Terms of Reference Programme Assistant at the UNESCO San José Office Temporary Contract The UNESCO Office in San José, Costa Rica, coordinates UNESCO s work in Central America and Mexico. It also is UNESCO s representation to five of Member States (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). Its mission is to promote sustainable development, democracy and peace through education, culture, the sciences and communication. In support for the five programmes of the Office (Education, Culture, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, and Communication and Information), UNESCO San José is looking to contract a programme assistant. Duty Station: Post title: Contract Duration: San José, Costa Rica Programme Assistant 9 months (with a probationary period of 3 months) Expected start date: 9 th January 2017 Activities and tasks of the Programme Assistant: The Programme Assistant works under the overall supervision of the Director of the Office and under the direct supervision and guidance of the Programme Specialists, providing support in the organization and delivery of programme activities, the Programme Assistant carries out a range of specialized administrative processes and specialized support services. To this objective, the incumbent will: 1. Organize procurement of equipment and other supplies for field projects and office activities; with close follow-up and giving feedback on delivery of goods/services receipts; Initiate and follow-up procedures for recruiting consultants; Initiate and follow-up travel authorizations in conjunction with missions and visiting officials; Organize meetings and workshops by booking venues, informing participants, distributing documentation and initiating travel authorizations, and keep track of files until completion; Inform team members of specific administrative processes and related procedures, to support work planning and the timely and coordinated execution of work. 2. Produce, with self-exerted quality control of orthography and syntax, complete and in final form reports, documents, publications and correspondence related to work of the unit from draft texts in English and when requested also in Spanish; including contribution to support
UNDAF/CCA rollout in the five Cluster countries, and other UN Country Team (UNCT) related tasks, meeting set deadlines. 3. Provide information on project expenditures and status of project budgets; Compile data on programme activities to support reporting on project delivery, and keeping up-dated institutional memory; 4. Organize the publication and dissemination of official documents, reports and publications through both internet and physical distribution; Maintain unit programme content on inter-intranet sites and monitor traffic; Design and maintain information systems and databases in both physical and electronic media; set an assessment system preferably through indicators; 5. Route information and queries for response as appropriate and follow through filing track records; 6. Additional activities that may be required to ensure the success of the work team; 7. Support to the Director of the Office when required. Qualifications and required experience Education: university degree in an area related to UNESCO s mandate and/or in the field of administration and management. Work experience: at least 2 3 years experience in administrative and programme support functions. Experience with UNESCO and/or a UN agency will be considered an asset. Skills and Competencies Operational Effectiveness, Planning, organizing and multi-tasking Ability to perform a variety of repetitive and routine tasks and duties; Ability to review data, identify and adjust discrepancies; Ability to handle a large volume of work possibly under time constraints on regular basis; Good knowledge of administrative rules and regulations; Detailed knowledge and understanding of clerical, administrative, secretarial best practices and procedures, in-depth knowledge of office software applications relating to word processing, data management presentation, EXCEL spreadsheets, SharePoint, SAP, as required; Ability to operate and maintain a variety of computerized business machines and office equipment in order to provide efficient delivery of service;
Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities without neglecting routine tasks and imperatives; Organises and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, tight deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships; Plans, coordinates and organises workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines; Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and counterparts to facilitate the provision of support; Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member, and it is not discretional. Enjoyment in learning every day and in self-motivation and team-building. Teamwork: works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits inputs by genuinely valuing others ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; place team agenda before personal agenda; support and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings; Confidentiality in managing internal information; Ability to manage heavy stress and to work according to tight deadlines. Managing data, documents, correspondence and reports Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position; Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures and applies them consistently in work tasks; Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning; Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments; Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions; Demonstrates ability to quickly shift from one task to and collects and compiles data with speed and accuracy identifying what is relevant and discarding what is not, records it in an accessible manner and maintains data bases. Competent in managing databases of some degree of complexity; Thoroughly and methodically collects, verifies and records data demonstrating attention to detail and identifying and correcting errors on own initiative; Transmits file data; creates and generate queries, reports and documents utilizing databases, spreadsheets, communications and other software packages with speed and accuracy. Conscious of terminating the job without postponements for nonprofessional reasons; Interprets data, draws conclusions and/or identifies patterns which support the work of others to meet multiple support needs; Collects and compiles data with speed and accuracy identifying what is relevant and discarding what is not, records it in an accessible manner and maintains data bases;
Creates, edits and presents information (queries, reports, documents) in visually pleasing, clear and presentable formats such as tables, forms, presentations, briefing notes/books and reports using advanced word processing and presentation functions and basic database and spreadsheet software, in English and in Spanish; Edits, formats and provides inputs to correspondence, reports, documents and/or presentations using work processing, spreadsheets and databases meeting quality standards, in English and in Spanish, and requiring minimal correction; At all times shows sound knowledge of grammar, spelling and structure in the required language, and observes quality control of his/her inputs, products and contributions; Ensures correspondence, reports and documents comply with established UN standards; Ability to produce accurate and well documented records conforming to the required standard; Keeps the institutional memory of his/her activities in the UNESCO filing system; Follows UNESCO s rules, regulations and guidelines Assists, when necessary, in the visibility of the activities of the programme sectors. Language skills Excellent Spanish and English skills, both written and oral. IT Skills Excellent IT skills with proficiency in the use of MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) Other All of UNESCO s work is based on Human Rights and the Organization implements its work with a focus on gender equality. Therefore, knowledge of and experience with Human Rights and genderbased approaches will be an asset. Once the person initiates his/her contract for UNESCO it is expected that the incumbent will familiarize her/himself with these approaches and implement them through her/his work. Conditions of contract The modality of the contract is an Individual Consultancy Contract to be signed between UNESCO and the incumbent, for a probationary period of 3 months. Upon satisfactory performance, this contract will be extended for another 6 months, with the same terms and conditions. The contract shall start on 9 th of January 2017. The monthly fee is for USD 1,500. The consultancy is at a junior level. The consultant shall work on a fulltime basis within the UNESCO San José Office. The working week consists of 37.5 hours (8:00 17:00 from Monday to Thursday, with 1 hour lunch break, and 8:00 13:30, without break, on Fridays). The agreed fees include all eventual costs related to logistics, mobility, bank fees, social and medical security charges incurred during the consultancy period.
It is the responsibility of the contracted person to ensure the payment of any social security and medical insurance fees. Before the start of the contract, the contracted person will have to provide evidence to UNESCO of a medical insurance coverage for the period of the consultancy. UNESCO will not recognize any additional charges for the concept of social security, medical insurance, pensions, income taxes and other tax obligations that may apply. The contract will be formalized within UNESCO contractual framework. UNESCO reserves the right to call the candidates for this consultancy for an interview and to ask for a written exam as part of the selection process. Also, UNESCO reserves the right to request references, in the required UNESCO format. UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. UNESCO does not accept inquiries from candidates during and after the selection process. Only those candidates pre-selected for the interview will be notified. UNESCO is committed to promoting gender equality. Therefore, women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Persons with disabilities are also encouraged to apply. UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. How to apply Interested and qualified candidates are invited to send their CV (not more than 4 pages) in English or in Spanish to education.sanjose@unesco.org with a copy to a.hollander@unesco.org, using the UNESCO CV format (available here: https://en.unesco.org/careers/media/3705). In the CV, the contact details for three professional referees should be included. The title of the message should indicate clearly the post you are applying for ( application Programme Assistant ). Attachments should not be larger than 5MB. The deadline for application is Thursday, 8 of December 2016.