Terms of Reference for Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative Provincial Administrative Assistant

About BRAC Ultra Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI)

Beginning in 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation approach in Bangladesh, a comprehensive, time-bound, and sequenced set of interventions designed to enable the most vulnerable and destitute households to progress along a pathway out of extreme poverty. BRAC established the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) to deliver technical assistance to agents of scale on how to adapt and implement the Graduation approach and other holistic economic inclusion and social protection strategies. For more than a decade, BRAC has served as a leading provider of global technical assistance and advisory services for the Graduation approach to governments, multilateral institutions, and NGOs worldwide.

Project Background

The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a capability-building program for poor, vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities to help improve their socio-economic conditions through accessing and acquiring necessary assets to engage in and maintain thriving livelihoods.

Through Administrative Order 11 series of 2011, SLP was formally introduced as one of the core programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for poverty alleviation. As SLP gears toward its 10th year of implementation, SLP embarks on a new project to explore new strategies to enhance the Program’s implementation process and improve delivery of services to the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities.

DSWD, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Australia, is planning to integrate the Graduation approach into the current SLP process to holistically address the poverty challenges of SLP participants and ensure the sustainability of its interventions. This will begin through a series of Graduation pilots as part of the Padayon SLP program in the provinces of Iloilo, Bukidnon, and Sultan Kudarat. The program will provide a set of holistic interventions as an additional support mechanism for SLP participants. This will complement the Department’s efforts to strengthen delivery of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). In the post-COVID context, the integration of the Graduation approach will benefit and strengthen the resilience of the poor and vulnerable households whose employment and income have been adversely affected by the shut-down of most economic activities, travel restrictions, and social distancing requirements.

BRAC UPGI’s Technical Assistance Role

To support DSWD’s implementation of the Graduation approach, BRAC UPGI will deliver advisory support, building on the experience of prior projects that successfully utilized the Graduation approach to provide comprehensive support to households living in extreme poverty in the targeted provinces. BRAC UPGI’s technical assistance will focus on four key areas: 1) pre-implementation, 2) social preparation of Graduation participants, 3) resource mobilization, and 4) project implementation and monitoring.

Scope of Work

The Provincial Administrative Assistant is a support function that is designed to support the Provincial Coordinator and the field team with the execution of administrative activities at the provincial level. Specific activities include:

1. Assist team operations, including scheduling and preparing for team meetings and events, note-taking, and organizing team activities;
2. Coordinate with relevant finance and administrative focal points to support the Provincial Coordinator for project expense reporting, payment invoicing, and financial report processing;
3. Support human resource management in his/her province through leave management and personnel records management, among others;
4. Provide logistical support and coordination for visitors, including DSWD staff, partners of the project, and others as necessary;
5. Assist the Provincial Coordinator in preparation of documents, reports, and briefing materials at the provincial level for staff and partners such as DSWD and ADB;
6. Support Provincial Coordinator in liaising with local government unit and barangay;
7. Maintain office operations and handle office communications with external partners such as local partners, vendors, trainers, etc; and
8. Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 1 year of work experience as an office assistant or in another relevant administrative role;
• Bachelor’s degree;
• Proficient in computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word and Excel) required;
• Experience applying strong interpersonal skills to support teams in a fast-paced, highly collaborative, and multicultural environment;
• Demonstrated ability supporting team members with competing priorities, showing strong time and task management capacity as well as attention to detail;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; and
• Creative problem solver able to easily adapt to changing workflow/team needs.

Location: Bukidnon, Philippines

Dates of Assignment: Jun 2022- Oct 2022

Duration of Assignment: 5 months