Team Assistant, Africa at Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

The primary purpose of the role

The Team Assistant, Africa will provide comprehensive and proactive support to the Africa Leadership Team, working alongside the Executive Assistant, Africa and the larger Africa team. This support will include diary management for the Africa Directors, travel and event planning and document/information management. The position requires proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and organising digital information, broad administrative skill, and high efficiency.

The position will be privy to sensitive information that requires the highest level of confidentiality and judgment. This is an excellent opportunity for an organised professional with excellent communication skills who wants to be part of an exciting, growing and mission-driven organisation.

Role’s responsibilities

• Manage the calendar of the Africa Directors, schedule appointments and coordinate internal and external meetings.
• Support the Africa team with event planning (external and select internal events), including external virtual events, team meetings and offsites.
• Arrange travel for Africa Directors. Work with CIFF travel agents to organise flights, hotels, cars and visas. Occasionally, this will extend to support the wider Kenya office with travel requirements and may include organisation of group travel for the team.
• Work alongside the Executive Assistant, Africa to manage the fortnightly Africa Operational Leadership meeting agendas, drafting of minutes/action plans and any follow-up actions.
• Depending on the Africa teams supported, assist with note taking in team meetings and follow up on agreed actions; in some instances, assist in liaising with grantees for meeting attendance and follow up on agreed actions.
• General administrative duties, including management and support for the central administrative online tools for the team, such as Fluxx, budget, pipeline, portfolio, and HR tools.
• Support the Directors in the timely processing of expenses on Certify and follow up with finance where required.
• Assist the Head of Finance, Africa in administrative finance tasks relating to the Africa team e.g. email reminders to the Africa team on disbursements and update of Fluxx.
• Assist the Head of Human Resources, Africa in administrative tasks relating to the Africa team e.g. scheduling of interviews, onboarding preparation, and scheduling team meetings.
• General administrative duties including meeting room set ups, business card inputs and working with other Executive Assistants to support the smooth running of the Kenya office.

Requirements

• Educated to undergraduate level, or equivalent by experience, within a relevant specialism.
• Strong administrative experience, working for a multi-cultural team dynamics or individual in a busy and complex environment; good experience as a scheduler.
• Exceptional organisational skills: able to be flexible as priorities and needs change, and works well under pressure
• Ability to work well independently, a motivated self-starter with strong problem-solving organizational skills, attention to details and multi-tasking skills
• Outstanding communications skills, both oral and written.
• Good numerical and analytical skills, with a good understanding of basic budgeting.
• Strong experience with digital office tools, automation and workflows (e.g. Office 365).
• Experience organising and managing digital information and documents for a team.
• Experience with organising and managing virtual events (Teams, Zoom, Blue Jeans, Webex etc), and with managing virtual contacts.
• Strong interpersonal skills, great team player and proactive at engaging with others.
• Professional, sound independent judgment, strong organisational and project management skills, and the ability to be flexible as priorities and needs change.
• Strong interpersonal skills – engages with others to get the best out of them and works well as part of a team.
• Demonstrates professional, sound judgement and the highest ethical standards, confidentiality, and personal integrity
• Capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness
• Numerate, with a good understanding of basic budget processes
• IT proficiency – must possess strong Microsoft skills, particularly in Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and Word, and can learn new packages, when required