Re-advertise: Administration assistant to the EU funded project: Access to quality education for all vulnerable children in Lebanon in times of crisis.

A.  Required Qualifications, Competencies and Knowledge

Formal Education

• University degree preferably in Accounting, Finance, IT, Law or Business or a BT in accounting

Experience

• Minimum 2 to 3 years of working experience in administrative position
• Working experience with an international organisation is considered an advantage
• Working experience with GIZ administrative system and regulation is considered an advantage

Other Qualifications

• Fluent in written and spoken English and Arabic,
• Knowledge of German or/and French is considered an advantage
• Excellent command of MS-Office
• Proficient use of modern telecommunication systems
• Excellent office administration, organizational and self-drive skills
• High standards of confidentiality and loyalty
• Reliable, accurate, consistent, persistent and easy going
• Driving licence holder
• Occasional mission in all Lebanon

Working place: Beirut

B.  Responsibilities

The admin assistant is responsible for:

• providing administrative support to the project
• meeting administrative, accounting, and financial requirements of the project according to GIZ standard procedures and to GIZ Financial and Accounting Guidelines
• procuring material, goods, and services for the project according to GIZ rules and regulations
• keeping project manager and team leader informed of the status of procurement/custom clearing etc., especially in cases of delays

C.  Tasks

Finance and Accounting

The admin assistant under supervision:

• implements and monitors a correct functioning of the project’s administration of (petty) cash payments including the operation of the WINPACCS-cashbook and -accounting
• verifies correctness of invoices received
• collects supporting documents (minutes, participants, etc.) to be attached to the invoices
• codes the invoices to be reimbursed by EU under incidentals
• collects signatures for approvals on invoices
• transfers signed invoices to Beirut GIZ Office for reimbursement and collect cash
• prepares and submit a monthly reconciled cash expense report
• fills in travel expense statements of staff
• maintains proper and confidential filing of financial related documents, office asset registers and project inventory list
• verifies correctness of registrations in the car logbook
• calculates mileage and use of fuel for the project cars

Procurement

The admin assistant under supervision:

• procures goods and services accordance with GIZ guidelines
• oversees office supplies and stationaries and procure ordering them as needed
• encodes required information into the Inventory for project equipment
• keeps track of the inventory and register them on Onsite asset
• organises and procure items for project activities
• receives and verify delivered material
• informs suppliers of defective goods delivered and arranges necessary follow-up
• files procurement documents with completed transactions
• organises and follow-up translations services
• supports the team with the flight booking and travel claim according to GIZ Rules and Regulations

Project General Duties

The admin assistant:

• assists the project team in communicating with project stakeholders
• maintains polite and professional verbal and written communication
• prepares and revises letters, reports, memos, and documents in general
• assists the project team in arranging meetings and events
• provides real-time scheduling support to experts preventing conflicting events
• greets and assist visitors
• books and organise travel arrangements
• maintains contact lists
• handles requests for information and data
• participates in project activities related to knowledge management assuring the uploading of files at the end of each reporting period
• assists the project team on different administrative and organisational issues when requested and in coordination with the Project Team Leader
• provides simple translations (Arabic-English; English-Arabic as required)
• conducts general clerical duties including photocopying, scanning and mailing
• coordinates maintenance of office equipment

Description of the project

The events that took place in the last few years have added further layers of obstacles on top of an already compromised Lebanese public and private schooling system in its efforts to provide education for children residing in Lebanon. The crisis left an impact on the different levels of the education system, starting with MEHE’s inability to perform normally due to the economic and social situation, teachers and staff’s losing motivation and students unable to attend classes on a daily basis for several reasons among many other levels. The crisis’ impact on the educational sector affects children’s wellbeing and threatens their future, the social stability (including people’s ability to escape the vicious cycle of poverty) and country’s abilities to overcome the socioeconomic and political depression and to set up a sustainable governance and economic model. To answer  to  the  increasing needs,  the Ministry released  its first comprehensive strategy for  the general  education sector  “5-Year  Education  Sector  Plan:  Building  Lebanon’s  Human  Capital  through  Resilient  High  Quality Public  Education” in 2021. However, due to lack of technical capacity at various levels, the Ministry is still unable to fully operationalise the plan with concrete activities spread throughout its internal agencies and with CERD.

The overall objective to which this project contributes is to build an education system (Ministry of Education and Higher Education) better equipped and able to deliver quality basic education in times of crisis. It works on 3 main levels:

• Enhancing the governance capacities of the MEHE in the field of strategic and operational planning, monitoring and reporting, budgeting and public finance management,
• Enhancing the capacities of the MEHE for the delivery of quality teaching and learning by management and educational staff empowered with 21st century skills development,
• Enhancing the performance of the public education system (MEHE) through improved management and business operating procedures.