Special Assistant to the Regional Director, Arab States

The Position:

The Special Assistant provides operational, planning, managerial, technical and coordination support to all aspects of the work of the Regional Director. S/he acts as a key interface with all various units within and outside the Regional Office, coordinating the flow of management information between units and the Directorate and thereby ensuring smooth and timely operations, allowing better planning and more predictable delivery by the Directorate while optimizing the time of the Regional Director. 

S/he reports directly to the Regional Director for Arab States.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s new strategic plan (2022-2025), focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. 

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in program results. 
 

Job Purpose:

The Special Assistant performs a range of highly specialized administrative functions and engages in special projects and assignments in order to maximize the Regional Director’s time and effectiveness. S/he will also play a role in communications, event planning, meeting support and cross-organizational initiatives with sister UN agencies. This include providing substantive analysis and summaries to the Regional Director on major documentation covering all aspects of the Arab States Regional Office work, and policy and programme activities from within UNFPA and the UN system requiring the Regional Director’s involvement. 

This role requires outstanding professionalism and discretion, organization and attention to detail, energy and initiative, the ability to deftly multi-task and a willingness to work on a wide variety of projects and tasks. 
 

You would be responsible for: 

Administrative and Operations support for the Regional Director 

• Provide support in preparation for internal and external meetings, attend meetings and conduct follow-up on the Regional Director’s behalf; 
• Draft and disseminate correspondence including letters, memos and emails; 
• Coordinate the Director's participation in key events, missions and regional groups, including on the UN reform and 2030 and 2063 Development Agenda; Regional UNDG;  
• Provide and organize relevant briefings for the Regional Director; 
• Follow up on decisions related to political, managerial and development processes, key corporate priorities of the organization, Executive Board participation and other key initiatives and fields queries related to these issues; 
• Provide support to the overall Regional Office management; serve as secretariat to the regional management team meetings.

Technical Support  

• Prepare and/or facilitates the preparation of briefing sheets for meetings, conferences, press appearances, etc.; 
• Provide the Regional Director with substantive analysis and summaries of management reports and documents requiring review, comment, clearance and approval, thus reducing the Regional Director’s time on routine management activities and focusing on critical strategic matters; 
• Produce a continuing stream of useful information between the Directorate and the Regional Office teams and units, country offices and HQ units, facilitating planning activities, meeting coordination, report production, review and clearances; 
• Coordinate preparation of position papers and facilitate completion of major reports for the Regional Director on financial and management issues for presentation at internal and external fora; 
• Advise the Directorate and teams on emerging external policy and programme priorities affecting the Regional Office work, in order to facilitate quicker adaptation to changing business imperatives; 

External Relations 

• Support the development of a variety of external communications on behalf of the Regional Director, including letters, mailings and proposals; 
• Serve as a liaison between the Regional Director and a variety of external constituent groups; 
• Support the Regional Director and organization in relevant field-wide advocacy initiatives; 
• Support the Regional Director and organization’s active public relations’ campaigns, coordinating as needed with the Communication and Advocacy unit, social media consultants and print and broadcast journalists;  

Special Projects  

• Lead or participate in a variety of the Regional Director’s special projects as needed; 
• Play an active “citizenship” role in organization-wide initiatives across functions. 

Undertaking any other tasks as assigned by the Regional Director 

Education:  

Advanced university degree in Public Health, Demography, Social Sciences, Management or a related subject in International Development. 
 

Knowledge and Experience:

• 5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive technical area, of which at least two years at the international level;
• Strong organizational, planning and analytical ability and professional experience in policy analysis and development work; 
• Familiarity with UN development programmes and working methods, particularly with UNFPA agenda, policies and programming procedures; 
• Excellent writing and strong oral communication skills; 
• Capacity to work well within a multi-cultural team; 
• Ability to form strategic partnerships and to collect and analyze strategic information in the field of Population and Sexual and Reproductive Health; 
• Strong interpersonal and networking skills.  
   

Languages: 

Fluency in English is required. 

Working knowledge of Arabic or French would be an asset.

Required Competencies 

Compensation and Benefits 

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus cost of living adjustment, rental subsidy, education grant, home leave, health insurance and other benefits as applicable. 

Disclaimer 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Fraudulent notices, letters or offers may be submitted to the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm 

In accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, persons applying to posts in the international Professional category, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.