Though contested by other departments, the Anglophone Africa (AA) team is clearly the best at PSI. AA is known as the innovation lab, a place where exciting new ideas in global health are tested. Currently, we have programs operating in Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Ghana, Zambia, Namibia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
We are looking for a Program Assistant to support program management functions in the Anglophone Africa department. The Program Assistant (PA) will have wide ranging responsibilities and work with PSI staff at all levels both in Washington and overseas. The position requires flexibility and willingness to assume varied duties and projects with an emphasis on administrative and financial tasks. This position is based in Washington, D.C. and reports to the Program Manager for Anglophone Africa.
The position will form part of a regional backstopping team based in DC and Nairobi and will be expected to interact regularly with the Regional Office in Nairobi, the field offices in the region, as well as other departments in Washington including Contracts, Finance and Procurement.
The Program Assistant is responsible for providing administrative and financial support to the staff of the Anglophone Africa region, ensuring smooth and timely flow of work and will be assigned to support country offices. Duties include, but are not limited to the following:
- Provide dynamic and proactive administrative support to the Associate Program Managers, Program Managers, Finance Manager, Subaward Manager, Financial Analysts, and Regional Directors
- Liaise with the Grants and Contracts department for review of contracts and budgets, and track/respond to issues
- Create review, update and realign donor budgets as assigned, and manage the project setup and modification process
- Review and process vendor and consultant invoices generated both through DC and the country offices; track and reconcile credit card activity and business communications expenses
- Support the review of monthly financial status reports review for assigned countries
- Collect and review supporting documents for audit requests
- Support maintenance of internal report management systems and tools
- Manage and organize departmental events such as: department meetings, retreats, team building activities, etc.
- Assist with travel arrangements for Anglophone staff including: helping to secure visas for urgent travel, making hotel reservations, airport pick-up for visitors to D.C., and scheduling appointments
- Maintain existing departmental system of filing, classifying, and tracking country-specific documentation and support the design of tools and systems for knowledge management and information tracking
- Schedule and prepare for meetings and take minutes as requested
- Assist with regional expenses and reconciliation
- Other administrative and programmatic duties as assigned
The candidate we hire will embody PSI’s corporate values:
- Measurement: You use hard evidence to make decisions and guide your work. You set clear goalposts in advance and explain clearly if you need to move them.
- Pragmatism: You’ll strive to deliver the best possible result with the resources available. You won’t be paralyzed by a need to make things perfect.
- Honesty: You own your mistakes and are open about your shortcomings – it’s the only way you’ll learn and improve.
- Collaboration: You’ll quickly establish a mental map of whom you can rely on for what, on your team, at headquarters, and in our country offices – if you try to do it all yourself, you won’t succeed.
- Trust: You accept limits to your sphere of control and give colleagues the benefit of the doubt
- Commitment: You are in it for the long-haul and want to grow with the organization, just like PSI serves its consumers and partners with host-country governments through thick and thin
Our ideal candidate will possess:
- At least one year experience working in a fast paced office environment
- Experience living outside the United States and in multicultural environments preferred
- Advanced computer skills with strong Excel skills (and including MS Office applications)
- Excellent organizational and administrative skills with strong attention to detail and timeliness
- Proven ability to develop routines to manage large workloads and organize work efficiently
- Readiness to interact with a variety of people and assume diverse duties and tasks
- French language skills a plus
- References will be required.
- Must be authorized to work in the United States. N.B. PSI will not consider work visa sponsorship and relocation expenses will not be covered for this position.
- The successful candidate will be required to pass a background check.