International Centre for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT)
Recruiting an Administrative Assistant
The International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT) – a member of the CGIAR Consortium – develops technologies,
innovative methods, and new knowledge that better enable farmers, especially
smallholders, to make agriculture competitive and profitable as well as
sustainable and resilient.
The Position: CIAT is seeking for an Administrative Assistant to perform a wide variety of program administrative support services, ranging from complex to routine, all of which contribute to the efficient and professional operation of the CIAT Soils Research Area Director’s office and other CIAT programs.
Main duties and responsibilities
include:
Workflow management for the Soils
Research Area (SRA) Director’s Office
- Maintain a calendar of events, schedule
meetings/activities and management in-coming correspondence
- Oversee visits emanating from the Director’s
office
- Oversee the Director’s travel schedule and
manage expense reports
- Monitor the Director’s budget to ensure it is
within the allocated budgets and propose adjustments where necessary
Research Area / Program
Administrative Support
- Act as the ‘go-to’ person for the Soils
Program maintaining strong relationships with finance & administration
services units and be familiar with workflows for hiring, purchasing,
contracts, finance and budgets, contracts management in order to
coordinate and ensure efficient delivery of services to the project
leaders
- Maintain and update the SRA databases, contact
lists and electronic and hard-copy filing systems on projects, staff and
agreements.
- Monitor project budget execution against
workplans and provide feedback to the project leaders on the status of
their projects, advising them on action to be taken with regard to project
extensions, budget re-allocations and any other action
- Provide monthly graphic representation of
project expenditure against approved budget in order to provide project
leaders and management with a clear status of project resources
- Maintain travel and event calendar for Soils
program staff
- Work closely with Program Leaders to maintain
a database of all proposals being developed and/or submitted to donors and
help with proposal submission requirements, formatting, budget
qualifications, organizing the letters of support from partners
- Obtain, compile and extract information from
files, publications, library, databases and other sources as directed by
the scientists for use as necessary
- Prepare workshop budgets; manage participants’
travel, accommodation and visa arrangements; and liaise with accounts
staff for payments to service providers.
- Coordinate conferences and workshops both
locally and internationally by providing logistical and administrative
support
The candidate shall have the
following competencies, skills and experience:
- Bachelors’ degree in business
management/administration
- A post-graduate diploma in project management
- At least 2 years’ relevant experience working
in an executive office; handling workshops and general administration,
coupled with a good understanding of budgeting and financial management
procedures
- Excellent knowledge of MS office applications,
especially Outlook, Power Point and Excel and ability to learn new
applications quickly
- Knowledge of Spanish or French will be an
advantage
- Must be proactive in follow up on tasks, and
flexible to ‘pitch in’ as needed
- Strong attention to detail and maintaining a
timely and efficient work flow
- A genuine appreciation for and understanding
of protocol, discretion and professionalism
- A strong administrative service orientation,
ensures confidentiality, diplomacy and tact at all times
- Excellent written and oral communication
skills
Terms of Employment: The
position is nationally recruited and based at the CIAT Offices in Nairobi,
Kenya. The contract will be for a one-year period, subject to probation period
of three (3) months, renewable depending on performance and availability of
resources.
How to Apply:
Applicants are invited to send a
cover letter together with a detailed curriculum vitae, names and addresses of
three professional referees.
All correspondence should be sent to:
ciatkenyainfo@cgiar.org and should clearly indicate “Administrative Assistant”
on the subject line.
Applications and CV’s should be saved
as one file using the applicant’s last name and first name for ease of sorting.
Closing date for applications: 27th March 2015
Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
Websites: www.cgiar.org and www.ciat.cgiar.org
