Through the resolution “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument” (UNEP/EA5/L23/REV.1), the United Nations Environment Assembly requested to convene an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), commencing its work during second half of 2022, with the ambition of completing its work by the end of 2024. The resolution established that the INC should develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, which could include both binding and voluntary approaches, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, taking into account among other things, the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, as well as national circumstances and capabilities, including provisions.

Responsibilities

The position is based at the Nairobi duty station and reports directly to the Executive Secretary. Within delegated authority, the Administrative Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:

General Administration

• Drafts routine correspondence to respond to enquiries in respect to relevant administrative, financial audit, personnel matters.
• Coordinates extensively with service units and liaises frequently with internal team members both at Headquarters and in the field.
• Performs other related administrative duties, as required (e.g., operational travel, meeting assistance, registration of delegates, ICT support) programme; monitoring accounts and payment to vendors and individual contractors for services; physical space planning; identification of office technology needs and maintenance of equipment, software and systems; organizing and coordinating seminars, conferences and translations).
• May be responsible for guiding, training, and supervising the work of more junior General Service staff.

Contract Administration

• Assists with day-to-day administration of contracts between the UN and external contractors for outsourced services.
• Audits the contractors' invoices against the goods and services provided by the contractor and approved by the UN.
• Processes the payment of contractors' invoices and monitor payments.
• Prepares and processes all UN forms and permissions for contractual and work Unit, Section or Service UN staff, including: UN grounds passes, property passes, UN parking permits, swipe-card access and door keys.

Human Resources Management

• Initiates, reviews, processes and follows-up on actions related to the administration of the unit’s human resource activities, e.g., recruitment of staff and consultants, placement, promotion, relocation, performance appraisal, job classification reviews, separation of staff members, training, ensuring consistency in the application of UN rules and procedures.
• Responds to enquiries and provides information and advice to staff regarding their entitlements, administrative procedures, processes and practices, conditions of service, duties and responsibilities, and entitlements under the Staff Rules and Regulations.
• Oversees the maintenance of vacancy announcement files and keeps track of status of vacancy announcements. Reviews and processes personnel actions through UMOJA.
• Monitors staffing table and prepare relevant statistical data/charts.

Budget and Finance

• Assists in the preparation and review of financial and human resource proposals/requirements. Consolidates budget/work programme with respect to Headquarters’ budget, trust funds, grants and procurement.
• Monitors expenditures and compares with approved budget; prepares adjustments as necessary.
• Assists managers in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions.
• Assists in preparation of budget performance submissions and finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Prepares or customizes financial reports from UMOJA system generated reports.
• Co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.
• Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making.
• Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or brochures.
• Perform other duties as required.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Ability to perform a broad range of administrative functions, e.g., budget/work programme, human resources, database management. The ability to perform analysis, modeling and interpretation of data in support of decision-making. Ability to apply knowledge of various United Nations administrative, financial and human resources rules and regulations in work situations. Shows pride in work and in achievements. Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter. Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results. Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns. Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of work.
• COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively. Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately. Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication. Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience. Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
• PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies. Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required. Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work. Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning. Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary. Uses time efficiently.

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent is required. Supplemental training in administration, finance/accounts, audit, human resources management or related area, is required.
• Passing the Global General Service Test (GGST) is a prerequisite for recruitment consideration in the General Services and related categories in the United Nations Secretariat. Successful passing of the Administrative Support Assessment Test (ASAT) in English at the United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) or International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) may be accepted in lieu of the GGST.
• The GGST is administered to applicants when required before the administration of a written assessment and/or interview.

Work Experience

• At least Seven (7) years of experience in administrative services, finance, accounting, audit, human resources or related area is required.
• Experience in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is desirable.
• Working experience within a large international organization similar to the United Nations is desirable.
• Experience with administrative management of voluntary contributions within international organizations is desirable.
• One (1) year or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

This consultancy post is in the Ecosystems Division at Marine and Freshwater Branch, under the direct supervision of Associate Expert and overall oversight of the Chief of the Marine and International Waters Unit.

The overall objective of the UNEP's Ecosystems Division is to support countries in conserving, restoring and sustainably managing their terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, the biodiversity they contain and the products and services they provide for human well-being and prosperity. The Division's mandate is to address the environmental causes and effects from an ecosystems' approach, including consequences of disasters and conflicts. It helps countries develop policies and programmes to respond to ecosystems challenges, and reduce pollution from land-based activities, increase resilience to climate change and reflect linkages between poverty and environment in their development planning.

• Development, coordination, and oversight of the programme’s M&E Plan and Framework that applies the key social, economic and environmental indicators to monitor in line with GFCR Global (Core) Indicators and other indicator categories; these include investment related indicators, and blue economy sector specific indicators such as indicators specific to waste management, fisheries, MPAs, mariculture, etc.
• When needed, provide guidance to implementing partners to identified strong candidates for intervention-specific impact measurement and strengthen relationships between project partners’ impact measurement teams to facilitate alignment between impact frameworks and data sharing.
• Provide guidance and training to intervention-specific impact measurement teams using the GFCR M&E Toolkit, as well as collaborate on data management, analysis and reporting.
• Work with implementing partners to establish the social, economic and environmental baseline conditions and targets before and perhaps during initial project activities and interventions
• To establish the impacts on social, economic and environmental indicators of project activities and interventions, compared to control sites where interventions have not taken place
• To provide an advisory and oversight function to programme interventions as impacts are measured, including the quality of data collection.
• To advise on interventions so that programme interventions do not cause unintentional negative social, economic or environmental impacts
• To provide inputs on the projected socio, economic, and environmental impact of possible deals being incubated through the Project’s investment readiness facility
• To collect, consolidate and analyse impact data for annual reporting
• To document lessons learned from programme interventions
• To analyze and synthesize and actively share. best practices arising from programme interventions, for potential replication and upscaling and share with the Convening Agent as well as the GFCR Global Team.
• Coordinate the recruitment of partners that will assist with data collection and monitoring of programme indicators and provide guidance for monitoring and data management
• Consult with the independent UNEP evaluation office consultant on the mid-term and terminal evaluations.
• Coordinate with UNEP Nairobi office, UNEP GFCR M&E consultants and GFCR Secretariat

Qualifications/special Skills

Competency:

• Strong analytical, reporting, and writing abilities;
• Excellent facilitation skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement, and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Academic Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree (or higher) in environmental sciences, international development, with specific academic or professional background related to climate change adaptation, monitoring and evaluation or other closely related fields is required, A first level degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree.
• Experience: At least 10 years of experience working with M&E is required;
• Experience in working with multi-disciplinary teams, including local and expatriate technical experts is required;
• Demonstrated experience in project development, implementation and management is an asset