Assistant to Regional Director.

Background
The Assistant reports directly to the Regional Director (RD) to whom he/she provides support in all aspects of his work; He/she guarantees a smooth, efficient and effective operation of the regional Office/secretariat. The incumbent is the first point of contact for the RD office for outside enquiries and therefore requires excellent multicultural communication skills and an overview of the work in the entire Region. The incumbent will be expected to handle sensitive and confidential information and also have fluency in spoken and written English.


Job description
Main responsibilities
Office Administration
• Administer the Regional Director’s Office
• Monitor the office’s operational status (cleanliness, air conditioning, light, etc.)
• Ensure that the Regional Director’s Office filing system is adequate and up-to-date and that archives are properly maintained.
• Maintain supplies and ensure maintenance of the Regional Director’s office equipment.
Meetings & Travels
• Make logistical arrangements for all meetings convened and/or chaired by the RD as well as external visitors to the Regional Director’s Office, including travel, visas, accommodation and payment of related entitlements and prepare background briefing materials and documentation for these meetings.
• Make arrangements for the Regional Director ‘travels outside of the regional Office and engagements on behalf of IUCN and providing documentation/briefs. Ensure that all logistical arrangements are in order (travel, visas, accommodation, itinerary, etc.).
• On a needs basis act as “rapporteur” and prepare and distribute minutes/ updates.
• Monitor follow-up action as required.
• Prepare payment requests and expense claims for the Regional Director’s Office.

Agenda organization/Telephone calls
• Manage the RD’s daily schedule as well as the Office Calendar of Events, setting work priorities and ensuring deadlines are met.
• Manage incoming calls to the RD, making sure unwanted ones are reoriented
• Ensure the RD receives regular and timely progress reports from unit heads reporting directly to him/her, including regular meetings with the heads of such units.
Correspondance preparation, orientation and archiving
• Review and log all incoming correspondence and route for action/advice to the Secretariat staff, as necessary. Maintain a tracking system to ensure timely action on delegated items.
• Check all documents (outgoing letters, ordering forms, cheques, etc.) submitted to the signature of the RD for spelling, coherence, completeness, etc.
• Draft correspondence on issues for the RD’s signature as needed
Protocol
• Keep track of the RD’s official meetings and appointments, making sure he/she does not arrive late or miss a meeting; if necessary, visit the site of the meeting/workshop/event to properly inform the RD at the right time
• Keep a list of focal points in partner ministries including the ministries in charge of foreign affairs, Environment, Water and agriculture), airline companies and relevant partners (including foreign embassies) to facilitate contact and interaction.

Senior Management Team Support
• Provide general support for the entire Regional Coordination team (Regional Programme Coordinator, Head of Finance, Head of Human Resources)
• Prepare informal translations from French to English and English to French as required.
• Collect, analyze and summarize information, as requested by the RD.
• Keep track of senior management team travel, producing a quarterly report in Excel format
Management of the office meeting room
• Centralize all the requests
• Maintain the schedule up to date, ensuring that all conflicting schedules are managed in advance
• Ensure that the use of meeting room is properly recorded, approved and billed
• Other duties as may be required


Requirements
Selection criteria
• Higher level education (minimum 3 years) in administration/secretarial or relevant field; other training focuses may be considered if the candidate has acceptable competencies for the tasks described above;
• Candidates with Bac+3 may be considered if they justify of at least 10 years of appropriate experience.
• Have minimum of three (3) years’ work experience as Administrative Assistant or Executive Assistant preferably with International Organizations or International Non-Governmental Organizations.
• Have a good command of French or English and capacity to work in the other language; perfectly bilingual candidates are preferred.
• Ability to deal tactfully with sensitive or confidential issues and information.
• Be computer literate with proven knowledge of software (word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and Internet).
• Be hard working and able to work under pressure
• Be smart, honest, trustworthy and a good communicator.