Jobs - 57907- Community Services Assistant

Community Services Assistant

Location :

Yaounde, CAMEROON

Type of Contract :

UNV

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

16-Jul-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

UNV

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

The NUNV will be assigned to the project « Protection and assistance to urban refugees and asylum-seekers ». This project aims at providing the target population with different forms of assistance, in the fields of: Protection (registration, documentation, promotion and advocacy of rights of refugees), security against violence (sexual-based violence, exploitation, abuse and discrimination), access to basic services (health, education, employment and income-generating activities), and the promotion of refugee participation in self- management and self-reliance.

The United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) has a presence in Cameroon through the Branch Office (office of the Representative) based in Yaounde (Centre region), two field offices in the East (Bertoua and Batouri), one in Adamaoua (Meiganga), one in Douala (Littoral region) and one in Maroua (Far North).

Persons of concern to UNHCR in urban areas are of different nationalities and profiles. As of February 2014, the number of urban refugees was of 11,025. Many of them had fled their country due to the insecurity caused by armed conflicts. These refugees are mainly coming from: CAR, Tchad, Rwanda, DRC, Ivory Coast, Burundi and Congo Brazzaville, and most of them living in Yaounde or Douala. They have been recognized as refugees through a refugee status determination process under 1951 Convention or UNHCR’s mandate.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Community Services Officer or the Senior Community Services Assistant the UN volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

Map and analyze protection risks among the refugee community, as well as their capacities and resources to implement community-based protection actions;
Establish links and interact with the local community and the refugee community, including the latter’s self-management structures (refugee committees):
Design and develop, in collaboration with operational partners and the refugee community, activities which address social, education, psycho-social, cultural and livelihoods concerns, as well as SGBV and child protection activities:
Support the organization of International Days (such as Women’s Day, World Refugee Day, 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, etc.):
Participate in consultation processes with the government, partners and persons of concern of UNHCR, in view of designing and implementing community-based protection strategies:
Organize participatory assessments and regular consultations with refugees and other persons of concern of UNHCR, as part of multi-functional teams;
Follow up and provide guidelines to partners for the implementation of different projects in their different field of competence ;
Support capacity development of partners, including government and refugees, in the field of community services and in regards to UNHCR mandate;
Follow up budgets and expenditures of Community Services, and make recommendations to the supervisor in regards to resource allocation within the section’s envelope ;
Put in place systems ensuring that individual cases identified in the field are adequately and timely transferred by the implementing partners and relevant government agencies;
Treat correspondence of persons of concern requesting assistance, and review the specific needs in collaboration with the operational partner and by doing field visits if necessary;
Receive and advise refugees and asylum-seekers with specific social problems, and make recommendations on actions to be taken, including referral to Protection and advocacy before state agencies, if necessary.
Support the setting up of exchange and coordination structures with MINAS, MINJEUN, MINPROFF and all the other Ministries competent in social matters ;
Support the Protection unit in the elaboration of reports regarding child’s best interest determination (BID), if necessary ;
Draft activity and situation reports;
Draft letters ;
Perform any other task as necessary.

Furthermore, UN volunteers are encouraged to:

Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark IVD);
Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN volunteers;
Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Competencies

Reinforcement of the Community Services structures, in terms of efficiency, predictability and impact interventions;
An improvement in the assessment of the needs of persons of concern;
Improved and more systematic monitoring of activities of implementing partners;
Stronger partnership with other governmental and non-governmental social actors;
Improved support for refugees, within an emphasis on self-reliance;
A more regular and systematic monitoring of vulnerable cases and cases of GBV;
Reinforced ownership of social actions implemented by UNHCR on the part of refugees; and constructive contact with the leaders, and other representatives, of refugee communities;
An enhanced participation of women in the design and development of UNHCR activities.

Required Skills and Experience

University degree in Social Sciences
Two (2) years professional experience in at least one of the following fields of expertise : community mobilisation/management ; SGBV ; child protection ; protection and assistance of vulnerable persons ; management of social projects.
Excellent command of French and at working knowledge of English ;
Familiarity with the work of refugees is an advantage ;
Good analysis and writing skills