Regional Office Assistant

**ID**- 31888- **Location**
- PANAMA CITY-
- **Date of issue**- 11/07/2025-
- **Close Date (Midnight, Rome Time)**- 11/24/2025-
- **Organizational Unit**- Latin America & Caribbean Div.-
- **Full/Part Time**- Full-Time-
- **Regular/Temporary**- Regular-
- **Assignment Duration**- 2 Years-
- **Grade**- G-5- ** Organizational Setting**:The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.
- The Department for Country Operations (DCO) oversees the origination, design and management of IFAD investments, including sovereign and non-sovereign operations, as well as the design and implementation of non-lending activities within country programmes, including policy engagement and SSTC. DCO is the department that primarily interfaces with governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver IFAD's programme of work and to provide oversight to ensure quality of the portfolio.
- DCO is led by an Associate Vice-President and is composed of five (5) regional divisions: Asia and the Pacific Division (APR), East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), Latin America and Caribbean Division (LAC), Near East, North Africa and Europe Division (NEN) and West and Central Africa Division (WCA), the Private Sector Operations Division (PSD), and two (2) units: the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Unit (SSTC) and the fragility unit (FRU).
- The Regional Division LAC is led by a Divisional Director, based in the IFAD Regional Office Panama City, Panama. The Division leads on the design and delivery of IFAD country and regional programmes in LAC. The precise country coverage of the division varies across replenishment periods.

** Job Role**:The Regional Office Assistant (OA) is accountable for the management of administrative services and workflows at divisional level and responsible for providing administrative and secretarial support, with a primary focus on supporting the Director, executing a broad variety of routine tasks and some specialized for the respective area, requiring thorough knowledge of IFAD administrative procedures, processes and policies.
- The incumbent provides support for administrative activities including business support to the Regional Director, logistics support to the RO; and collaborates closely with the ROR Analyst to ensure a smooth flow of the Regional office, to monitor Front Office budget and expenditures and create synergies with other Office Assistants across Regional Offices and with the DCO Front Office to ensure consistency in administrative related matters.
- The accountabilities/key results expected are:

- Business support to Director
- Support to Resource management and planning
- Divisional outputs and activities
- Divisional Communications and Information Management
- Managerial functions
**Key Functions and Results**:1. BUSINESS SUPPORT TO DIRECTOR: The Office Assistant organizes and manages the office business and support RO Director, to ensure integrity and adherence to established rules and procedures. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to:

- Maintaining the supervisor's calendar and managing the travel arrangements (including related ERP transactions handling of visas and logístical arrangements and compliance with UNDSS recommendations on travel);
- Prepare briefing materials for official trips or meetings;
- Draft responses to written inquiries on routine and non-routine queries and coordinating responses to sensitive or complex issues;
- Liaise with internal (Field and HQ) and external clients for the smooth functioning of business operations;
- Organize the logistics of internal and external meetings/committees;
- Review all correspondence and official documents for style, factual and grammatical accuracy, as well as conformance with established guidelines and procedures;
- Prepare the submission of correspondence for the supervisor's signature.
- 2. SUPPORT TO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING: The Office Assistant provides support in the planning and delivery of the divisional work plan(s) and budget. Accountabilities typically include but are not limited to:

- Contribute to coordinating office work plan(s) and generating regular reviews and final reporting;
- Originating the procurement of goods and services (e.g. non-staff recruitments, commercial and non-commercial entity contracts);
- Maintaining accurate travel expenses documentation and records of other expenditure, Handling payments; tracking deliveries, etc
- Managing and following up on procurement of necessary office goods, supplies and services; gathering quotations;
- Initiating HR-related