Jobs and Careers

JOB DESCRIPTION: 

Objective of the assignment is to provide not only administrative and financial support to the Lab to ensure smooth implementation of ongoing projects but also to support the team in designing new concepts and proposals, preparation of reports and communication activities. Project Assistant will work under the direct supervision of the SDG Innovation Lab Lead.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

- Contribute to development of concept papers, project proposals, ProDocs and Project Initiation documents and other project documents in cooperation with the team members;
- Provide support in communication with project partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries;
- Contribute to preparation of written materials, reports within the assigned area. Support projects communication activities and ensure the project's visibility in print, broadcast and social media;
- Assist the project team through technical backstopping, report preparation, and translations. Support with translation of relevant communication, information notes, short reports, etc.;
- Support ensuring project compliance on corporate platforms, including reporting and quality assurance. Administrative and financial support;
- Provide support to the project management in day-to-day coordination, arrangement of timely implementation of activities;
- Provide support to the project management in planning, daily implementation, coordination and monitoring of annual work plan activities;
- Liaise with stakeholders on consultations, provide information related to the expected project outputs;
- Compile, analyze, summarize data and records of project activities;
- Ensure accurate observance of administrative rules, regulations and procedures in line with the UNDP SoPs for Recruitment /Procurement/ Finance;
- Assume administrative responsibility in arrangement of meetings, seminars, workshops, conferences, advisory board meetings and other, draft agendas, prepare knowledge products, documentation, visibility materials, participant logs, press releases for media and stakeholders; prepare notes and drafts minutes of working meetings, workshops, advisory board meetings; draft correspondence relating to assigned project areas; clarify, follow up, respond to requests for information in coordination with projects team(s);
- Assist the Project Coordinators in preparing budgets revisions, monthly, quarterly, progress and financial reports and other required documents in due consideration of all UNDP rules and procedures;
- Support the Project Coordinator in preparation of reports about the status of the project budget including the status of commitments, expenses and full asset costs, advances and budget balance, budget projection, as well as upon necessity update the financial projections in consultation with the Project Coordinator;
- Support the Project Coordinator to prepare the schedule of all recurring activities with reference to Project Documents and/or Initiation Plans as well as UNDP rules and procedures (i.e. board meetings, quality assurance reporting, monitoring and risk management, evaluations, submission of recruitment plans and other documents etc.);
- Prepare and submit Requests for Direct payments to the UNDP Country Office, maintain financial records, monitor and reconcile expenditures, balances, payments, statements, other data for day- to-day transactions and report;
- Ensure smooth financial operation of project activities and follow up on all financial transactions. Prepare vouchers, requisitions, create receipts, note to files and other required documents, monitor projects budgets in Atlas, and maintains Atlas logs in consultation with Project Coordinators;
- Ensure maintenance of records on assets management. Act as the custodian for office furniture, including maintenance of inventory records, and preparation of detailed reports as required;
- Maintain accurate records of leave taken and due for all programme/ project staff;
- Perform other job-related duties as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

Education:
- Secondary education;
- Bachelor's degree in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Political or Social sciences or relevant field will be given due consideration.

Experience:
- At least 5 years (with secondary education) or 2 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant administrative or programme/ project experience at the national level.

Required Languages:
- Fluency in English and Armenian languages;
- Knowledge of Russian language is an asset.

Required Skills:
- Excellent written and oral communication skills;
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a collaborative team and process;
- Experience in the usage of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Desired Skills in addition to the Competencies Covered in the Competencies Section:
- Ability to support budgetary aspects of the work planning process;
- Work experience with the United Nations system or international organizations is an advantage;
- Experience working in a dynamic environment is an asset.

Competencies
Core Competencies:
- Achieve Results: Level 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline;
- Think Innovatively: Level 1: Open to creative ideas/ known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements;
- Learn Continuously: Level 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback;
- Adapt with Agility: Level 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/ uncertainty, is flexible;
- Act with Determination: Level 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident;
- Engage and Partner: Level 1: Demonstrates compassion/ understanding towards others, forms positive relationships;
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Level 1: Appreciate/ respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies:
- Business Management: Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making;
- Business Development: Knowledge generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need;
- Administration and Operations: Documents and records management: Overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving;
- General (Across the functions): Writing and editing: Ability to create and/or edit written content in different UN languages;
- Business Management: Customer Satisfaction/ Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs;
- Business Management: Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES: 

Interested candidates may view the vacancy notice and apply through the following link: https://tinyurl.com/4kmekvd3.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this announcement through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am. Thanks.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: 

- Contract type: National Personnel Service Agreement - NPSA
- Position level: NB2/NPSA5

ABOUT: 

The complexity and interconnectedness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require novel approaches, methodologies, strong data systems, and institutions that would have the capacity to provide ‘out of the box' solutions to the problems faced by the global community. In response, the United Nations and the Government of Armenia have established the Armenia National SDG Innovation Lab as a platform for collaboration, experimentation, analytics and world-class human resource development to accelerate the implementation of the Agenda 2030. The Lab is the first of its kind in country platform to support SDG implementation at country level. To do this, the Lab has adopted a toolbox of innovative methodologies such as behavioral experimentation, data analytics, impact investment and capacity building in the Lab’s most advanced public policy techniques. After the completion of its start-up phase (Phase I, Nov 2017 – Feb 2018), which involved initial set up, recruitment of core staff, resource mobilization, the Lab has entered its Phase II with several projects already in the pipeline from Phase I and many more already both in implementation phase as well as at concept stage ready to be implemented. The Lab aims at mainstreaming citizen-centric decision-making and evidence-based policymaking which are key contributing factors to effectiveness in the public sector. To promote entrenching these approaches into the process of public policymaking, the Lab closely cooperates with the Government.