UNDP Jobs - 59507- Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs 2

Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs 2

Location :

Geneva, SWITZERLAND

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Dec-2015

Application Deadline :

08-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Possible extension

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

The post is located in the Senior Transformative Agenda Implementation Team (STAIT) based in Geneva. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Emergency Directors Group (EDG) established the STAIT to support the roll-out of the IASC Transformative Agenda at field-level. The STAIT is an inter-agency team which includes senior NGO and UN colleagues with extensive experience in humanitarian operations. The STAIT provides peer support for country operations, sharing good practice and providing peer support guided by the vision of transforming and supporting a better collective humanitarian response. The STAIT aims to contribute to a ‘mindset shift’ in the way humanitarian actors work together to enable a more effective, accountable and timely humanitarian response.

The STAIT’s work focuses on the following main areas:

Leadership (at all levels including: Humanitarian Coordinators, Humanitarian Country Teams, Inter-Cluster, Clusters, sub-national);
Coordination;
Humanitarian Programme Cycle with a focus on delivery;
Accountability to Affected People;
Centrality of Protection;
Enabling security management.

The Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs reports directly to the Humanitarian Project Director (P6).

The Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs provides substantive contributions and technical expertise in all five of the STAIT’s main work streams: 1) field support missions; 2) remote support to HCTs; 3) webinars; 4) communications material; and 5) shaping policy and practice by sharing lessons learned at country level and feeding these into global policy.

The Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs provides substantive contributions to the field support programme and participates in country missions as required; contributes substantively to the communication, promotion and mainstreaming of the Transformative Agenda in an inter-agency IASC context; contributes to STAIT strategic planning, and monitors the implementation of the STAIT workplan; and advises the Humanitarian Project Director on course correction and creative responses to emerging challenges.

The Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs is responsible for supervision and guidance to STAIT project staff and ensuring cooperation and coordination with relevant IASC bodies. The Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs liaises with IASC organizations, including Directors and Senior Staff, both at HQ and field level, NGO consortia and NGOs at HQ and field level, Humanitarian Coordinators and their staff in the field, as well as Programme Managers, Regional Commissions, technical advisors and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society.

Duties and Responsibilities

Contribute to the development and implementation of the STAIT’s field support programme, including country missions and remote support:

Advise the Humanitarian Project Director on the application of the Transformative Agenda in specific country contexts, issues for STAIT support to focus on and possible responses to complex challenges;
On behalf of the Humanitarian Project Director, coordinate with the STAIT members and in-country counterparts to organize, prepare, implement and follow-up field support, including country missions and remote support;
Participate in field support missions as requested by the Humanitarian Project Director, and contribute to meeting facilitation, data collection, analysis and presentation, and mission reporting;
Contribute technical expertise and analysis to the roll-out of remote support to selected Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) in collaboration with ALNAP (Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in humanitarian action) through remote self-assessments on context-related Transformative Agenda (TA) issues, supporting analysis and debriefing of HCTs on findings and organizing follow-up in-country support as necessary.

Under the overall supervision of the Humanitarian Project Director, contribute to the STAIT’s efforts to communicate, promote and mainstream the Transformative Agenda in an inter-agency IASC context:

Ensure liaison and partnership with humanitarian and crisis actors (UN and non-UN) to support the roll-out of the Transformative Agenda;
Contribute to the development and implementation of a communications strategy in support of the roll-out, understanding and application of the Transformative Agenda (TA) and its protocols. The communication strategy aims to share knowledge as training / capacity building to field operations on issues requiring strengthening;
Create content and contribute to the development and dissemination of communication materials, utilizing a variety of platforms and media as appropriate, and monitor their usage;
Build and maintain a network of contacts with potential users of the communication material in IASC organizations (UN and NGO) to understand communication and learning needs and gather/share existing material;
Promote coherence in mainstreaming of the Transformative Agenda into the capacity-building programmes of IASC partners.
Provide substantive input and contribute to the development and execution of a series of online learning events (webinars) on relevant issues related to the Transformative Agenda, e.g. collective leadership, coordination, AAP (Accountability to Affected People), HPC (Humanitarian Programme Cycle), in close collaboration with IASC subject-matter experts and leads.

Under the overall supervision of the Humanitarian Project Director, the Programme Specialist/Humanitarian Affairs is responsible for the day-to-day management of the STAIT programme:

Programme management: contribute to the planning and preparation of the unit budget and work programme and monitors the implementation of the work plan;
Financial management: ensure the integrity of financial systems, review of budget requirements and the consistent application or rules and regulations; ensure budget expenditure and monitoring;
Human Resources management: in consultation with the Humanitarian Project Director and STAIT Director, the Programme Specialist/ Humanitarian Affairs is responsible for recruitment, performance and career management and supervision of STAIT project staff to motivate and promote organizational excellence;
Team work: Promotes cross-unit team work;
Donor relations: manage relationships with STAIT donors as requested by the Humanitarian Project Director; develop project proposals as needed; ensure accurate and timely narrative and financial donor reporting.

Ensure knowledge building and management:

Contribute to the development and implementation of a learning and knowledge management strategy for the Transformative Agenda;
Gather evidence of best practices and lessons learned from the application of the Transformative Agenda, both practice and policy-related, for system-wide sharing and learning, through learning field missions, interviews and other methodologies;
Establish learning networks within the IASC system to link the work of the STAIT and recommendations and findings from STAIT missions to the work of relevant IASC bodies;
Provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
Provide briefing/training sessions on learning from the application of the Transformative Agenda for IASC partners, both at HQ and field level;
Promote a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the STAIT;
In collaboration with research institutions or consultants, undertake reviews to assess the impact of the application of the Transformative Agenda to date;
Prepare communications and reports related to learning from STAIT missions and webinar discussions for IASC bodies, such as the Emergency Director Group (EDG), as well as different parts of OCHA as appropriate.

Competencies

Core:

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery

Ability to get things done.

Technical/Functional:

Primary:

Transformative Agenda

Knowledge of the content and purpose of the Transformative Agenda Protocols, the three pillars of the Transformative Agenda (coordination, leadership and accountability, including the humanitarian programme cycle), the Centrality of Protection, and the spirit of the Transformative Agenda, and the ability to apply in strategic and/or practical situations.

Partnerships

Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.

Secondary:

Knowledge Management

Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in International Relations, Development, Law, Political Sciences or Social Sciences, or a related field.

Experience:

Minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian affairs, with a special emphasis on inter-agency humanitarian coordination, developing and working towards collective goals is required;
Of which at least five (5) years of experience at the international level and at least three (3) years of experience in support of humanitarian operations, preferably with experience in leadership roles at country or global level e.g. member of Humanitarian Country Team, inter-cluster coordination, cluster coordination, NGO fora, leading significant inter-agency processes is required;
Strong knowledge of the content and purpose of the Transformative Agenda Protocols, the three pillars of the Transformative Agenda (coordination, leadership and accountability) and the spirit of the Transformative Agenda, and how these should be applied in practical situations, is required;
Experience managing donor relations and writing project proposals is required;
Experience in the UN system as well as with NGOs, both at headquarters and field level, is strongly desired;
Experience developing and implementing a communications strategy using a wide range of media would be an advantage;
Experience producing or facilitating online learning and communications events would be an asset;
Experience in training/learning design and facilitation skills is desirable.

Language:

For this post, fluency in oral and written English is required;
Fluency in oral and written French is required;
Knowledge of Arabic or another official United Nations language is highly desirable.