This position is open to South Sudan Nationals Only 

BACKGROUND

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is part of the United Nations General Secretariat and reports to the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.

In South Sudan, OCHA has the mandate for inter-agency coordination of humanitarian assistance in complex emergency or natural disaster contexts, in support of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator. OCHA has specific responsibility for disseminating information to the humanitarian community, the Government of South Sudan, and donors, as well as supporting resource mobilization efforts. In its operational structure, the OCHA office includes sub-field offices and antennas. This position, which may be transferred to other locations in the future depending on operational needs, is initially based in Juba.

Under the general supervision of the OCHA South Sudan Head of Office and the direct supervision of the OCHA SSD Deputy Heads of Office, the Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer plays a crucial role within the humanitarian community and is responsible in particular the planning, coordination, and monitoring of inter-agency missions, the maintenance of a permanent communications network with the OCHA sub-offices and antennas in the counties and the collection of information allowing analyzes to be carried out at any time on the security and humanitarian situation within its jurisdiction. He works directly with all UN humanitarian actors and local and international NGOs, local authorities, and donors.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Sub-Office within his/her jurisdiction and the general supervision of the Head of the OCHA South Sudan Office, the Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer will have to assume the following main functions:

• Identify opportunities to translate the HCT AAP strategy into practical actions, building on the various tools and guidance developed by the IASC AAP Task Force (results tracker, CFM standards and taxonomy, and the AAP framework)
• Support the coordination of Community Engagement and AAP through the Communication and Community Engagement Working Group (CCEWG), and ensure the voices of local and national NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, etc. are integrated in the collective efforts at both national and sub-national levels.
• Facilitate inter-agency capacity mapping and work with partners on integrating AAP commitments in humanitarian response, supporting collective solutions, and coordinated AAP initiatives.
• Identify capacity-strengthening opportunities and develop training tools and associated guidelines contextually designed to build the capacity of AAP partners, especially national NGO partners, government counterparts, and OCHA staff.
• Provide technical advice on leveraging funds from existing mechanisms and facilitate resource allocation to support the implementation of collective AAP commitments across the HDP nexus.
• Sustain synergies with other crosscutting thematic areas including PSEA, Gender, Protection, Cash, and other relevant thematic areas to ensure that common approaches (e.g. community feedback system), are harmonized and coordinated
• Coordinate the humanitarian response in collaboration with other actors based on a collective strategy or a common action plan ;
• Report on all developments and data related to humanitarian crisis situations and potential risk areas in the province;
• Contribute and/consolidate the strengthening of links between humanitarian, development, and peace actors across the Nexus to maximize the impact of interventions;
• Organize/facilitate humanitarian needs assessments to direct the response towards the most vulnerable people;
• Organize regular meetings between OCHA and local authorities, with specialized United Nations agencies, NGOs and representatives of the Red Cross movement, representatives of private actors, and UNMISS;
• Contribute to improving humanitarian access in a collective and inclusive approach with all humanitarian actors;
• Serve as an intermediary between humanitarian actors and the competent authorities in the province;
• Provide all necessary support to NGOs for advocacy and the implementation of projects identified as priorities in collaboration with the Cluster focal point;
• Assist the clusters in the development of technical documents for the Humanitarian Action Plan and encourage the participation of all humanitarian actors in this process;
• Develop monitoring tools in relation to the technical sheets of the Humanitarian Action Plan and monitor the projects reflected in this plan;
• Evaluate, in collaboration with partners, their needs for information tools; contribute to the quality of analysis of the security and humanitarian context for better direction of humanitarian actions on the ground; Gather and communicate information on financing tools, after having identified gaps in the ongoing humanitarian response;
• Develop contingency plans of a general and thematic nature and monitor their implementation;
• Provide strong leadership on humanitarian issues and be able to represent the OCHA office in various forums;
• Report on all developments relating to ongoing humanitarian situations and in areas of potential risk by preparing analytical reports on local and national development, advocacy, and protection issues;
• Manage the performance of staff under his direct supervision;
• Work in close collaboration with the Advocacy and Planning units for better circulation of information and for everything relating to recovery and development activities;
• Provide administrative support to the office in the event of a vacancy;
• Facilitate the coordination of activities related to Pooled Fund allocations and the development of the Humanitarian Action Plan;
• Work with less supervision and independently;
• Perform other tasks as needed and at the request of their supervisor.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Master’s degree with two years experience or Bachelor’s degree with four years experience in the field of social, political, development, and/or humanitarian action sciences; A combination of relevant professional experience with an undergraduate degree in one of the aforementioned disciplines is an eligibility criterion.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills:

• Have professional experience of at least two years with a master’s degree or four years with a Bachelor’s degree of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian matters, specifically in crisis situations requiring advocacy as well as inter-agency coordination in a complex emergency environment .
• Good command of the context of the duty station would be a major asset.

Language Requirements:

• Perfect command of written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of Arabic is a requirement.

COMPETENCIES

Competencies:

Professionalism: Knowledge and understanding of humanitarian assistance, emergency relief, and related human rights issues. Ability to work under restrictive circumstances in a stressful environment; persevere in the face of obstacles and difficulties; know how to remain calm and effective in difficult situations. Encourage equal participation of women and men in all activities. Ability to meet deadlines, respect the agreed budget, and adhere to standards; comply with the rules and procedures of the Organization.

Communication skills: Knowing how to express oneself well orally and in writing; ability to listen to others, understand them well, and respond appropriately; knowing how to ask questions for clarification purposes and to encourage dialogue; ability to adapt language, tone, style, and presentation to the audience being addressed; ability to share information with all those interested and keep everyone informed. Ability to write reports.

Team spirit: Collaborate with colleagues to achieve the objectives of the Organization; solicit contributions, appreciate the true value of everyone’s ideas and skills; be willing to learn from others; ability to put the interest of the team before personal gain; ability to accept and comply with the final decisions of the group, even if they do not fit perfectly with one’s own position; ability to share the team’s successes and take responsibility for its failures.

Customer focus: Ability to see “customers” in all service recipients and seek to see things from their point of view; ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; ability to discern and respond to customer needs; ability to monitor the evolution of clients’ situations, both internally and externally, in order to anticipate problems; ability to keep clients informed of project progress; ability to meet deadlines for delivery of products or provision of services.

The ability to conduct strategic planning, results-based management, and report writing.

Applicant information about UNOCHA rosters

UNOCHA reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNOCHA at the same grade level and with similar job descriptions, experience, and educational requirements.

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