Administration Officer at World Food Programme

Job description

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to end global hunger. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. Present in nearly 80 countries, the organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Administration Service portfolio for WFP operations includes travel services for WFP employees, delivering and maintaining the most fit-for-purpose facilities, managing our pool of assets and providing infrastructure and emergency response capacity through sophisticated engineering services, light fleet management and humanitarian accommodation and with administrative field support teams available in all these areas. We always aim to deliver in line with WFP's corporate commitment to Cost Excellence and sustainability, measuring and reducing our environmental impact in all that we do.

The selected Administration Officer will be based in Johannesburg, South Africa and under the direct supervision of the Regional Finance Administrative Officer.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Within delegated authority, the Administration Officer will be responsible for providing guidance, oversight, and support for the management of Administration activities. More specifically he/she will be accountable for the following duties:
• Develop and implement WFP regional/country plans, including administrative processes, aligned with regional and wider WFP strategies and policies to facilitate efficient and effective administration services;
• Contribute to the development of strategic annual plans, contributing to longer term strategies and improvements to policies, systems and procedures to ensure services provided support WFP strategic objectives and comply with corporate policies, standards, regulations, and processes;
• Manage and/or carry out complex data analysis to provide management and clients with the accurate information and reports for efficient planning and decision-making;
• Manage the existing resources in the area of responsibility (e.g. WFP managed facilities, assets, travel management, etc.) and estimate new requirements aiming at efficiency, cost-effectiveness and timeliness of operations and services;
• Utilize, manage, monitor, and analyse data from a variety of systems used for asset and Administration management (Physical Inventory Management, using GEMS mobile, Fleet Management System, Travel Management – using a WINGS-based system, and Facilities Management – using Archibus);
• Facilitate the compliance of the services provided (e.g. WFP managed facilities, assets and travel management, etc.) with the corporate Occupational Safety and Health Policy and provide recommendations to the management on any improvements/changes, when required;
• Review Administration Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in Country Offices, to ensure compliance and consistency – recommend adjustments where necessary;
• Develop and implement checklists for compliance for complete administration function oversight;
• Review agreements with suppliers and MoUs with other UN Agencies to ensure alignment;
• Ensure payments are processed promptly and in accordance with IPSAS requirements;
• Promote a culture of environmental sustainability throughout WFP by role modelling actions that drive sustainability in all administrative activities;
• Manage and motivate a multicultural team(s), provide coaching, training and guidance as required to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance, reviewing staff capacity and proposing methods to build capacity;
• Build productive partnerships with WFP stakeholders, other UN agencies and local government offices;
• Strengthen the capacity of WFP staff and partners through the delivery of trainings, workshops, daily interaction, etc. for efficient and effective delivery of food assistance to beneficiaries;
• Contribute to preparedness actions such as risk analysis, and contingency planning, monitoring the management of risks and reporting on actions taken;
• Frequent travel to Country Offices and remote field locations;
• Any other duties as may be assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University degree in Business/Public Administration, Engineering, or other relevant field relating to office management and administration, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• At least 5 years work experience in Administration Management;
• Previous international work experience – either with UN organisation or international organization is an asset;
• Proven track record of successful customer service approach when responding to counterparts/stakeholders – both internal and external;
• Extensive experience with Contract and Asset Management;
• Experience managing multi-functional, culturally diverse teams of staff;
• Proven experience providing a supportive role leading projects and implementing strategic vision into functional policies;

Knowledge & Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of internal controls and proper accounting procedures (IPSAS) and systems to recommend improvements where necessary to address current weaknesses, mitigate risks to mission-critical WFP operations and maximise client satisfaction;
• Applies expert knowledge of administration best practice, concepts and principles and advanced understanding of WFP standards, processes and infrastructure to manage optimisation across the entire organisation, and to drive technological and process improvements which position WFP as a pioneer in administrative services;
• Proactively monitors performance and delivers high quality service to meet the needs of customers, requesting customer feedback and taking ownership of customer problems that arise. Pre-empts needs of customers based on experience;
• Knowledge and experience with UN procedures and practices, desirable;
• Desirable – knowledge and/or experience in collaborating and implementing Occupational Health and Safety projects.

Languages:

Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
Proficiency in a second UN official language to at least intermediate standard is highly regarded.