Program Assistant

Tokyo

Organization: World Bank Group
Location: Tokyo
Grade: Level not specified - Level not specified
Occupational Groups:
- Administrative support
- Project and Programme Management
Closing Date:

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. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org.

Infrastructure Vice Presidency

Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Vice Presidency within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. It currently consists of four global departments: Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport (TRA); Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Global Infrastructure Finance Department. It oversees the Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank’s portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure.

The Urban, Resilience and Land Global Department (URL) covers a range of issues including: (i) supporting the development of green, inclusive, resilient and productive cities, including harnessing urbanization to contribute to growth and poverty reduction, and strengthening local governments’ capacity to plan, finance and deliver services and infrastructure investments; (ii) promoting efficient, well-coordinated spatial and territorial development processes including strengthening rural-urban linkages and developing lagging regions; (iii) strengthening disaster risk management policies, institutions and regulations and mainstreaming resilience across development sectors including risk assessment and mapping, risk reduction, disaster preparedness and risk financing; (iv) post-conflict reconstruction and recovery; (v) strengthening land tenure, management and information systems; and (vi) supporting the development of national and sub-national spatial data infrastructure and supporting the development of geospatial information.

The URL Global Programs Unit also hosts several strategic programs such as the City Resilience Program, the Global Program for Sustainable Cities, the Smart Cities Program, among others. Trust Funds and partnerships, including the Global Partnership for Results-Based Approaches (GPRBA) and Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) and working with bilateral donors, multilateral agencies as well as non-funding partners such as academic institutions, non- governmental organizations and civil society are a cornerstone of GPURL’s work and outreach efforts.

REGIONAL/COUNTRY/GLOBAL UNIT CONTEXT

The Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) program is a partnership of the Government of Japan and the Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land (GPURL) of World Bank based in Tokyo, Japan. TDLC supports and facilitates strategic WBG and client country collaboration with select Japanese cities, agencies and partners for joint research, knowledge exchange, capacity building and other activities that develop opportunities to link Japanese and global expertise with specific project-level engagements in developing countries to maximize development impact. The program is global in reach and thematically focused on urban planning, urban service provision, urban management, social development, land management, territorial development, sustainable tourism, local economic development, competitiveness, and municipal finance.

TDLC also serves as a platform for the dissemination of development knowledge and activities with the Japanese public sector, private sector and public. Activities that favorably present the development efforts of Japan with the World Bank are encouraged by the donor. Engaging directly with municipal officials, academia, and private sector entities in Japan to broaden stakeholder engagement has been a particular focus of this phase of the partnership.

TDLC supports an active portfolio and a growing lending and analytical activities relating to climate change, urban infrastructure, municipal finance, resilience, urban transport, urban governance and waste management. Given the increasing vulnerability of IDA and IBRD countries to climate change, TDLC is integrating climate resilience into its knowledge programs.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Provides administrative support for preparation and implementation of the TDLC activities according to Bank procedures;

A. Transaction Processing

• Process transactions in accordance with World Bank procedures. This includes but not limited to processing of contracts using the Admin Portal, creating and/or adjusting Purchase Orders (POs), creating UPIs and opening/adjusting consultant contacts, processing payments and any other transaction as required by the TTL.

• Create travel requests and enter the SOEs of consultants, visitors, and others into the system in a timely manner, ensuring all necessary documentation complies with the Bank's travel policy.

• Assist in the monitoring of the unit’s budget, ensuring accurate recording of expenses and adherence to policies, identifying problems and discrepancies and actively pursuing solutions.

• Assists with end-of-year closing requirements that include reviews and follow-ups to ensure that consultant commitments and balances are paid and contracts are closed accordingly, particularly during the last quarter of the fiscal year.

B. Office Administrative Support

• Support the design, adherence and supervision of general office administrative procedures.

• Coordinates schedules taking priorities into account, monitors changes and communicates the information to the task teams.

• Assists the team in drafting routine correspondences and documents and proofreading material using proper grammar, punctuation, and style in English and Japanese.

• Maintains a good filing system using SharePoint and other Bank repositories, for hard and soft copies of documents, and shares with other team members.

• Maintains current distribution lists, phone/address lists of project/product contacts, and distributes documents for the team.

• Support TTL in recruiting and on-boarding processes for new staff, including coordination of panel members, interview scheduling, filing of documents, and coordinating with HR on COMPASS-related tasks.

• Solves non-routine general issues (e.g., responds to requests requiring file search, etc.)

• Serves as a back-up to other staff (Program / Team Assistants) on TDLC activities and administrative tasks, when needed.

• Carries out other assignments, as required.

C. Administrative support for events, workshops, and conferences

• Provides direct support to preparation, supervision, completion of TDLC events/activities without delay, including assisting with arranging meetings, preparing missions travel and logistics including flights, visas, and mission briefs, as needed, for staff, consultants, and reminding the team of travel requirements.

• Assists in the logistical planning for various events, e.g. conferences, workshops including but not limited to venue selection, coordination with vendors for services such as catering, transportation, and technical support if necessary; preparation and distribution of event-related documents, including invitation, agenda and participant handouts.

• Assists in post-event activities such as payments, ensuring that vendors, suppliers and contractors are paid in a timely manner; preparing financial report post-event including an analysis of costs versus the event budget.

• Respond to last-minute requests from event attendees, speakers, or organizers.

• Ensure that attendee information and other sensitive data are handled securely and in compliance with the Bank’s Data Privacy regulations.

We do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization's page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.

Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.

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