Humanitarian Affairs Officer / Head of Field Coordination at United Nations

Responsibilities

• Within delegated authority, the Humanitarian Affairs Officer / Head of Field Coordination Unit will be responsible for the following duties: •
• Serves as a senior coordination/policy officer; advise on overall policy direction on specific issues; and, more generally, reviews and provides advice on a diverse range of policy issues related to safeguarding humanitarian principles and ensuring the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and the linkages with other related areas (e.g. human rights). •
• Prepares coordination/policy position papers for review. • Monitors, analyzes and reports on humanitarian developments, disaster relief/management programmes or emergency situations in assigned country/area; develops and maintains a “watch list” of countries with potential for humanitarian crisis. •
• Leads and/or participates in large, complex projects, to include disaster assessment or other missions; coordinates international humanitarian/emergency assistance for complex emergency/disaster situations; ensures necessary support (e.g. staff, funding, specialized equipment, supplies, etc.); prepares situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries. •
• Plays a key role in the preparation of the Humanitarian Programming Cycle, as well as assists in the production of other appeals for international assistance; ensures the proper use and spending of donor contributions channeled through OCHA. •
• Assists Member States in capacity-building for handling emergency situations; develops country-specific indicators for countries of concern in collaboration with area experts and ensures the subsequent monitoring of these indicators; recommends actions based on the analysis of pertinent information. •
• Initiates and coordinates activities related to technical cooperation and technical assistance projects in disaster response and disaster response preparedness; formulates project proposals and relevant project documents; provides technical support to field work; reviews and clears project reports for submission to governments. •
• Analyzes and assists in introducing new technologies for disaster warning/management. •
• Organizes and prepares studies on humanitarian, emergency relief and related issues; organizes follows-up work, including interagency technical review meetings to support policy development work and decision-making on important issues; and ensures the implementation of recommendations emanating from relevant studies. •
• Assists or leads, as appropriate, in the preparation of OCHA reports, studies, background papers, policy guidelines, correspondence, presentations, background papers, policy guidelines, parliamentary documents, etc.; with respect to the latter, takes the lead in providing support and information to relevant councils or other entities on specific issues. •
• Partners with other humanitarian agencies to plan and evaluate complex humanitarian and emergency assistance programmes; helps ensure that latest findings, lessons learned, policy guidelines, etc. are incorporated into these activities, including gender-related considerations. •
• Establishes and maintains contacts with government officials, other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, media, etc.; ensures appropriate mechanisms to facilitate collaboration and exchange of information both in and outside the UN system, including on early warning and contingency planning, etc. •
• Serves as the primary focal point on specific topics or policy-related issues; keeps abreast of latest developments, liaises with other humanitarian organizations, donors, etc., ensures appropriate monitoring and reporting mechanisms; provides information and advice on a range of related issues. •
• Organizes and participates in work groups, meetings, conferences, consultations with other agencies and partners humanitarian and emergency relief-related matters. •
• May participate in planning and preparation of unit budget and work program. •
• Provides leadership and work direction to assigned work team, and/or mentors and supervises the work of new/junior officers. •

Performs other duties as required.

Education

• An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in political science, social science, international studies, public administration, economics, engineering, earth sciences, or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.