Organizational context
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organisation established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.
The Federation is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the RCRC Movement; and expanding engagement with partners. The Secretariat’s headquarters is organized in three main business groups: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programmes and Operations; and (iii) Management Services. The Global Innovation team is part of the Partnerships business group, sitting within the Policy, Strategy and Knowledge Department. The Innovation team builds and implements strategies that enhance the capacity of the IFRC and National Societies to innovate. The team also secures and manages global partnerships and develops global initiatives. There is a particularly strong focus however on supporting local innovation efforts to thrive across our large ground network in 190 countries.
Job Purpose
Under supervision of Senior Officer PSK Coordination and Admin Support and in close collaboration with the other Senior Administrative Assistant(s) responsible for maintenance of Department communication systems and reporting calendar, all the administrative processes in the Department.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Secure Executive Support to the Director and the Department
- Responsible for administrative functions within the Department, anticipating needs and taking initiatives to ensure the smooth functioning of the Department, liaising with other Departments/Divisions in the Secretariat, as well as with Regional Offices and National Societies;
- Assist new and temporary staff in the department regarding the set-up of office space and IT equipment, briefing schedules, and other administrative assistance;
- Monitor department calendar and reporting timelines; oversee organisation of document and data management and ensure dissemination of reports within the Department;
- Maintain up to date mailing lists of external partners and contacts, including contact lists on the CRM system and liaison with the Office of the Secretary General’s Office on same;
- Under supervision of PSK Management provide support to Special Projects of the Department teams.
Ensure the logistics of the Department
- Support in the organisation of travel, manage appointments and overall agenda, setting up of teleconferences, monitor incoming calls, etc.
- Collects, compiles, tracks and anticipates the necessary documentation and files containing briefings and information. meetings, events and mission travel and ensures the required clearances.
- Responsible for the preparation and administration/logistics of events organised by the Department; helping to create and schedule external visitor programs, briefings, and special events.
- Back up for administrative, financial and HR-related processes for the Department and for the different units of PSK
- Attends meetings and prepares meeting notes, syntheses and summaries, upon request, identifying strategic content, agreements and action points for follow-up.
Enable Access to Departmental information
- Register, process, distribute and store of incoming and outgoing correspondence and maintain up to date mailing lists of external partners and contacts.
- Manage the Department’s FedNet pages and other online platforms through ensuring content is both up to date and accurate (based on substance provided by subject matter experts)
- Organise and manage the centralised file system (electronic and hard copy) of the PSK Teams.
- Provides support to the development and maintenance of electronic tools and databases.
Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team:
- Cover for the other Senior Assistant if and when required;
- Be accountable to the team manager by providing progress reports on results against objectives and risk analysis.
- Be flexible in your work definition according to needs and targets and improve team efficiencies and effectiveness within available resources.
- Be a pro-active team member fostering a customer service-oriented culture that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
- Foster a co-creative environment with colleagues in the Secretariat, Regions and the National Societies and open and co-operative view to the actors in the relevant external environment.
Education
Commercial administrative or assistant training
Experience
- Minimum 5 years of administrative support experience.
- Knowledge and experience in managing data, filing, financial and budgetary management / monitoring.
- Experience working in the Federation Secretariat
- Experience writing diplomatic correspondence and facilitating schedule and communication of high-level managers.
- Experience in building and maintaining productive relationships with multiple and diverse stakeholder groups in a large organization.
Knowledge, skills and languages
- Results oriented individual, entrepreneurial, proven ability to translate strategy into action.
- Ability to work independently, with minimal supervision.
- Reliable and detail oriented.
- Ability to draft and manage routine correspondence, including note verbales, meeting invitations, thank you letters, etc.
- Track record in producing high quality work within short deadlines and ability to make effective, timely decisions.
- High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels.
- Ability to work within a multi-cultural, multilingual, multidisciplinary environment.
- Fluency in Microsoft office tools and CRM systems.
- Fluently spoken and written English
- Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish, Arabic)
Competencies and values
Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust
Comments
The Federation is an equal opportunity employer.