Office Assistant

Job Posting: 06/Nov/2025

Closure Date: 20/Nov/2025, 4:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit: NSP

Job Type: Staff position

Type of Requisition: General Service

Grade Level: G-4

Primary Location: Italy-Rome

Duration: Fixed-term: two years with possibility of extension

Post Number: 2002282

** IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device**

_ Staff in the General Service category are recruited locally from the Primary Location area, which is where the office is located._
- **FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture**
- **Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply**
- **Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values**
- **FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination**

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FAO’s commitment to environmental sustainability is integral to our strategic objectives and operations._

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for _better production_, _better nutrition_, _a better environment,_ and _a better life_, leaving no one behind.

**Organizational Setting**

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

FAO's commitment to environmental sustainability is integral to our strategic objectives and operations.

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is an international agreement on plant health with over 185 contracting parties, which aims to protect the world's cultivated and wild plants by preventing the introduction and spread of plant pests. The IPPC is a Convention approved by the FAO Conference in adherence with Article XIV of the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The IPPC Secretariat is hosted by FAO and is responsible for facilitating the implementation of the Convention as well as the development and implementation of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) to fulfil the IPPC's mandates.

The IPPC is also the implementing organization of the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) with FAO The post is located in the IPPC Secretariat within NSP at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

** Main Purpose**

The Office Assistant performs a large variety of routine administrative transactions and office support functions contributing to the smooth and efficient running of the work unit.

**Supervision Received/Exercised**

The Office Assistant reports to the IPPC Meetings Associate. Supervision received is focused on the quality of the work performed and provides for on-the-job learning. He/she acts independently in routine matters. Supervision received is focused on the quality of the work performed and provides for on-the-job learning.

**Working Relationships**

The Office Assistant usually interacts with a wide variety of colleagues within the work unit and with immediate clients within the Organization, providing routine administrative and office support services.

**Key Functions/Results**
- Provide office, protocol, administrative and logistics support to meetings, committees, conferences, etc.
- Review, record, distribute and process incoming mail and correspondence, follow-up on pending actions.
- Respond or draft responses to standard/routine correspondence and other communications; use word processing package to produce a wide variety of large, complex documents and reports.
- Proofread documents and format texts for accuracy, grammar, punctuation and style, as well as for adherence to established standards.
- Initiate general administrative tasks in the computerized general administration/procurement/financial/travel/human resources system.
- Prepare purchase orders, purchase requisitions and support the preparation of Letters of Agreement (LoA), obtain clarification and follow up when necessary.
- Make travel and hotel arrangements and prepare travel authorizations/claims for staff and affiliate workforce as required.
- Provide assistance in the administrative processing of vacancy announcements and consultants' contracts.
- Research, compile and organize info