Team Assistant, ECMR.1 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/21/009
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Grade: GS5
Position N°: 50070008

The Complex

• The Chief Economist/Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management (ECVP) is the Bank’s spokesperson on economic matters and the VP for the ‘Economics Governance and Knowledge Management Complex’.
• The Complex is responsible for (i) providing leadership and visibility for the Bank on economic, finance, financial governance and socio economic development issues; and coordinate the generation of analytical works to inform operational policy; (ii) systematically emphasize the critical role of knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and their tangible impact on sustainable, inclusive transformation of African economies.

The Hiring Department / Division:

• The Macroeconomics Policy, Forecasting and Research Department (ECMR) is dedicated to the generation of high-quality knowledge in the area of development in Africa. It provides technical support to operations and regional member countries through rigorous analytical work; engages in impactful policy dialogue with decision-making bodies within and outside of the Bank; and most importantly enhance the operational effectiveness of the Bank in achieving the High 5s. The activities of the department are structured around the Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting on one side, and the Microeconomics, Institutional and Development Impact on the other.
• The Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting Division is responsible for undertaking research on macroeconomic policy issues; conducting debt sustainability analysis and forecasting for policy analysis, within the Bank’s broad developmental work and operations support to the RMCs. Specifically, activities of the Division focus on the following, inter alia:
  • Conducting policy research on the Bank’s High 5s and macroeconomic issues in order to strengthen the Bank’s operations and interventions and improve the quality of policy dialogue and advocacy in the RMCs;
  • Conducting debt sustainability analysis using cutting edge methodological tools in order to improve the Bank’s macroeconomic surveillance and understanding of sovereign debt risk profile and the policy tools RMCs can deploy to contain debt distress;
  • Conducting macroeconomic forecasting and economic outlook for the RMCs;
  • Providing cutting edge analytical support to Senior Management through timely economic intelligence work;
  • Conducting impact assessment of different external and policy shocks on economic growth and poverty, resource mobilisation, investment and other macroeconomic issues and how these, in turn, affect the achievement of the Bank’s transformational agenda of the High 5s across Africa;
  • Collaborating with partner institutions; research think tanks and universities, both within and outside Africa, in order to deepen analytical capacity and broaden the scope and outreach of the Bank’s research work and
  • Leading the production and dissemination of all the Bank’s flagship publications and other knowledge products on Africa’s emerging macroeconomic and development issues and on the High 5s priority areas;

The Position

• The Team Assistant will oversee the smooth operation of the offices’ support work and related systems by assuming responsibility for the organizational and coordination of workflow as well as reviewing, processing and executing a variety of resource management transactions. He/She will liaise with the Bank Group offices across Africa as well as with various services within the Bank’s headquarters and assure efficient communication and coordination activities.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the Division Manager, the incumbent will provide administrative support and secretarial services, and carry out the following duties:

• Devise and maintain efficient office systems;
• Organize and attend to multiple meetings, appointments, luncheons and events to ensure that responsible management is well prepared;
• Organize meetings on the basis of the Division Manager’s schedule while preparing relevant documents and the necessary logistics and facilities;
• Track and follow up on documents, deal with faxes and general correspondence and briefs;
• Manage the flow of information by receiving, examining, sorting and monitoring the Division’s incoming and outgoing mail, taking into account the priority and urgency of the documents concerned; organize logical filing of this correspondence.;
• Handle incoming and outgoing telephone-calls;
• Establish and update the agenda and electronic mail address book; Drafting of mail and documents, in conformity with administrative instructions;
• Draft memoranda and acknowledgement letters to be submitted, along with their background documents, for the Division Manager’s signature;
• Prepare minutes of meetings and briefs;
• Ensure the translation of documents;
• Prepare and administratively follow-up on the missions of the Division Manager and staff of the Division (airline tickets, visas, hotel reservations, follow-up of per diem payments, transport reservation);
• Make necessary arrangements for visiting delegations;
• Provide general administrative support for the Department by liaising with the General Services and Procurement Department (CGSP) in respect of office accommodation, allocation of office furniture, equipment and supplies as allocated in the Department;
• Request for repair and maintenance works and follow-up to ensure that such works have been satisfactorily carried out;
• Initiate and prepare various administrative documents and forms, such as staff lists, staff absences (annual leave, home, leave, excused absence and maternity leave) as well as statistical data on staff, as required;
• Create and process expense reports in SAP;
• Be conversant with DACON application and procurement rules in regards to the hiring of consultants;
• Monitor and review expenses and bring issues related to administrative budget to the attention of management;
• Assist where applicable with the programming of operational activities by using the appropriate software.
• All other secretarial and administrative duties as required.

Selection Criteria

• A minimum of a Licence / Bachelor's Degree or its equivalent in Business Management, Commerce, Administration or related discipline, preferably supplemented with courses in secretarial duties, training/administration/office management, etc.
• A minimum of four (4) years of progressively relevant and practical experience, in an executive office (gained with an international organisation).
• Strong customer service skills,
• Good organizational, planning skills and ability to multitask,
• Attention to detail and ability to work with a diverse workforce.
• Strong typing skills.
• Excellent sense of initiative, confidentiality, enthusiasm, team spirit.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (attach a sample of own writings) in English or French with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and SAP).