Job Title: Administrative Assistant

Reports to:  Administrative officer

Department:  Programs

Location: Mbeya

About CRS 

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work are accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Country Background

CRS in Tanzania works in very close collaboration with the catholic Churches and implements programs through both Churches and secular local partners. CRS has been helping poor, vulnerable families improve their lives through orphans and vulnerable children, agriculture, health, microfinance and WASH programming in Tanzania since 1962.

Job Summary:

You will provide service in the day-to-day delivery of responsive, effective and efficient administrative activities in support of the Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) mission to serve the poor and vulnerable. You will provide consistent and high-quality service and contribute to the proper stewardship of resources to help ensure operational effectiveness in support of high-quality programming.

Roles and Key Responsibilities: 

• Facilitate communication with all units of the organization and external stakeholders as relevant.

• Coordinate visitors’ appointments to meet CRS support and program staff in CRS Office and vice versa.

• Date, stamp and initial all incoming correspondences and ensure that they are routed to the Administration and Procurement Officer for necessary distribution.

• The point person to send and receive pouches/parcels, make sure pouch lists are reviewed and verified and documents are distributed to the relevant units/departments.

• Coordinate travel logistics for staff and external visitors visiting CRS Tanzania country program including hotel booking.

• Prepare transactional documents in support of general operations processes and support coordination of transaction processing (e.g. payment requests, travel authorizations, travel advances, visas, etc.).

• Compile data, perform data entry and data verification in relation to general administration processes (e.g. various contact lists, Vehicle Log Sheets review, visitors’ welcome packages, etc.).

• Support implementation of property management processes, such as property receipt and distribution, property labeling, physical counts, etc.

• Ensure that all office supplies, travel and hotel requests for quotations are clear and complete and prepare local purchase orders for office supplies, travel and hotel accommodations in accordance with agency procurement policies and procedures.

• Negotiate with service providers and suppliers as necessary and appropriate by Creating and maintaining continuing good working relationship with local supplier sales representatives.

• Manage the office petty cash fund; always ensure that actual versus book balances agree; Ensure supporting documents are in order prior making any petty cash payment/s.

• Receive and review supplier invoices from hotels and the travel agents and Compile payment requests for all travels, hotels, and office stationeries/suppliers, as and when needed.

Basic Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration/Procurement or any other related field

• One year experience working in an office environment in a clerical or administrative role. Experience with a local or international NGO a plus.

Required Languages – English and Swahili.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 5%.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• Good time management skills with ability to work on multiple tasks

• Strong customer service orientation with good communication and interpersonal skills

• Proactive, resourceful, solutions oriented and results-oriented

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience with typing/word processing, data entry into online databases and forms, and working with various office equipment.

• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio) and information management systems. Proficient in Word.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)  

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity

• Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Builds Relationships

• Develops Talent

• Strategic Mindset

• Accountability & Stewardship

Supervisory Responsibilities (none)

Key Working Relationships:   Internal  – All CRS Staff

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

HOW TO APPLY:

• Interested qualified candidates should submit their letter of application together with their CV in PDF or Word format in a single attachment which outlines their experience and sustainability of the position applied to email address TZ_HR@crs.org  not later than 31st December 2021.

• The applicants should clearly state the Job title applied for in the subject line of the email.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Female candidates, people with disability and people from other recognized marginalized backgrounds, are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.  CRS Tanzania recognizes many people do not have access to university education, limited capacity to travel, women take career breaks to care for family, and physical access for people with disability is limited in some workplaces including in the field.  In all recruitments, CRS Tanzania uses a competency-based selection process.  This ensures that if a candidate does not have a university degree or many years of experience, their competencies and existing expertise is assessed and valued.