good working relationships.
• Ability to take initiative and seek innovative ways to improve results.
• Excellent IT skills with proficiency in the use of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and ERP systems.

Languages

• Excellent knowledge (oral and written) of English.
   
• Technical Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in the field of Finance, Business Administration, Accounting, or related discipline.

Experience in the field of human resources.

• Relevant work experience within an international organisation and/or the UN System.
• Experience in elaborating reports to monitor budget implementation and analyzing financial information.

Knowledge of SAP.

• Knowledge of risk management systems.
• Knowledge of contract management.
• Knowledge of accounting principles and internal control systems.