Business Support Assistant (Customer Service) - World Food Programme

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

These jobs are found in Country Offices (COs), Regional Bureaux (RBs), and Headquarters (HQ). Job holders may either perform administrative support functions in the front office and report to the Business Support Associate, or provide administrative support to team(s) with the reporting line to the relevant Head of Unit, Chief, or the designate.

In cases where these positions support a specific business stream, the reporting line may be to the relevant Head of Unit, Chief, or the designate. At this level, work is carried out under minimal supervision. Job holders are expected to produce organised and accurate work, undertaking specific business support activities. They may offer guidance on standard practices to more junior staff in their area of work.

JOB PURPOSE

To deliver standard business support processes for a specific professional area of work, to facilitate effective service delivery.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Gather information with clear direction to support the drafting of documents and preparing reports by other staff.
• Respond to queries and escalate where appropriate, in order to provide a timely and accurate service to clients.
• Support processing and managing routine administrative and financial tasks in various functional areas, to contribute to the effective and timely management of resources.
• Provide revision and proof-reading services for standard documents, to contribute to the development of accurate documentation.
• Take responsibility for the maintenance of set standard systems and files, to ensure information is accurate and readily available for the function.
• Identify simple discrepancies in statistics and data, such as missing information, and report to senior staff in order to support clients to deliver their work.
• Take responsibility for data integrity to facilitate availability of accurate information in corporate systems.
• Provide guidance on routine business support methods and practices to junior colleagues to ensure services are delivered consistently and to the required standards.

• Work with a variety of individuals, taking on feedback where appropriate to assist in business support delivery for staff.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Helps teammates articulate WFP’s Strategic Objectives.
•  Be a force for positive change: Suggests potential improvements to team’s work processes to supervisor.
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Explains the impact of WFP activities in beneficiary communities to teammates.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Articulates how own unit’s responsibilities will serve WFP’s mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Trains junior teammates on new skills and capabilities.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Seeks opportunities to work with people from different backgrounds.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Serves as a peer coach for colleagues in same area of work.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Tracks progress toward goals and shares this information on a regular basis with supervisor.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Explores ways to consistently be more efficient and accurate in own areas of work and shares new methods of work with colleagues.
•  Focus on getting results: Focuses on getting results and tracks trends in completion rates for own tasks to identify opportunities for efficiency.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Takes responsibility for own tasks and notifies supervisor as soon as possible of potential delays in meeting deadlines or commitments.
•  Be Decisive: Independently decides what action to take when faced with critical choices in the workplace or in dangerous situations in the field.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Suggests opportunities for partnering with other units to supervisor.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Identifies opportunities to work with colleagues and partners in the field towards common goals.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Develops an understanding of the value of WFP’s teams and external partners in fulfilling team’s goals and objectives.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Aligns own activities with supervisor’s priorities to fulfill internal and external partner needs.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Completion of secondary school education.

Experience: Four or more years of progressively responsible work experience in the relative business stream with experience in general administrative work.

Knowledge & Skills:

• • Proficient in the use of office equipment and computer software packages, such as Microsoft Word.
• • Knowledge of work routines and methods in order to complete processes under minimal supervision.
• • Uses tact and courtesy to give and receive information to a wide range of individuals.
• • Ability to identify data discrepancies and rectify problems requiring attention.
• • Ability to offer guidance or basic on-the-job training to more junior staff.

Language: General Service (Headquarters): Fluency (level C) in English language. Fluency (level C) or intermediate knowledge (level B) of another official language may be required depending on the location of the post or area of responsibility.

General Service (Field): Fluency in both oral and written communication in the UN language in use at the duty station and in the duty station’s language, if different.