African Development Bank Group (AfDB) -  the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. 

POSITION : Secretary to the Country Manager

The Hiring Department

• The various Country Office falls within one of the five (5) Regions of the Africa Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Hubs. The Hub oversees a combination of country and liaison offices, as well as non-presence countries.
• Under the Directorate General of the Southern region, the Madagascar Country Office of the African Development Bank have been established to strengthen policy dialogue between the Bank, Governments and other stakeholders; improve performance of the project portfolio and aid coordination with other development partners.

The Position

• The Secretary to the Country Manager will work closely with the Country Manager and the Team to provide administrative support. The incumbent of the position will help the Country Manager and the team to make the best use of his time by dealing with secretarial and administrative tasks.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the Supervision of the Madagascar Country Manager, the Secretary will perform the following:

Work Flow Management:

• Receive and register all incoming and outgoing documents of the Country Office;
• Ensure that documents presented for Country Manager’s signature are complete, exempt of errors, with necessary attachments and background documents;
• Draft general or administrative correspondence on own initiative or on the basis of instructions without error and finalize for the Country Manager’s signature;
• Verify that outgoing correspondence is presented in accordance with the Bank’s accepted formats and check on probable typographical errors, presentation, completeness and procedural accuracy of all documents submitted to the Country Manager’s for clearance, approval or signature;
• Review and classify priority and important correspondences and submit accordingly;
• Follow-up and ensure that target dates and deadlines are met using appropriate tracking tools, and that correspondence and queries are responded to in a timely manner;
• Channel correspondence for action by the Country Manager’s or send directly to the concerned Unit, if necessary.

Communication and Liaison:

• Develop a network with secretariats within the ministries and other partners in order to facilitate and accelerate processing of Bank requests;
• Receive visitors and telephone calls with tact and discretion, and act according to the nature and urgency of each, including redirecting to the concerned offices, as appropriate;
• Screen Country Manager’s calls/visitors, make appointments for visitors to meet the Country Manager’s or the Manager concerned;
• Provide background information to the Country Manager’s for appointments with official visitors and/or staff members;
• Relay information between Country Managers and other staff members of the Country Office;
• Follow up on work deadlines with Managers of the country Office;
• Schedule weekly team and ad hoc meetings for the Country Manager’s, according to schedules and Country Manager’s Agenda for the week;
• Arrange time and venue for meetings, collect necessary background materials of meetings needed from the relevant Country Offices/Divisions; Remind Managers and other staff members about scheduled meetings.

Record Keeping and Documentation:

• Maintain a filing system in both hard and soft copies to meet the needs of the Country Office;
• Keep a weekly calendar of activities that shows all meetings to be attended by the Res. Rep. as well as by other staff members. It also includes all external visits to the Country Offices;
• Obtain briefing and background materials for meetings, seminars, workshops, etc. to be attended by the team's staff, checking their availability and ensuring they have the appropriate briefing files and documents;
• Maintain Contact address / Mailing Directory of partners working with the Country Office.

Office Administration:

• Make travel arrangements for the Country Manager’s including tickets, hotel reservation, etc.;
• Assist in preparation of presentations using PowerPoint and other software packages on own initiative or on the basis of instructions;
• Perform other office administration tasks (photocopies, emails) when the need arises.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Commerce, Administration or related discipline;
• Training in secretarial Science and/or Administration and Office Management is advantageous;
• Have a minimum of four (4) years of relevant and practical experience in administrative and secretarial roles, in similar offices of international Organizations, Development Banks or similar institutions;
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Good knowledge of administration and office support services, including systems and procedures;
• Good coordination skills - methodical and self-organized;
• Demonstrable commitment to delivering excellent customer service focused reception and administration service;
• Good interpersonal, planning and organizational skills;
• Ability to think quickly to respond to immediate requests;
• Flexibility to adapt, positive attitude towards change, and a constructive and creative approach to problem solving;
• Proficiency in the use of standard equipment (computer, fax, scanner, photocopies, etc.);
• Effective communication, problem solving, client orientation, team work and operational effectiveness;
• Good innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits for the clients and the organization;
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a good working knowledge of the other;
• Bilingualism is an advantage;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SAP and/or other integrated document management system).