Executive Associate

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in nearly 170 countries and territories. Anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to the principles of universality, equality and leaving no one behind, UNDP’s priorities are set in its Strategic Plan, aiming to help countries achieve sustainable development by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shocks.

The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) is responsible for positioning UNDP as the world’s leading global development agency, promoting its global authority and thought leadership on sustainable development and the interconnected issues of poverty, inequality, and climate change. BERA leads and supports UNDP in building and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances essential to achieving its mission. Creating strong political and financial backing for UNDP by providing partners and supporters with a clear understanding of what UNDP does and how our mission, capabilities and flagship services relate to them. The Bureau leads UNDP’s work on innovative and diversified partnerships and ways of financing the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also responsible for global campaigns on critical development issues, which aim to inform government policies and build partnerships around high-impact solutions. BERA coordinates and sets corporate standards across the functions of partnerships, marketing and communications within UNDP and leads on internal communications.

The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy is positioned around three service lines; Public Partnership; Advocacy, Marketing and Communications; and Private and Finance Partners, all working in close collaboration and coordination under the guidance of the Directorate and with the support of the Management Support Unit and Strategic Analysis and Engagement team.

BERA has a robust network of Representation Offices (Brussels, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and Washington D.C.) and Regional Teams in five hubs (Africa, Arab States, Asia Pacific, Europe and CIS, and Latin American and the Caribbean) co-led with Regional Bureaux, all of which play a critical role in audience centric communications and management and strengthening of relationships with Public and Private Partners to help build a strong brand for UNDP within the local ecosystem.

The Executive Associate serves as focal point for all communications and appointments with the Assistant Secretary-General and Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, coming from external development partner delegations such as Ambassadors, Parliamentarians and other high level senior officials, as well as from within the UN System, including UNDP senior staff at HQ and in the field.

The Executive Associate to the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of BERA works in close collaboration with the other units of the Bureau to support the implementation of the Bureau’ s mandate. The Executive Associate maintains close collaborative arrangements with all UN partners, including the UN Secretariat, Programmes and Agencies.

Another support function of the Executive Associate is to provide leadership for the protocol functions of the Bureau and giving guidance on the same to the administrative staff of Representation Offices….Full confidentiality in all aspects of assignment and maintenance of protocol procedures, management of information flow and follow-up on deadlines and commitments made are the fundamentals of the organizational context. The Executive Associate is also responsible for the smooth flow of a heavy volume of work dealing with a wide range of confidential matters, under constant time pressure -including logistics related to the ASG’s travel, correspondence and schedule.

The incumbent works closely with the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of BERA.

Duties and Responsibilities

1) Effective and efficient functioning of the Office of Assistant Administrator and Director BERA focusing on achievement of the following results:

Manage the schedule I calendar for the Assistant Secretary-General and Director I BERA with external and internal parties including visitors from external organizations, other UN agencies, Governments, Permanent Missions to the UN, HQ and country office staff, as well as internal and external meetings, determining priority requirements;

Support the Special Assistant and other Units in preparing official travels of the Director including travel logistics, meetings with officials concerned for each official mission, coordinates accordingly with the different parties and offices;

Maintain protocol procedures;

Coordinate high quality briefing materials for appointments and meetings and in cooperation with the Special Assistant ensures briefing materials for missions are complete;

Manage the Assistant Secretary-General and Director I BERA missions and representation schedule.

Maintain the rosters of high-level contacts and telephone lists;

Prepare correspondence, directives, comments on behalf of the Assistant Secretary-General and Director/BERA for his/her signature and making follow-up when required;

Use of automated office management systems for effective functioning of the office of Assistant Secretary-General and Director/BERA;

Manage e-mail and correspondence flow, ensuring prioritization and effective follow-up;

Receives visitors, handles telephone inquiries directly or refers them to the appropriate staff member for action;

Close cooperation with the Executive Assistant of the Deputy Director in BERA to ensure uninterrupted support to the Assistant Secretary-General and Director/BERA.

2) Provision of effective communications support to the Assistant Administrator and Director BERA focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Review of all correspondence for proper clearance prior to the Director’s signature; distributes outgoing correspondence cleared or signed by the Director;

Direct responses to inquiries or redirect them to .the substantive focal points within BERA;

Maintain the filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials. Use of automated filing system;

Coordinate the information flow in the office, follow up on circulation files;

Facilitate information sharing between Assistant Secretary-General and Director/BERA and Senior Unit Managers and the other Units in HQs;

Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports to the Assistant Secretary-General and Director/BERA;

Screen all incoming calls and correspondence;

Present proposals to eliminate communication bottlenecks in the office and streamline office procedures between the Directorate and other units in BERA;

Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the documents to the Director of BERA.

3) Support to effective advocacy of UNDP’ s and BERA’s activities in close consultation with the Directorate Management and the Unit Managers focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Support the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of BERA in facilitating his/her interaction (in sensitive, political , diplomatic, others) with various external partners of BERA such as ambassadors, donor country delegations, parliamentarians and high-level senior officials, as well as the Administrator and his/her office;

Maintain of information on the Assistant Secretary-General and Director I BERA and Directorate activities.

Update the intranet directory for the BERA Directorate;

Research, obtain and ensure the Director’s requirements for background materials for briefings, meetings, official missions and appointment;

Prepare public Information materials I folders as requested;

Organize official hospitality for the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of BERA.

4) Administrative support to the BERA Directorate and the Management Support Unit focusing on achievement of the following results:

Proper control of the supporting documents for payments and approval, review of projects Financial Reports;

As a team member of the BERA Management Support Unit (MSU) which is anchored in the BERA Directorate, the Executive Associate supports the Chief of MSU in administration matters pertaining to human resources, ATLAS requisitions and office operations;

Maintenance of the internal expenditures control system which ensures that, purchase order receipts are done, vouchers processed, matched and completed; transactions correctly recorded and posted in Atlas;

Timely corrective actions on unposted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers.

5) Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following results:

Contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;

Organization of specialized trainings for protocol and administrative I logistic functions;

Organization of trainings to UNDP BERA staff on coordination, administration and protocol issues;

Ensures availability of coverage and backstopping for the Director during peak times.

Competencies

Core

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery

Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement.

Technical/Functional

Operational Efficiency

Ability to identify and execute opportunities to improve operational efficiency.

Quality Assurance

Ability to perform administrative and procedural activities to ensure that quality requirements and goals are fulfilled.

Knowledge Management

Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge.

Relationship Management

Ability to engage with other parties and forge productive working relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
Secondary education (with 7 years of experience). University Degree in Business or Public Administration, Economics, Management, Political or Social Sciences would be desirable (with 4 years of experience), but it is not a requirement.

Experience:
7 years of progressively responsible administrative experience in similar roles in UNDP, specifically in HQ with knowledge of cross-Bureaux coordination and ideally at Regional Bureaux and/or country level and/or programme experience is required at the national or international context;

Relevant professional experience in a non-UN organization is considered as an asset;

Experience in the usage of computers and office, software packages (MS Word , Excel, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages , experience in handling of web based management systems;

Knowledge of Atlas Finance, Procurement and Travel module an asset;

Broad exposure to both UNDP and UN staff and partners a significant advantage;

Familiarity with BERA’s areas of work is an asset.

Language Requirements:
Proficiency in English. Working knowledge of other UN language desirable.

Other:
Non-Smoking environment.

Disclaimer

Important applicant information

Internally advertised General Service (GS) fixed-term appointment (FTA) positions located in Headquarters are open to GS staff members currently serving in New York/Washington D.C. who hold a UNDP permanent or FTA who are either US Permanent Residents, US citizens or holders of a valid G4 visa at the time of their application and whose G4 visa has been acquired on account of their employment in the UN Systems based in New York or Washington, DC.

Current UNDP GS staff serving outside of HQ must meet the eligibility criteria stated above prior to their application.

Selected candidates who meet the above mentioned eligibility criteria are responsible for their own travel and/or relocation costs

Local recruitment

All posts in the GS categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.