Team Assistant

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. When you join the World Bank Group, you become part of a dynamic, diverse organization with 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative changes around the globe. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org VPU Context: East Asia Pacific (EAP) is a large and diverse region, ranging from Small Islands States of the Pacific to the Philippines and China. Despite substantial economic growth and poverty reduction, the EAP region faces huge development challenges. Growth has been uneven across and within countries, institutions still need strengthening, and most countries are heavily affected by climate change. The Bank plays a significant role on global public goods, including climate, biodiversity, water pollution, and health. The COVID pandemic, and more recently food and energy price increases are compounding the impact of the global economic slowdown. The World Bank Group is seen as a premier development institution in the region, with a leadership role on analytical and advisory services as well as financing. Unit Context: The World Bank Sydney office serves 2 Pacific divisions: Pacific 1 covers North and South Pacific currently works in nine developing countries in the Region (the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu). Pacific 2 covers Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Over the past years, the World Bank has substantially scaled-up its program and field presence in the Pacific, with a focus on initiatives that address the challenges of fragility, isolation, size and limited capacity, and create a foothold for wider development engagement with emphasis on country-specific strategies along three axes; (i) encouraging regional/global integration; (ii) building resilience against external shocks; and (iii) promoting economic reform and private sector development. The World Bank in the Pacific Islands: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/pacificislands The successful candidates will be offered three (3) year renewable term appointments. Duties and accountabilities: The Team Assistant (TA) will carry out the full range of office support work, including managing processes and monitoring schedules for Task team leaders and senior staff. The work is varied involving a large amount of research – to ascertain how to perform non routine operational tasks. Most of the tasks will not be standard. The candidate would need to proactively ask questions, use the World Bank intranet and other operational programs, and proactively make connections with staff in other Country Offices and our Washington-based HQ for guidance and advice to achieve the required results. The role will also involve extensive liaison with service units, internal team members both in HQ and in the field, as well as external counterparts. The TA will report functionally to the Manager, Portfolio Operations, who provides supervision and guidance to the office support team. The successful candidate may also be assigned responsibility for some aspects of the unit’s administrative functions. Roles Responsibilities • Work productively and effectively often from own initiative providing support to Task Team Leaders (TTL) and Senior Staff. • Draft routine correspondence, project related documents, and proofread materials using proper grammar, punctuation, and style. • Incorporate agreed comments into documents, making full use of shared drives and software capabilities. • Use word processing, spreadsheets, power point software or desktop publishing skills to produce complex text, reports, figures, graphs, etc., according to standard Bank formats and distribute. • Coordinate schedules taking priorities into account, monitor changes, and communicate information to appropriate staff, inside and outside the immediate work unit, including officials outside the World Bank (WB). • Solve non-routine problems (e.g., responding to requests requiring file searches, and identification of correct operational procedures). • Preparation and logistical planning for various events, such as conferences, workshops, negotiations. • Create AIS, update milestones and tracks assigned tasks, project steps and timetables in the Operational Portal and SAP. • Monitor task budget/trust funds for specific projects on behalf of the team. • Assist with processing Consultant contracts and travel. Coordinate with relevant staff and to provide assistance and/or information on project-related matters when requested. • Maintain current distribution lists, phone/address lists of project/product contacts, and distributes documents for the team. • Maintain up-to-date work unit project and other files (both paper and electronic). • Work will involve frequent interaction with the following: Internal Contacts, Other VP and Global Practice (GP) units, IFC and MIGA, and other institutional units. Staff in all locations, locally and internationally, external Contacts such as Government Officials, Consultants, and External Organizations.