Senior Program Assistant
Job #: req22507
Organization: World Bank
Sector: Health & Safety
Grade: GD
Term Duration: 3 years 0 months
Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment
Location: Dakar,Senegal
Required Language(s): English, French
Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 6/10/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.
The World Bank Group’s Health and Safety Directorate (HSD) seeks to protect and promote the health and safety of the World Bank Group (WBG) staff and their immediate families wherever they may be, taking account of their individual health, working environment, and job demands. HSD provides advice on health and safety related matters to WBG offices worldwide.
HSD consists of three functional units:
1.Personal Health and Wellness:
- Facilitates and enables the delivery of health services and preventive health / health promotion programs to WBG staff and families living in HQ and over 120 Country Offices (COs) outside the United States, to include moving people temporarily or permanently to regions when needed services are not available locally 2.Occupational Health and Safety
- Informed by a comprehensive risk register and through collaboration with sister units, provides an ongoing assessment of personal, occupational, and psychological health and safety risks for staff across the entire Bank, and recommends implementation of controls to mitigate such risks 3.Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Provides direct short-term counseling and facilitates long-term counseling through external providers as needed by staff, and provides a variety of mental health resiliency training through seminars, educational series, and large group activities
General Accountability:
The Senior Program Assistant (SPA) is organizationally located within the Personal Health and Wellness Unit (PHW) and reports to the Country Office Program Coordinator (COPC) as technical supervisor. As such, the incumbent is responsible for work as assigned by the COPC for all SPA specific duties and responsibilities. The incumbent engages in collaborative multi-disciplinary health and safety efforts across HSD.
Dimensions:
The incumbent possesses the skills to provide administrative support to HSD staff with a basic level of independence and professional autonomy. As such, the incumbent requires a moderate degree of oversight in accomplishing tasks and duties in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary work environment.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Under the supervision of the COPC, the SPA is responsible for the provision of administrative support services for HSD staff as assigned.
Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: Administrative Support and Coordination
- Provide overall operational support to the HSD Strategy and Operations unit and act as primary administrative coordinator for the Africa East and Southern (AFE) region.
- Provide mission support for HSD Hub and HQ based team travelling to and within the AFE region related to Travel, myCard, scheduling of meetings/appointments, etc.
- Develop close working relationships with the ACS network in each of the Country Office in the AFE region to assist with providing mission travel support.
- Provide logistical support for health events in Country Offices in the AFE region.
- Coordinate the logistics of Annual PHW Team Meetings when it occurs in the AFE region.
- Document and maintain a database of medical licenses of all PHW team members.
- Liaise with HSD’s Communication and Knowledge Management Team to assist team with drafting, preparing, and editing briefings documents, PowerPoint presentations, communication materials and business case updates for the region.
- Take meeting minutes and distribute to team as necessary.
- Complete other ad-hoc duties/tasks as may be required by the Program Coordinator or HSD Management.
Institutional Policies, Processes and Procedures
- Act as a focal point for administrative, accounting and policy related queries and have a thorough understanding of administrative and HR policies and guidelines around those topics.
- Provide guidance and train all new HSD hires on WBG’s Time Recording System (TRS), Leave and Attendance Recording System (LARS), myCard, myTravel, etc to ensure adherence to departmental and institutional guidelines.
- Ensure that team members are using appropriate charge codes and internal orders (IOs) for travel and other activities that impact HSD budget.
- Communicate and reinforce important notice regarding accounting deadlines and HR performance review deadlines.
- Liaise with HQ Budget Officer and have an understanding of procurement procedures in the Country Office to facilitate procurement and purchasing of goods and services (creation of purchase orders), as well as coordinating Short-Term Temporary/Consultant contracts through Admin Portal.
Technology and Systems
- Serve as primary contact for all IT related support or issues.
- Liaise with appropriate local Information and Technology Solutions (ITS) teams, ITS Mobility and Services Center (GRAS), and other internal parties as needed to resolve and/or facilitate IT needs.
- Enhance team collaboration by promoting usage and training of platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Webex, and OneDrive.
- Keep informed of new software platforms used in HSD; ensuring that the Hub team is also informed, and if necessary, train team in using new tools.
- Attend IT learning sessions/trainings as needed.
Data Collection and Reporting
- Act as a supporting member of the HSD Analytics unit to ensure that all service indicators and completed activities are reported in a timely manner.
- Manage HSD Missions database, including monitoring of costs and cost share details of all HSD mission travel and provide periodic cost summary report to the Manager of HSD Strategy and Operations.
- Ensure that all demographic information is completed accurately in the OneDrive evacuation log.
- Gather and mange network of provider database.
Competencies: Knowledge
- Incumbent executes all assigned tasks and duties for HSD staff. This includes a wide range administrative functions ranging from disseminating communications, assisting with budget activities, making travel arrangements, collecting work product data, and so forth.
Supervisory Control
- The SPA will be called upon to assist appointed team leads on various specified tasks, program and services delivery efforts, and other work as assigned by the technical supervisor in support of local team operations.
Guidelines
- Guidelines are set forth in The WBG Staff Rules and Directives, and incumbent conforms to such guidelines as directed by HSD management at its various levels.
Complexity
- The incumbent executes both short- and long-term goals and discusses direction of programs and services for better understanding of assigned tasks and duties.
Scope and Effect
- The incumbent is responsible for carrying out the work necessary to achieve HSD goals and objectives which provides means for implementing health and safety risk mitigation strategies that can prevent staff from becoming injured or ill due to hazardous exposure in the workplace or in the course of their duties.
HSD Contacts
- The incumbent has periodic ongoing contact primarily with the COPC, the Senior Health Specialist for Country Offices (SHSCO), the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Manager of PHW, the Manager of Strategy and Operations (MSO), and the Hub/Satellite Team Leads when applicable.
External Contacts
- The purpose of the incumbent’s contacts with parties beyond HSD, both internal and external to WBG and IMF, is to respond to queries, provide proactive outreach support, and effectively deal with situations that are often highly sensitive. As such, the incumbent may encounter resistance, competing interests, lack of understanding, uncooperative attitudes, skepticism, and other challenges that must be overcome with positive and constructive dialogue.
Physical Demands
- The work requires extended periods of standing, bending, stooping, and reaching.
Office Environment
- Performs work in an adequately lighted, heated and ventilated environment.
Selection Criteria
- Minimum education – bachelor’s degree in Administration, Health Sciences, Public Health, or other relevant field with 10 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Extensive experience in a relevant practical specialty.
- Extensive knowledge and application of internal administrative and operational policies and procedures.
- Discretion in dealing with highly confidential and sensitive medical information
- Capacity to work simultaneously on a variety of issues and tasks, independently adjusting to priorities and needs of HSD while achieving results within agreed objectives
- Experience working in occupational health and safety settings
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Fluency in English required; working proficiency in a second language that is dominant in the region of hire
Preferred Experiences:
- Working knowledge of computerized systems
- Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with team members
- Ability to work under pressure and with frequent interruption
- Brings all tasks to completion and on time
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to deal tactfully, diplomatically, and effectively with internal/external contacts at all levels in a multicultural environment.
Competencies
- Client Orientation: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests, or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success
- Drive for Results: Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results and has the personal organization to do so.
- Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion: Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team’s work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
- Knowledge, Learning and Communication: Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
- Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making: Analyses facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others’ work.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.