Project Administrator at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Project Administrator

Ref: IITA-HR-NRS2022-027
Location: Ibadan, Oyo
Recruitment Type: National (2-year renewable contract)

Duties

• Assist the project manager(s) with day-to-day project administrative processes and functions.
• Develop and maintain an efficient filing system/database on project activities/milestones and stakeholders.
• Participate in the development of sub-grant agreements/amendments and work with Project Development and Administration Unit (PDAU) to manage these agreements in line with donor agreements.
• Monitor timely completion of (quarterly, mid-term, annual) project milestones and liaise with implementing partners to ensure high quality technical and financial reports are submitted in a timely manner to PDAU, finance and Project M&E officer.
• Coordinate, set up Zoom/Teams links, and record minutes for regular meetings for the project management team, project advisory committee and other meetings with external/internal project partners.
• Handle logistical arrangements for project meetings, workshops, duty travels and accommodation (flight and hotel booking, travel authorization requests, visa requests, and travel advances as needed).
• Manage project related inventories, coordinate local and international purchases and follow up with finance and supply chain on processing invoices and payments.
• Liaise with the project finance officer and provide financial oversight to the project manager(s) on project budgeting, expenditures and burn rate.
• Follow up on engagement, delivery, and payments to Project consultants and short-term staff.
• Supervise junior staff in the project coordination team and assist in annual performance appraisals.
• Assist with preparing project reports and other communication materials such as project research highlights, stories, blogs and other social media posts.
• Build and maintain good working relationships with all Project stakeholders and support linkages with the Seed Equal Genetic Innovation Initiative as needed.
• Perform any other job-related task as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Qualification

• Master's in Business Administration, Project Management or any other related field with a minimum of eight (8) years’ experience performing a similar or related role in a well-structured organization.

Competencies:
The ideal candidate must:

• Be proficient in MS-Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and online
• meeting/file sharing platforms (eg MS Teams, Google Docs, Zoom etc), with ability to quickly learn new applications.
• Be well organized, able to multitask and work under pressure to meet deadlines with keen attention to detail.
• Have a positive attitude, strong team spirit and excellent administrative service orientation.
• Have good communication skills (writing, reading, and speaking).
• Experience in budgeting and financial management procedures.

Remuneration
We offer highly competitive salaries with equally attractive benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.

Application Closing Date
9th January 2023.