Special Assistant, office of the Unit Director / P.2 (Three positions)

TGF/08/FT801

19 September – 10 October 2008

Unit Directors

Country Programs Cluster / (1) Africa Unit,  (1) Asia Unit and (3) Eastern Europe & Central Asia (EECA), Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Unit

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a global public/private partnership dedicated to raising and disbursing large amounts of additional finance to prevent and treat the three pandemics.  The Global Fund has so far committed more than US$11 billion to over 520 programs in 136 countries.

The vacancy is in the Secretariat of the Global Fund. The
Secretariat manages the grant portfolio, including executing Board policies, disbursing money to grant recipients and implementing performance-based funding of grants. The Secretariat is also
tasked with resource mobilization; providing strategic, policy, financial, legal and administrative support and overseeing monitoring and evaluation. It is based in Geneva and has no staff located outside its headquarters. 

The Special Assistant will support the Unit Director in carrying out his/her duties by supporting overall coordination of the external and internal engagements, including travel, meeting support and follow up actions and providing focused management support, coordinating communications and facilitating project management of the Director’s deliverables, ensuring that actions are coordinated internally and externally.

In particular the Special Assistant will:

• Support the Unit Director in the management of the Unit by:
  • Serving as Secretariat to the Unit’s Leadership comprised of two-three Regional Team Leaders and one cross-cutting support team by attending to all aspects of meeting preparation (agendas, background documents, minutes) and ensuring implementation of decisions;
  • Working collaboratively to coordinate substantive and administrative matters with other Special Assistants to Unit Directors and the staff of the Office of the Director of Country Programs on daily management issues, on-going projects and meetings;
  • Ensuring timely and accurate completion of required inputs to Cluster- or organization-wide information requests from Unit;

• Review for accuracy and quality of materials submitted to the Unit Director for signature or onward transmittal. 
• Research, write and/or compile inputs for preparation of talking points, briefing notes and packages, presentations and speeches for the Director’s representational duties.
• Support the Unit Director in project completion, ensuring that the objectives and timelines are met by project-managing temporary task teams to deliver objectives.
• Coordinate travel schedule of Unit Director and ensure completion of all necessary arrangements for Unit Director’s travel and other representational duties.
• Participate in special projects or activities as requested by the Unit Director.

Qualifications and Membership

Essential:

• University degree in management, public policy, public health, social science or other relevant field or equivalent professional training or self-study/work experience.

Desirable:

• Advanced university degree

Essential*:

• At least two years of professional experience, preferably in an international environment in the private or public sector with at least three to four years of experience in the provision of support to a director or high level official
• Experience in administration, finance and/or project management.

Desirable:

• Experience working in executive settings and familiarity with protocol and style of communication with external bodies at government, ministerial and executive levels.

* Essential experience can be complemented by desirable or other relevant    experience but cannot be replaced.

Essential:

• Highly organized project and administrative manager
• Reliable team member with ability to work in multicultural/multi-skilled teams
• Strong writing and editing skills
• Tact, ease and diplomacy in communicating and relating to senior staff
• Discretion in handling sensitive or confidential information
• Ability to work under tight deadlines and in a fast-paced environment
• Able to work independently, take initiative and prioritize in fast-paced and dynamic environment.

Core Competencies:

• Gathering Information
• Solution-Oriented Analysis
• Building Relationships
• Demonstrating Accountability and Commitment
• Communicating Effectively
• Results-Oriented

Excellent knowledge of English, together with one or two languages from among Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish - Knowledge of Portuguese would be considered advantageous for Africa.

A covering letter not exceeding one page must accompany all applications. The letter should describe your ability to meet the essential requirements set out in the vacancy notice.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY VIA THE GLOBAL FUND WEBSITE www.theglobalfund.org/en/jobs

CLOSING DATE FOR THE RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS:  10 October 2008.

Your online application will be acknowledged and a confirmation sent to the e-mail address that you have provided. Due to the sheer quantity of applicants, we will only contact candidates whose applications are of interest for this position and who are to be invited to participate further in the selection process.