Business Support Assistant SC5 - Programme Support, Coordination and Knowledge Management

The Business Support Assistant will deliver standard business support processes for the Programme Unit including Field Offices to facilitate effective and efficient service delivery. The role involves integrated portfolio planning, workflow coordination, programme knowledge management, programme management support, and monitoring programme workflow performance.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a centralized, programme-wide workplan with an activity tracker to track overall implementation timelines and operational milestones.
• Manage a real-time calendar tracking all planned field activities, workshops, trainings, launches, conferences, donor engagements, meetings with external stakeholders including Government and Cooperating Partners, and reporting deadlines.
• Schedule and track recurring, strategic and cross-functional Programme meetings.
• Maintain, monitor and ensure update of task-execution for mission preparation within agreed timelines, and follow-up tracking of escalation decisions.
• Ensure log in, monitoring and follow up on outstanding action items arising from required management decisions/directives.
• Oversee the end-to-end serial allocation, quality check, and review/approval routing across management levels for Concept Note workflow.
• Quality-check and track Note for Record (NFR) processing through execution and appropriate filing.
• Review, quality control and maintain continuous tracking of official letters and correspondence requiring HoP clearance and CD approval, and subsequent dispatch.
• Direct documents through appropriate clearance and approval channels.
• Monitor workflow lead times and operational deadlines across all submissions and ensure proactive follow up.
• Proactively track all pending actions across all relevant units to ensure end-to-end transaction and operational closure.
• Provide day-to-day business-process guidance to Programme and Field Office colleagues and serve as a first point of reference for established business processes, approval workflows and documentation requirements.
• Manage and govern the central Programme document repository (MS Teams/SharePoint) to preserve all critical programme documentation, ensuring complete traceability and support institutional continuity.
• Maintain a standardized directory structure, ensuring systematic filing for easy retrieval of documents.
• Enforce standard naming conventions and strict document versioning protocols.
• Maintain standardized and quality-controlled Programme templates and tools, ensuring compliance with WFP branding and policy guidelines.
• Maintain an updated library of relevant corporate policies, SOPs, and operational guidelines.
• Systematically archive, organize and preserve all core operational documentation including fully approved Concept Notes, Field Level Agreements (FLAs), mission reports, and finalized Back-to-office reports.
• Coordinate Programme correspondence and maintain visibility over documents requiring HoP/CD review, clearance or signature.
• Ensure preservation of all official Programme-related incoming and outgoing communications to external stakeholders including Government and Cooperating Partners.
• Ensure preservation of all agendas, minutes, and supporting documentation for all key meetings with external stakeholders.
• Organize, schedule and support Programme management meetings, ensuring timely drafting and sharing of agendas, compilation and dissemination of meeting documentation and translating meeting discussion into actionable outputs for follow-up.
• Compile consolidated briefs, notes, talking points and background materials for Management – Head of programme and Country Director.
• Track implementation progress on actions issued by the Head of Programme and ensure delivery within agreed timelines.
• Support coordination of missions, workshops, meetings and other Programme-wide requirements including logistics, brief packs, and administrative execution for programme activities.
• Monitor the turnaround times and process bottlenecks for critical business processes for Programme including CNs, NFRs, letter clearances.
• Track execution performance of missions against scheduled timelines from initial clearances and logistical planning arrangements through to post-mission BTOR submission.
• Monitor implementation rates and aging for actions originating from the Programme bi-weekly meetings, oversight findings to ensure decisions are tracked to final resolution.

Requirements

• University degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, International Relations, Development Studies, Information Management, Human Resource Management, Project Management or other related fields or an Advanced Diploma in the above specified fields with five (5) years of additional work experience.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible work experience in the relative business stream with experience in general administrative and project management work.
• Knowledge of specialised common business practices and methods, gained through relevant technical training and experience.
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with a range of individuals to provide a high-quality support service.
• Ability to carry out basic data analysis with a keen eye for detail and independently rectify problems requiring attention.
• Ability to monitor and record financial transactions.
• Good communication skills required to give and receive information and work with a variety of individuals.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Fluency (level C) in English.

Skills

• Public Administration
• Business Administration
• International Relations
• Development Studies
• Information Management
• Human Resources Management
• Project Management
• Administrative Support
• Business Practices
• Data Analysis
• Financial Transaction Monitoring
• Programme Support
• Workflow coordination
• Knowledge Management
• Portfolio Planning
• Programme Management
• Confidentiality Management
• Communications Skills

Languages

English