Documentation and Information Management Officer, P-2. IFAD, Rome. Open until 12 April 2011

Documentation and Information Management Officer (1 position)
Vacancy announcement number:
1003
Date of issue: 03/28/2011
Deadline for applications:
04/12/2011

Front Office Programme Mgmt

Organizational unit:

Level:
P-2

ROME

Duty Station (details)
Rome

Duration of Assignment
2-year fixed term

Organizational Context
IFAD is an International Financial Institution and a Specialized Agency of the United Nations whose mission is to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty. IFAD’s headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and its staff work with poor rural people, their governments, communities and organizations in more than 80 countries to develop and finance programmes and projects aimed at increasing rural productivity and incomes.

Division Context
The Programme Management Department (PMD) is responsible for the overall lending programme of the Fund and is composed of five regional divisions, the Operational Policy and Technical Advisory Division and the Environment and Climate Division. Coordinating information management is a priority for the department in order to improve efficiency and knowledge sharing for better design and implementation. As such, IFAD recognises that effective storage and retrieval of documents is a necessary ingredient to develop and disseminate knowledge products. PMD has successfully introduced the Project Life File (PLF) - key documents associated with all phases of the project life cycle - as the vehicle for accessing project related documents and developing knowledge. Experience with development of the PLF underscored the need for a consistent department-wide approach to information management and related support.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the general supervision of the Operational Systems Advisor and collaborating with the regional Knowledge Management or Communications Officers in PMD, the incumbent will be responsible for providing support to PMD divisions in managing information, in particular managing document libraries, to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Knowledge Management:
1. Facilitate the aggregation and retrieval of thematic materials maintained in the respective divisional work spaces, ensuring that these are available to all business users
2. Strengthen knowledge sharing across documents and information systems and provide input towards integration to facilitate exchange of information across systems
3. Provide support to regional KM Officers in carrying out knowledge management activities as required; including providing support to the design and enhancement of the regional and country work spaces
4. Strengthen and maintain links between divisional and departmental work spaces as well as to other external knowledge resources and networks; collaborating with the KM Officers in leveraging content for queries and improved retrieval of operations documents in the repository
5. Build customized views to increase the speed and efficiency of document retrieval and sharing across the department

Information Management:
6. Coordinate the set up and maintenance of the divisional and regional workspaces to introduce department-wide standards for information management to ensure consistency
7. Collaborate with Divisions in defining and enhancing workflows and standard practices for document management including developing proposals for using information management systems more effectively
8. Research and recommend standards for documentation to be used within the department to ensure a common approach across all workspaces in the repository, including producing reports and flagging inconsistencies within the divisional workspaces
9. Develop strategies for sensitizing potential users outside PMD as well as support initiatives to define and implement changes required to adopt more efficient document management practices within PMD
10. Provide “end-user” support in troubleshooting information management issues - including quality enhancement - that do not require software development.
11. Liaise with IFAD’s Communication Division with regard to electronic accessibility of documents for disclosure.

Capacity Building:
12. Improve system usability for Country Offices by providing training on the system and by introducing standard document management practices to be adopted by the department; including preparing training materials as needed
13. Promote the development of skills in the use of document and information management tools across PMD through proactive coaching; conduct briefings, in particular for new staff members
14. Coordinate the use of the Documents Management System (DMS) in PMD providing end user and business support to PMD Divisions
15. Provide periodic training for PMD Divisions and focal points on DMS features of interest
16. Assist PMD Divisions in developing and administering document collaboration workspaces and ensuring required access

Education and Experience
• University degree in Information Systems or related field.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office productivity tools (Microsoft Professional certification, an advantage).
• Master’s degree or equivalent an asset.
• Minimum of three years of experience in customizing and maintaining workspaces, webparts, document libraries, customized views in MOSS, with at least two years of international experience.

Tech/Functional Competencies
Results-oriented Performer: you have the ability to produce high quality output and analyse and think creatively
Planner and Organizer: you are able to plan/organize and achieve rapid solutions.
Developed professionalism.
Team Worker: you have strong interpersonal skills and ability to deal with staff members from diverse cultures and backgrounds; you also have the ability to work in and build successful teams
Client orientated partner: you have a developed sense of service provision
Innovator and facilitator of change
Model of integrity, trustworthy and confident: you have high ethical standards.
Communication
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; including the ability to set out a coherent argument in presentations and group interactions.
• Knowledge of another IFAD official language (Arabic, French or Spanish) useful.
Other Information

Applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD, and they may be assigned by him/her to any of the activities of IFAD, including field assignments and/or rotation within IFAD.
IFAD reserves the right to appoint a candidate at the appropriate grade commensurate with experience and knowledge.
Interested candidates are requested to apply by completing IFAD’s Personal History Form (PHF) in English. A separate CV may be attached if you so desire, only as a supplement and not a substitute to the PHF. The application should be made through the online system only.
In the interest of making most cost effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.
Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.