Medical Care Development International (MCDI) is a division of the Private Voluntary Organization of Medical Care Development, Inc. (MCD) based in Silver Spring, MD. The mission of MCDI is to support health section interventions across a broad spectrum of program areas to include maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS/TB, malaria prevention and control, water supply and sanitation, and health sector reform and financing. Over the past 39 years, MCDI has provided assistance to health systems in over 40 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America and the Middle East. Currently, the majority of MCDI’s profile is centered on malaria control projects and sanitation.
MCDI’s home office consists of a multi-cultural staff of experts in public health interventions and support. The division is headed by the International Director who oversees all Projects and Project Management. MCDI is looking to recruit a junior level Assistant to the International Division Director to assist him in overseeing the Division.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
· Bachelor’s degree from an accredited University. Degree in public health, international relations/development or related field advantageous. · Fluent in spoken and written English; very strong writer in English. · Strong verbal communications skills; good interpersonal skills. · Strong computer skills, including MS Office (particularly Outlook, Word and Excel); experience using SharePoint and/or MS Project and Adobe Acrobat an advantage. · Strong level of integrity. · Highly organized, attentive to detail and able take good notes. · Able to coordinate multiple activities. · Intermediate or higher Spanish and/or French advantageous.
Overview of Position:
The Assistant to the International Division Director will be responsible for coordinating the Director’s daily schedule and helping him follow-up on his activities and tasks. In this way, the Assistant to the Director will be integrally involved in supporting all activities conducted by the International Division. The Assistant will continuously monitor the Director’s e-mails and SharePoint task updates, informing the Director about those that need his attention and the level of priority involved, and helping to respond as requested. The Assistant will help the Director track all key Division-wide outputs and deliverables, maintaining a Division-wide calendar, and ensuring that all outputs and deliverables are accomplished in a timely manner. The Assistant will be in charge of the International Division Director’s calendar, assist in coordinating and preparing for meetings, filling out his travel request forms, and processing financial documentation pertaining to the Director’s business-related expenses. The Assistant to the Director will assist in editing documents produced by other staff in the Division, ensuring that they are well written in English, and will assist in writing content for MCDI’s web site and/or other documents as requested and guided by the Director.
Specific Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities of the Project Manager include, inter alia:
E-mail Management The Assistant to the International Division Director will monitor the Director’s e-mails, organizing them as appropriate and flagging items that require immediate, at free-points before the end of the day, or at-the-end-of-the-day response. At the end of each day, the Assistant will provide the Director with a list of the less urgent emails that require his attention within the week, and a brief synopsis of the other emails that were sent for his information but not his response. Emails that do not require the Director’s attention will be filed in appropriate Outlook folders. The Assistant will be expected to have a working knowledge of all Projects and Partners in order to identify high priority items and monitor correspondence.
At the direction of the International Division Director, the Assistant will also be asked to draft e-mails or other correspondence and communicate with staff and stakeholders on behalf of the Director.
SharePoint Task Management The Assistant will monitor SharePoint task updates, organizing them as appropriate and flagging tasks that require immediate, at free-points before the end of the day, or before-the-end-of-the-day response. At the end of each day, the Assistant will provide the Director with a list of the less urgent tasks that require his attention within the week, and a brief synopsis of the other tasks that were sent for his information but not his response. Task updates that do not require his attention will be filed in appropriate Outlook folders.
The Assistant will continuously update the task list in the Director’s Outlook Tasks, following-up with the Director to be sure that he has addressed tasks that need his attention and/or receiving instructions on how to respond to tasks on his behalf.
At the direction of the International Division Director, the Assistant will update tasks on behalf of the Director, indicating this in the task response. The Assistant will also create new tasks under the direction of the Director, and will prepare summary task reports for the Director’s review on a weekly basis and/or as requested by the Director.
Output/Deliverable Monitoring The Assistant will help the Director in tracking key Division-wide outputs and/or deliverables, assisting in ensuring that due dates are respected and that the Director has the opportunity to review outputs and/or deliverables that are being distributed to outside parties before they go out. This will require coordinating with the Senior Program Manager, the Senior Business Development Manager and the Senior Admin and Finance Manager. The Assistant will maintain a Division-wide Outlook calendar that identifies key Division-wide outputs and/or deliverables and which staff are responsible for these.
Schedule and Meeting Management The Assistant will be responsible for overseeing the calendar of the International Division Director. This includes scheduling meetings with staff, collaborators and stakeholders, and ensuring that the Director has the necessary information for the meetings (agendas, call in numbers, background information, etc.). The Assistant will coordinate with the Director and colleagues in the event that there is a need to change meeting times or in the event that there are conflicting meeting requests.
When requested, the Assistant will participate in meetings and take notes and ensure that follow-up tasks or emails are prepared. When not involved in a meeting, the Assistant will follow-up with the Director after meetings to discern if there are any follow-up tasks, emails, calls or meetings that are required, and will coordinate with the Director to ensure that these are accomplished.
Document Management and Production As requested by the Director, and subject to availability of time, the Assistant will provide assistance in editing English documents produced by other staff in the Division to ensure that they are well-written. The Assistant may also be asked to prepare outlines for documents, track the contributions of various writers to the production of sections of documents, and format documents so that they are professionally presented.
The Assistant will, as requested by the Director, contribute to providing content for the MCDI web site.
Travel planning The Assistant to the Director will liaise with the Office Manager to coordinate travel for the International Division Director, ensuring that flights, hotels, and transport are booked and communicated with the director. Additionally, when the Director returns from travel, the Assistant will ensure that all expense reports for the travel are filled out and submitted on behalf of the Director.
Processing Director’s Invoices The Assistant to the Director will assist the Director in processing invoices for all business expenses he incurs. The Assistant will complete for the Director’s signature travel claims and will ensure that these are submitted for reimbursement, updating an expense tracking sheet in Excel.
Other Duties and Responsibilities The Assistant to the Director will undertake any other activities / duties, as determined and agreed to by / with the Division Director.
All responsibilities will occur whether or not the Director is in the Silver Spring office (i.e., they need to occur even when the Director is working from his office in Maine, is traveling on official business, or is on leave).
Line of Authority: The Assistant to the Director will report directly to the International Division Director.
Performance Indicators
- All emails and SharePoint task updates are reviewed and categorized for Director’s attention on a continuous basis.
- An updated daily and weekly task list for the Director is prepared and entered in the Director’s Outlook Tasks List.
- All key Division-wide outputs and deliverables are tracked and the Director is regularly reminded about impending due dates.
- Meeting pre-work and guidance is uploaded to Outlook meeting requests.
- The Director’s business travel expense reports are completed and submitted to Finance at the end of each month.
Start of activities: preferably May 2, 2016 Location: Silver Spring, Maryland Term: Full-time
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