Front Desk Receptionist

Terms of Reference for  

Front Desk Receptionist 

Better Brick – Nepal  

This document serves as a Terms of Reference (TOR) for the coordination and reporting responsibilities of the Better Brick - Nepal Front Desk Receptionist 

Project: Better Brick - Nepal 

Job Description: Full-Time Front Desk Receptionist 

Country Focus:  Nepal 

Responsible to: BBN’sFinance and HR Manager (Nepal)

Organizations: The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) is currently overseeing the Better Brick - Nepal Program.  

Duration: One-year contract, with possibility of extension and dependent on grant funding. 

Compensation: Commensurate with Experience 

OPPORTUNITY BACKGROUND

Over 200,000 workers, of whom as many as 32,000 are children, labor in unhealthy and unsafe conditions in Nepal’s brick kilns. The informal nature of the industry, which operates on the periphery of communities and with little government oversight, has served to entrench exploitive labor practices such as forced, bonded, and child labor. While work conditions are often harsh, the brick industry provides needed income to thousands of unskilled laborers, and in the wake of the Gorkha Earthquake of April 2015 the sector has become a particularly vital source of the jobs and building materials necessary for Nepal’s rebuilding and recovery.  

The Better Brick - Nepal Program’s objective is to transform the brick industry by eliminating child, forced, and bonded labor. We incentivize kilns to improve conditions for workers through access to better production techniques, stronger operations, and the creation of a market for ethically produced bricks.  To achieve this, long entrenched systems of recruiting workers, paying wages and operating kilns themselves must be reformed and new, locally appropriate, approaches introduced that maintain financial benefit for owners and workers alike. Brick kilns in Nepal play an important role in an economic infrastructure that supports the livelihoods of thousands of workers and provides the raw materials that drive Nepal’s reconstruction and future growth. A future goal of Better Brick - Nepal is to create a more nuanced vision of brick production with wider recognition of good and bad practices where, currently, the sector is largely disparaged on the whole. The impact of creating this “choice” leverages a prevalent interest from kiln owners to find solutions to social and environmental problems entrenched in the sector, and taps into an insurgent demand for responsibility and accountability in the commercial sector in Nepal, led in part by international donor agencies, and amplified in the wake of the Gorkha earthquake.   

The Better Brick - Nepal Program

The Better Brick - Nepal Program is a collaboration between the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), GoodWeave, and local Nepali NGOs, supported by Humanity United. The program’s objective is to incentivize kilns to eliminate bonded, forced, and child labor in the brick industry by increasing market opportunity and improving enterprise viability. Better Brick - Nepal is achieving this objective by utilizing a “tiered” system of engagement to differentiate levels of progress towards improving working conditions, as defined by the Better Brick - Nepal Standards, the program’s levels of engagement and investment on each kiln, and intensities of market facilitation and promotion for the kilns.  

Better Brick - Nepal currently has 40 partner kilns, which fall into three tiers - Participant Kilns, Member Kilns, and Certified Kilns. By staggering engagement and investment based on performance, the program can partner with more kilns, more quickly. In addition, by marketing Member and CertifiedKilns, the program can start to add in suppliers to meet the increased demand, while also ensuring that a zero tolerance policy on child labor is upheld.    

Better Brick - Nepal’s specific objectives are: 

• Support kilns in sustainably improving working conditions on their kilns and ultimately help them become a viable enterprise that is certified as a Better Brick Kiln 
• Create a market segmentation for “Better Bricks” and secure buyers interested in purchasing socially-responsibly produced bricks  
• Generate awareness around the challenges brick workers face among public consumers, policy makers, and decision makers to galvanize support for improving working conditions on brick kilns and creating a market preference for Better Bricks,   
• Implement a multi-stakeholder engagement strategy to segment the brick market and drive a set of policies and practices that incentivize the production of Better Bricks. 
• Creation of a local entity – Better Brick Nepal – and strengthening of its capacity to manage the program and supporting initiatives  

Roles and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of Better Brick – Nepal’s Front Desk Receptionist are as :

• Greet visitors, stakeholders, clients, vendors, and employment applicants.
• Answers phones, schedules meetings, sets-up appointments, organizes and maintains files.
• Sort, open & distribute incoming mail and prepare outgoing mail.
• Keep front desk area and conference rooms orderly and presentable.
• Assist in organization’s events and office logistics for ex: organizing lunch for the events.
• Provide prompt and professional service to internal staff  and external stakeholders and clients
• Ability to update calendars and schedule meeting/appointments if requested and calendar maintenance for conference rooms.
• Distribute incoming mail/outgoing mail accurately daily.
• Send, receive, and distribute all packages from outside vendors.
• Replenish office supplies when needed.
• Perform basic clerical duties that include: filing, faxing, photocopying, faxing etc…
• Keep detailed records and have the ability to maintain a filing or database organizational system.
• Any other duties as assigned 

Promote Objectives of BBN Program

• Support team in promoting the objectives of the Better Brick - Nepal Program 
• Support in organizing workshops, events, and meetings to promote Better Brick - Nepal’s objectives to external stakeholders 
• Ensure continuity of messaging across Better Brick - Nepal Program partners including GFI, IOs, GoodWeave, and Humanity United 
• Any other duties, as assigned 

Knowledge and Experience:

• Minimum intermediate (+2) level of education in any discipline
• Minimum of one year receptionist, administrative assistant experience required 
• Prior experience with BBN supported project will be an advantage
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Self-motivated and the ability to multi-task and ability to work in a fast-paced team environment.
• Able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Work, Outlook, and Excel) and Internet Explorer. 
• Resourceful and proactive in dealing with internal and external issues
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and work under pressure

Success Factors: 

The successful candidate will bring a wealth of experience in managing front desk for burgeoning organizations. This experience will include developing and implementing a long-term strategy while simultaneously managing day-to-day needs to successfully promote Better Brick - Nepal. 

How to Apply:  Please email a Letter of Interest with most recent CV to: agiri@globalfairness.org

Please reference “BBN Front Desk Receptionist” in the Subject line

Canvassing at any stage of recruitment process or phone calls prior to the interview will automatically eliminate candidates from consideration. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.  The organization reserves the right to cancel or postpone the whole recruitment process without providing any reasons whatsoever.