ILRI-BecA vacancy: senior administrative assistant (closing 15 January 2012)

Vacancy Number: SAA/BECA/12/11
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 2-year contract renewable

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality livestock science, communications and capacity building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development. ILRI is one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ILRI has campuses in Kenya (headquarters) and Ethiopia, with other offices located in other regions of Africa (Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria) as well as in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand, Vietnam) and East Asia (China).

ILRI also manages the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub, a new centre for excellence in modern plant and animal biology in Africa. BecA is an initiative developed within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)/ African Union African Biosciences initiative. It consists of a Hub based on the ILRI campus in Nairobi, Kenya and a network of regional nodes and other affiliated laboratories and organizations throughout the region. The BecA Hub facilities are world class, including a range of molecular, plant transformation, and genomics laboratories and equipment (e.g. 454 sequencing, Biosafety level 3 laboratory, plant growth facilities). The Hub hosts and conducts research in crop, microbe and livestock areas where new developments in science offer promise to address previously intractable problems constraining Africa's development.  Capacity building is a major goal of all activities. The scope covers agriculture and food security and their intersections with human health and nutrition, and the sustainable use of Africa's natural resources.  Further information is available at http://hub.africabiosciences.org/

The BecA Hub seeks to recruit a Senior Administrative Assistant to provide administrative and support services in order to ensure effective and efficient operation at the BecA Hub.

Key responsibilities

• Coordinating local and international travel, meetings, workshops and training courses;
• Providing secretarial support services and integrating information for dissemination to Hub users;
• Providing office administrative and financial monitoring support;
• Maintaining internal databases;
• aintaining up-to-date electronic filing systems including storing and retrieving;
• Coordinating purchase requisition.

Requirements

• A degree in business administration or other related formal education/training;
• At least three years administrative support and office management experience in a busy multicultural international or private sector organization;
• Highly effective multi-tasking skills with ability to coordinate, prioritize and organise workload
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Good communication skills, including excellent writing skills;
• Effective organizational skills, good at making decisions with analytical and problem solving skills;
• Capacity to take initiative, demonstrate good judgement and work under minimal supervision.

Terms of appointment: This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position based at ILRI's Nairobi campus and is open to Kenyan nationals only. The position is on a 2-year contract renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funding.

Applicants should send a cover letter and CV explaining their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate's professional qualifications and work experience to the Human Resources Director by registering  at this link:  http://www.myjobsinkenya.com/?s=view_recr_profile&i=100018 before 15 January 2012. Only applications that are received via this link will be considered and only short listed candidates will be contacted. The position title and reference number SAA/BECA/12/11 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the online application.

To find out more about ILRI and the BecA Hub, visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org and http://hub.africabiosciences.org.

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified candidates, particularly women, are encouraged to apply.