Administrative and Budget Support Specialist

Organizational Setting

The cooperation between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Ukraine has been designed to reinforce national capacities and to contribute to the broader development of agriculture, sustainable management of forests and fisheries, and animal and plant disease control. FAO is also contributing to building resilience and supporting early recovery in conflict-affected regions by supporting the economic recovery of farmers and rural communities. FAO’s presence in Ukraine has been scaled up across it three offices located in Kyiv, Lviv; Kharkiv and Dnipro under the overall responsibility of the Head of the FAO Office/Designated Responsible Officer in Ukraine.

The recent and large-scale escalation in hostilities in Ukraine is exacerbating the already dire food security situation of the most vulnerable rural households and small farmers. In response to the evolving situation, FAO Ukraine is scaling up its emergency humanitarian and resilience programming in conflict-affected areas of Ukraine, including previous areas of focus such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson; Lviv and Zakarpattia in the West; and newly affected and newly accessible areas. In order to address the rapidly deteriorating situation, FAO us guided by its Rapid Response Plan (RRP) that is aligned with the Humanitarian
Response Plan (HRP) and the UN’s Transitional Framework for Ukraine land focuses on responding to immediate needs by providing life and livelihood-saving assistance to the most vulnerable smallholder farming households impacted by the conflict as well as to providing urgent support to the country’s agrifood sector which contributes to both national and international food security. Supporting the capacity of the Government of Ukraine to sustain critical food system services is also a key pillar of the Plan.

The role is in-office, based in Kyiv.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Project Office and the direct supervision of Operations Officer, and in close coordination/cooperation with other units.

Technical Focus

The Administrative and Budget Support Specialist will support financial record management, data retrieval and verification, Office management including lease agreements for all offices, budget monitoring, and the preparation of reports; handle administrative correspondence and office arrangements; review purchase requisitions, invoices, and Letter of Agreement (LoA) documentation; process accounting adjustments; and provide operational support to ensure smooth and compliant office and project operations in line with FAO procedures.

Tasks and responsibilities

The incumbent will be responsible for the following tasks\:

• Support the management and administration of financial records and monitoring systems for the office; monitor project and programme accounts for which responsibility is assigned; payments, statements and other data for day-to-day transactions and reports
• Coordinate the retrieval, entry, selection and analysis of data from a wide variety of sources, including FAO’s corporate systems and data bases; verify accuracy of data and documents; make necessary calculations.
• Compose and finalize correspondence of administrative nature; initiate and draft correspondence to verify data, answer queries, and obtain additional information on transactions and financial matters, as required.
• Maintain detailed records of budget estimates, obligations and available balances; participate in the consolidation of budget proposals; prepare financial data for budget estimates and financial planning.
• Prepare recurring reports on programme, project and office accounts, report variations from budgets; prepare special reports on budgetary performance.
• Ensure administrative arrangements for the Country Office and perform administrative duties to ensure office and maintenance.
• Act as focal point for all purchase requisition (PR) and reviews requests, cross check the budget availability, use of appropriate project and budget codes and submit to Operations Unit for signature.
• Act as focal point for receipt of invoices in Global Resources Management System, review, certify, document and process payments
• Support management in the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) with follow-up, scheduling, drill coordination, office supplies, internal communication, and other tasks.
• Act as focal point for office management, office logistics including management of lease agreement for Kyiv and field offices.
• Review requests for payment receipts of goods and services, Grants, Cash, Voucher and LoA in accordance with the relevant sections of the FAO Manual; check and verify LoA financial reporting as per approved budget and obtains additional information as required.
• Check all invoices for payments and make receipt for payment
• Support the coordination and organization of management events
• Process accounting adjustments to original transactions as requested and in case of wrong charges.
• Performs other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Business Administration, Management, Project Management, or a related field.
• At least two (2) years of relevant experience in administrative support, financial record management, budget monitoring, procurement support or related operational and office administration functions.
• Working knowledge (Level C or native) of English
• Working knowledge (Level C or native) Ukrainian
• National of Ukraine

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Confident user of Microsoft Office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Sharepoint, etc.).
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, adapt to evolving and complex humanitarian contexts, and operate within multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
• Strong interpersonal, proactive and analytical skills, with a proven ability to work as part of a team.
• Good records management and organizational skills
• Capacity to meet tight deadlines and work independently with minimal supervision.
• Good knowledge of humanitarian principles.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION