Country: Belgium
Closing date: 23 Sep 2016
Terms of Reference for Junior Expert Coordinator
Purpose of role
DAI’s ASiST programme is an advisory service for the European Commission rural development, food security and nutrition directorate (unit C1) within the Directorate General for Development and Cooperation (DEVCO). ASiST aims at providing support to identify and fine-tune tools to achieve the strategic objectives of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in developing countries.
The ASiST Coordinator will provide direct hands-on support to the Team Leader and C1 Programme Manager to coordinate efficient delivery across the repertoire of ASiST technical and operational tasks. The role will add further value to ASiST by supporting a number of new or expanded functions, including: (i) coordinating a new technical help desk service; (ii) servicing ASiST’s knowledge management systems; and (iii) strengthening coordination and communications with internal and external stakeholders.
Key tasks and responsibilities
General operational support
- Routine support to the full complement of programme activities under the supervision of the Team Leader and DEVCO C1.
- Regular liaison with the DEVCO C1 Programme Manager and core team to ensure efficient and effective activity coordination, including through attending in-person meetings at DEVCO headquarters on a flexible basis.
- Service and participate in ASiST’s frequent meetings and events, including organising venues, attendance lists, agendas, minute taking, circulating and monitoring agreed follow-up actions. These events include regular strategy meetings with DEVCO and the ASiST team as well as a range of conferences, presentations, roundtables, etc involving other DEVCO units, services and partners.
- Direct support to delivery of ASiST technical services. These include quality assurance of reports, research, studies, etc relating to ASiST’s core technical themes as well as an often significant volume of demand-driven requests from DEVCO and EU Delegations.
- Play an active role in programme process planning and improvement initiatives.
Communication and collaboration
- Serve as the coordination point to facilitate ongoing technical and thematic collaboration with other relevant DEVCO units and services (such as NAS and FANSSA) around key topics and activities of mutual relevance;
- Support the team to continually promote ASiST, EU and thematic visibility, including through developing and disseminating communications materials, maintaining newsletters, etc;
- Manage ASiST’s knowledge management systems, including: coordinating and disseminating regular knowledge products; helping DEVCO C1 in organising EU InfoPoint debriefings; taking the lead role in managing ASiST content on the Capacity4Dev portal. With the latter, the junior expert will be in charge of collecting contributions from ASiST experts after each mission and updating Capacity4Dev by writing blog posts on specific insights and writing briefs to illustrate social transfer instruments and issues.
- Responsible for helping the Team Leader to explore and develop innovative ways of exchanging information and learning with C1 and EUDs around key themes and services;
ASiST Helpdesk coordination
- Work with the team to set up and manage the ASiST helpdesk, including receiving, fielding and coordinating enquiries and responses.
Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience
Qualifications and skills
- Minimum Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent.
- Experience in coordinating projects and activities operating across multiple locations.
- Experience with project communications and knowledge management.
- Experience in providing quality assurance to reports and proofing reports or written products for development agencies.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both English and French.
- Strong organisational skills with excellent attention to detail.
- Proactive, resourceful, team player and able to independently manage complex tasks.
- Excellent interpersonal skills – able to establish and maintain positive working relationships.
- A strong client-service delivery approach to delivering tasks.
- Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
- MS Office expertise.
General professional experience
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience.
- Previous experience working with European Union Delegations and DEVCO.
Specific professional experience
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience in one of the following thematic areas: food security, nutrition, resilience, sustainable agriculture, rural development, social transfers. Field experience would be an advantage.
- Demonstrable understanding of DEVCO, EUD processes and PRAG rules.
- Experience working with EU-funded projects.
- Experience working in international development cooperation.
Location: Brussels DAI office and DEVCO offices as required
Duration: 30 months starting October 2016
Basis: Full time, DAI Brussels
Reporting: Line management via DAI Europe PMU; day-to-day operational management by ASiST Team Leader
How to apply:
To apply: Please submit CV and completed application matrix.
Send email CV to penny_buckle@dai.com
Closing date for applicants: 23/09/16
Application matrix
Short statement describing reasons for applying
Criteria
Short description of candidate’s qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience. Give short examples where possible.
Qualifications and skills
Minimum Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent.
Experience in coordinating projects and activities operating across multiple locations.
Experience with project communications and knowledge management.
Experience in project backstopping and proofing reports or written products for development agencies.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both English and French.
Strong organisational skills with excellent attention to detail.
Proactive, resourceful and able to independently manage complex tasks.
Excellent interpersonal skills – able to establish and maintain positive working relationships.
A strong client-service delivery approach to delivering tasks.
Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
MS Office expertise.
General professional experience
Minimum 1 – 3 years of professional experience in a relevant field.
Previous experience working with European Union Delegations and DEVCO.
Specific professional experience
Demonstrable understanding of DEVCO, EUD processes and PRAG rules.
Experience working with EU-funded projects.
Experience working in international development cooperation.
A background or interest in social transfers and food security issues is an advantage.