The U.S. Department of State is the lead institution for the conduct of American diplomacy and the Secretary of State is the President’s principal foreign policy advisor. The Department of State’s mission is to advance U.S. national security interests, fight terrorism, protect U.S. interests abroad, and implement foreign policy initiatives that build a freer, prosperous and secure world.
The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) keeps Americans safe at home by countering international crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad. INL helps countries deliver justice and fairness by strengthening their police, courts, and corrections systems. These efforts reduce the amount of crime and illegal drugs reaching U.S. shores.
The Western Hemisphere Program Office (INL/WHP) is part of the INL Bureau at the Department of State. INL/WHP provides policy guidance and develops, executes, and monitors programs to address the full range of criminal justice and transnational crime issues in the Western Hemisphere.
Position Description:
The Program Assistant provides programmatic, contractual, logistical, monitoring and
evaluation, and administrative support to the Central America team. In particular, the Program
Assistant will coordinate, prepare, assemble, and track program management documentation for
contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, inter-agency agreements, and agreements with
international organizations. The Program Assistant will also help with documentation for Letters
of Agreement and Diplomatic Notes to obligate funding. These documents serve as the backbone of implementation of over $500 million/year of foreign assistance programs in the hemisphere.
The Program Assistant will organize and attend meetings, and provide other general
administrative and programmatic support to assist the Central America Team.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Provide administrative and programmatic support to the Central America Team, including but not limited to assembling briefing books; drafting reports, memos, and updates, as assigned; and scheduling and managing meetings.
- Assist with logistical and administrative tasks, including VIP travel to the United States and countries in the Western Hemisphere.
- Coordinate, prepare, assemble, and track program management documentation for contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, inter-agency agreements, and agreements with international organizations as well as documentation for Letters of Agreement and Diplomatic Notes to obligate funding.
- Support the program officers, contracting officer representatives, grants officers representatives, and agreement officer representatives to compete Statements of Work (SOWs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs), or Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), program work plans, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks, in the development phase of programs.
- Supports program officers and Team Lead in budget planning and tracking.
- Assist program officers, and at the direction of the Team Lead engage stakeholders in the field and in the U.S. interagency in Washington, in the facilitation process for assigned team’s implementation of programs through award, official clearance, and program execution, which includes shepherding project documents through INL’s internal clearance processes.
- Manages assigned team Monitoring and Evaluation implementation, including reviewing, collecting, and organizing data. This includes tracking, filing, and analyzing quarterly reports from implementers. Assist INL/WHP in tracking program execution within contracts, grants, IAAs, and other sources, to include clear deliverables and reporting requirements to be provided by implementers. Provide recommendations on where evaluation improvements can be made.
- Supports the Central America team members in coordinating human resources/staffing requirements, including by scheduling interviews, shepherding hiring paperwork, scheduling pre-deployment training and consultations, and assisting in the preparation of new contract staff and Foreign Service Officers for field deployment.
- Assists in the preparation of background materials and reports used by INL, and assists in the preparation of reports, speeches, briefings, and testimony on INL/WHP issues.
- Conduct research on topics relating to issues of concern in Central America or the region.
- Maintains and updates INL/WHP programmatic data, statistics, and factsheets. Assists INL/WHP in developing and implementing a process to aggregate and report visually on collected program data. This includes creating infographics, charts, and other visual aids to convey INL programming, budgets, and results.
- Coordinates and implements special projects as directed by the Central America Team
- Lead to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Central America programming.
- Tracks INL-WHP-related news and monitors and disseminates relevant diplomatic cables to the Central America team.
- Ensures all GOR, COR, and AOR files are up-to-date for the Central America Team.
- Attends all INL/WHP and Central America meetings and conference calls.
Minimum Qualifications:
- U.S. Citizenship
- A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution;
- Zero to two years’ experience in relevant field;
- Demonstrated ability to work on projects and issues within overall policy guidelines;
- Demonstrated skilled in oral and written communication, sufficient to draft action and info memos, congressional testimony, press guidance and congressional and general correspondence;
- Knowledge of international narcotics and law enforcement issues.
- One additional year of experience in a relevant field, for a total of three years’ experience.
- Demonstrated superior interpersonal skills and proven ability to work well with others.
- Demonstrated interest in international affairs, the Western Hemisphere, public policy, or
- international development.
- Demonstrated superior attention to detail and experience meeting tight deadlines in a fast paced, office environment.
- Demonstrated proficiency with basic office computer programs. Demonstrated professional or academic experience in international affairs, the Western Hemisphere, public policy, or international development.
- Demonstrated experience working with Microsoft Office suite, especially Project, Publisher, and Excel.
- Demonstrated experience working with data analysis, data visualization, business intelligence, and other software programs dedicated to analyzing and presenting data, such as Tableau.
