Assistant To Unit Head

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The Department of Communications (DCO) objectives are to lead the development of the corporate communications plan, drive prioritization and ‘right size’ effort with expected impact for WHO; position WHO as the authoritative and trusted voice on health at the global level through working with technical departments to develop strategies to amplify WHO’s normative work; lead WHO media outreach, incl. crisis/ emergency communication with input from technical departments as well as across all 3 levels; drive all communication to the general public as well as responding to media enquiries; lead on global advocacy (e.g. health campaigns, public health information, donor visibility for resource mobilization); provide digital global production capacity &expertise to support all levels of the organization.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Within the delegated authority, the incumbent has assigned all or part of the following responsibilities:

GENERAL:

• Oversee and monitor the information flow of the office of the Unit Head, screening, sorting, analysing and identifying areas requiring action by the Head.
• Ensure effective and timely follow up on requests for information, briefings and other actions, emanating from the office of the Unit Head, liaising with units/teams, as appropriate.
• Receive visitors and telephone calls with tact and discretion, and act according to the nature and urgency of each, including redirecting as appropriate.
• Provide background information for appointments with official visitors and/or staff members.
• Maintain the agenda and calendar by scheduling meetings and/or rescheduling owing to disruption by unforeseen events, redirects visitors and callers as necessary.
• Disseminate information on administrative procedures to GS staff in the team/department and assist the staff in adhering to WHO administrative procedures.
• Monitor requests for goods and services, including receipt, payment and inventory requirements.
• Coordinate and monitor office space requirements in liaison with relevant units as required.

CORRESPONDENCE:

• Draft general or administrative correspondence on your own initiative or on the basis of instructions; finalize correspondence/reports for signature/clearance.
• Verify that outgoing correspondence is presented in accordance with WHO and department styles and check language, grammar and accuracy prior to submitting for signature and clearance.
• Analyze incoming correspondence and requests in the light of background material, instructions, policies and precedents, researching, obtaining and attaching background information in anticipation of the responsible officer’s needs, or redirecting them as appropriate.
• Identify and highlight incoming documents and attach background information and identify areas requiring action by professional staff, drawing their attention to specific items.
• Ensure that technical reports and documents are in line with WHO standards, rules, practices and procedures, editing and correcting them as necessary prior to their submission for signature or clearance of relevant authority.
• Using appropriate tracking tools, follow-up on and ensure that target dates and deadlines are met and that correspondence and queries are responded to in a timely manner.

HUMAN RESOURCES:

• Ensure the timely appointment/renewal of contracts, initiating requests for temporary and fixed-term staff in the HR Action Plan.

PROCUREMENT:

• Initiate, through Oracle/GSM procurement module, contracts for Consultants, Agreements for Performance of Work(APW), and other contract modalities.
• Monitor and record receipt of deliverables, and initiate and monitor payments as needed. Initiate, through Oracle/GSM procurement module, requisitions for goods procurement, and monitor and receipt of deliverables.

BUDGET &FINANCE

• Assists in the monitoring and progress review of projects and tasks in the GSM/Oracle work plan. Provides Coordinator/Director with timely budget information on the project and task budget ceilings, award budgets, expenditure, and funds available, as required.
• Monitors income and expenditures for planning purposes.
• Promptly follows up on financial, budgetary and any outstanding issues concerning the team/department, including ensuring timely processing of committal documents.
• Assists in the preparation of financial and technical progress report to donors.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT :

• In close collaboration with other support staff, create and/or maintain filing systems; continual review of filing system to ensure information is up to date and effectively and efficiently used.
• Obtain documents and information from in-house and external sources as required; perform information searches (library, internet) as requested.
• Coordinate compilation of technical documents requested of and provided by professional staff, other Departments or Programmes or ADG to ensure they are logically compiled, formatted and assembled to facilitate the work of the Unit Head.

MEETING ADMINISTRATION:

• Arrange, coordinate and lead administrative preparation for meetings, seminars, workshops, including preparing event plans in GSM/Oracle, letters of invitation, cost estimates and travel requests.
• Assisting with the preparation of documents; dispatching of materials and liaising with participants and others involved.
• Prepare presentations using PowerPoint and other software packages on their own initiative or on the basis of instructions.
• Schedule team/departmental meetings, according to schedules and need; take minutes and follow up on action points to ensure timely response to the requests of the Director and preparation of minutes.
• Obtain briefing and background materials for meetings, seminars, workshops, etc. to be attended by the team’s professional staff, checking their availability and ensuring they have the appropriate briefing files and documents.

TRAVEL:

• Using GSM/Oracle, prepare travel requests for official WHO travel.
• Make flight and hotel reservations, prepare travel files and deal with other related matters as requested or on your own initiative.

OTHER DUTIES:

• Perform other related duties as required or instructed, including providing support to other areas of work

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: Completion of secondary school education or equivalent.

Experience

Essential: A minimum of 5 years of experience in secretarial or administrative positions.
Desirable: Relevant experience in WHO or another UNagency. Experience in Oracle-based or other ERP systems is an asset.

Skills

• Strong skills to work independently.
• Strong organization and office skills, as well as skills in note-taking and minute writing.
• Sound knowledge and skills using a variety of office and computer packages.
• Sound knowledge of WHO and/or UN administrative rules and regulations, procedures and practices.
• The ability to multitask and work under pressure.
• The ability to exercise discretion at all times in judging the importance, urgency and confidential nature of various issues and tact when dealing with staff and external partners.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork
Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
Communication
Producing results
Moving forward in a changing environment

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Intermediate knowledge of French.
Desirable:
The above language requirements are interchangeable.

REMUNERATION

WHO offers staff in the General Services category an attractive remuneration package, which for the above position includes an annual net base salary starting at CHF 75,384 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.

• For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons recruited in the local commuting area of the duty station.