Administrative Assistant For The Canadian Orientation Abroad Program (Coa)

I. General Information New immigrants to Canada typically have unrealistic expectations and limited understanding of Canadian culture and society.  In some cases, future immigrants have no information or have been misinformed.  Many have not considered the rights and responsibilities that are implicit for life in Canada. These factors intensify adjustment problems, create settlement barriers and undermine migration processes.  The need to adequately inform immigrants selected abroad about the settlement and integration challenges is essential to successful resettlement in Canada. As a response to this need, IOM’s Canadian Orientation Abroad Program (COA) will be implemented in Lebanon, in compliance with Citizenship and Immigration Canada‘s (CIC) Integration Policy. COA consists of a pre-departure orientation group session aimed at providing the future newcomers to Canada with a toolkit of relevant information and useful guides for insertion in Canadian society. The pre-departure orientation provided by COA corresponds to the six shared principles upon which CIC and the provinces of Canada have agreed, with respect to the renewal strategy for settlement and integration services. These principles are: Integration requires both newcomers and Canadians to commit themselves to adapting to the new cultures; Acquisition of one of the official languages of Canada (English and French) is key to successful settlement and integration; Canadians value and should contribute to efforts to assist newcomers to achieve economic and social self-sufficiency as soon as possible; It is important for Canadians to share with newcomers the principles, traditions and values that are inherent in Canadian society such as freedom, equality, and participatory democracy; Settlement and integration services aim to assist newcomers to become self-sufficient as soon as possible, with priority given to those deemed to be most in need within the community; Settlement and integration services across Canada will be flexible, responsive and reasonably comparable. In order to provide constant administrative and logistic support to staff in charge of facilitating the COA pre-departure sessions in Lebanon, IOM Beirut is searching for a Lebanese Administrative Assistant, who will be responsible for the functions listed below. II. Functions Under the overall supervision of Chief of Mission, and the direct supervision of the COA Global Project Manager and the Consultant Coordinator/Trainer, the incumbent will be responsible for the following functions: Agree to on-the-job training in order to become a COA back-up COA trainer; In coordination with consulting coordinator/trainer, oversee the scheduling of COA sessions in Lebanon; Be responsible of the COA registration process in Lebanon; that is, incoming calls and response to e-mails and/or text messages pertaining to general inquiries about the COA registration or session; Prepare quarterly training schedules for trainer and be flexible as changes in scheduling may occur at short notice; Ensure that all is ready in advance for each training session:  laptop, projector, DVDs and CDs, reference documents, training documents for distribution, cold and hot water, drinks and snacks; Ensure that transportation reimbursement funds are ready in advance of each session, in small bills in order to reimburse correct amounts, and distributed at a specific time; On a given training day, be at work early in order to register all COA participants.   Fully assist and support trainer during training days (in all aspects of the training); Research and update the Power Point presentations, as required; Oversee photocopying/reproduction of training materials; Assist with the translation of documents and activities into Arabic; Coordinate and keep track of COA requisitions for equipment/printing/dry food, office supplies, as well as shipment of materials to COA Lebanon. Be in charge of the COA petty cash fund in Lebanon, including its regular liquidation and replenishment; Collect, check, review and print attendance sheets and statistical summaries from COA Lebanon; Maintain and update statistics from COA in Lebanon, and forward to the COA Global Project Manager monthly, quarterly and annually and to COAStatistics@iom.int (in Manila); Prepare separate sets of global COA statistical charts for the COA Facilitator based in Lebanon; Prepare COA certificates for COA participants from Lebanon; Establish and maintain regular contacts with the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon and ensure that their information needs are served accurately and efficiently; In coordination with coordinator/trainer, assist in the preparation of quarterly and final narrative reports to be submitted to the COA Project Manager in Nairobi. These financial reports will present successes, obstacles and opportunities encountered during the implementation of COA in Lebanon. Reports may contain a mix of text, photos, graphics and any other information, such as interviews with refugees, that can accurately present the scope of activities to the funding agency in Canada. Be open to receiving Canadian and other dignitaries, CIC immigration managers and officers, in-training intern CIC immigration officers, as well as IOM staff from around the world; Attend Canadian Embassy-related functions and workshops to discuss Canadian immigration and training issues; Keep abreast of all information about Canada and immigration to Canada through websites and in collaboration with the COA Project Manager; Perform other administrative and operational functions as may be required.