Mission and objectives

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950, by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCR provides protection and assistance to refugees worldwide. UNHCR currently works in more than 120 countries and helps over 43 million people worldwide; refugees or those uprooted within their own countries. The UN Refugee Agency also cares for asylum seekers, returnees, and stateless persons. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally, or resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

Context

The Refugee Shelter & Settlement Assistant will report to the UNHCR Settlement Planner, in the context of the infrastructure & Planning projects in Za’atari Syrian Refugee Camps in Jordan, provide technical assistance in the field of shelter, settlement planning, and communal facilities construction within the Area of Responsibility (AoR), as well as reporting activities, monitoring the projects implementation, and consolidating collected data. The assigned UN Volunteer may be lending support to other UNHCR Jordan activities as required, subject to approval from Head of Office, Mafraq Sub-Office. There are several actors working independently of the UNHCR, as well as sister agencies and other organizations. The UN Volunteer is required to monitor the situation on ground where relevant, and where construction works are taking place whether directly related to the Shelter and Settlement Planning projects or may indirectly affect the integrity of the infrastructure, and report regularly to the UNHCR Settlement Planner. At all times, he/she must commit to operate effectively across the organizational boundaries; excellent interpersonal skills and maintain harmonious working relations with sensitivity and respect for diversity. Availability that his/her likeness appears on media, social media, photos and videos as it will be impossible for UNHCR to prevent such appearances on the public or external occasion s/he will perform duties. S/He will need to understand that her/his picture will possibly be seen on the internet. Qualified female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. Additional Information: Refugee UN Volunteers in Jordan are entitled to: • Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) at the amount of JOD 1,101.58 • Annual and learning leaves; • Free Medical and life insurance; • Free access to different learning platforms.

Task Description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the UNHCR Settlement Planner in Za’atari Camp or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Refugee Shelter & Settlement & shelter assistant will: • Produce CAD drawings for upcoming/ ongoing projects and activities under the supervision and approval of the UNHCR Site Planner. • Monitor the implementation of shelter maintenance and provide status reports to the UNHCR Site Planner. • Learn how to facilitate Shelter and Settlement coordination among partners’ teams in the field, ensuring that inclusive and good practice coordination structures for all technical sectors covered are in place. • Support the team during the winter response, through efficient and timely reporting. Follow up on technical winter assistance provided on ground by UNHCR Technical Unit. Act as a linking bridge with the community during winter response. • Perform technical or other assessments, and prepare technical inspection, assessment, or other reports. • Provide insight to cultural understanding of refugee community, assess actual needs, evaluate and breakdown concerns raised by refugee community in the camp. • Develop strong rapport with refugee community and communicate effectively upon a basis of sympathy and emotional contagion. • Report trends in shelter and site plan changes by refugees in the camp, such as shelter extensions, shelter movements and allocation, changes to the infrastructures and/ or camp layout at district and/ or block level. • Apply and ensure adherence to safety standards related to the safe operation of and maintenance activities. • Inspecting and reporting on work progress for the infrastructure and maintenance works carried out either by contractors, implementing partners and ensure proper utilization of available resources. • Perform quantity and land surveying and estimate bills of quantities. • Follow on the available stock of shelter items, prepare stock reports and report to the UNHCR Site Planner. • Ensure that any work carried out does not conflict with existing UN environmental, health and safety policies. • Ensure that full and accurate reports are maintained on shelter and settlement activities, by reviewing reports on activities and snag lists, and ensuring correct filling of forms, description of snags, repairs, taken actions, time, and location. • Monitor the collection and recording of SDG 11 Shelter and Settlement access data in the Vulnerability Assessment Framework VAF for all UNHCR Refugees to enable comparative reporting against national averages, to ensure that refugees are not being “left behind”. • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor. Furthermore, Refugee UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UNV programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities during their work. As such, they should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities; • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Provide annual and end-of-assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities. • 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 online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever possible.

Competencies and values

– Professionalism – Integrity – Teamwork and respect for diversity – Commitment to continuous learning – Planning and organizing effective organizational and problem-solving skill and ability to manage a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work under pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent projects/activities.

Living conditions and remarks

The position is based in Za’atari- Jordan, presently a B category duty station. The Refugee UN Volunteer is responsible to perform works in Za’atari refugee camp. Compared to other governorates, working conditions in the north of Jordan are harsh. Za’atari is hot and dry desert, dusty environment with extreme daily temperature fluctuations. UN Security Phase – Level 2 in Zaatari camp The UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. A candidate living inside or very close to the camps is a plus as this will help us to achieve fast response times in case of emergencies or any urgent works.