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 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 the West & Central Africa Region.
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 strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.
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 programme results.
Job Purpose:
The Special Assistant performs a range of 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 including speech writing, preparing presentations using the most appropriate software/digital tool and other event planning, meeting support and cross-organizational initiatives with sister UN agencies. This includes carrying out substantive analysis and providing summaries to the Regional Director on major documentation covering all aspects of the West & Central Africa 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.
Qualifications and Experience:
Education:
Advanced university degree in Political Science, International Relations, Communication, English and or French Literature, Marketing, Social Sciences or a related subject.
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:
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Fluency in English and French is required to enable effective communication with English speaking and French speaking country coordination groups and local organizations (West and Central Africa region)
Compensation and Benefits:
This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus 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.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
