Senior Information Management Officer at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The incumbent will be supervised by the Representative while functional supervision will be exercised by Field Information and Coordination Support Section (FICSS), Geneva.

S/he will ensure that IM requirements in the country will be adequately addressed, including data collection, storage, analysis, dissemination tools and procedures.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT

Accountability

• The Country Office has a clear and comprehensive Information Management strategy and monitoring plan which are in line with UNHCR’s global IM strategy.
• The Country Office delivers reliable, accessible and user-friendly, relevant, predictable, appropriate and timely information.
• The Country Office has excellent Information Management capacity and deliver IM services to their partners.
• Global data standards, and where appropriate, the establishment of country-specific common data standards are adopted by UNHCR and its partners in the country.
• UNHCR is meeting its cluster obligations in Information Management service provision at the country level where required.Responsibility
• Prepare and maintain an IM strategy, in consultation with the country offices concerned. The strategy must include the internal management of information within UNHCR including; document management, flows of information and discovery of data/information within UNHCR.
• Analyze data, identify and address IM gaps, and facilitate information sharing between offices in the country.
• Set standards for operational, geographical and population data to be used throughout the country operation, maintain and distribute standards to IM officers and others working with operational data in the region, including partners.
• Coordinate interagency information management activities at the country level and facilitate the creation of interagency relationships and opportunities for cooperation. If appropriate, organize and convene a Refugee Information Management Working Group (RIMWG) and thematic sub-groups in areas such as geographic information management.
• Work closely with the Senior Registration Officer to ensure consistency and inter-operability between registration data and other operational data sets, and consistency between regional registration and information management strategies, as well as on population statistical reporting.
• Identify new information and data requirements to support operations and partners in the country, and support country office in gathering and sharing this information and data.
• Ensure that the information on the Web Portal serves the needs of UNHCR and the interagency humanitarian community, including those of partners as well as donors.
• Provide information management training to UNHCR and partner staff as needed.
• Provide emergency response information management support to country operation.
• Work with regional and country based reporting and public information officers in preparation of internal and external updates.
• Assist in the implementation of standardized information management policies, data systems and information products across offices within the country operation, including the common operational datasets and fundamental operational datasets.
• Provide Information Management support to needs assessments for all sectors (in refugee situations) and provide Information Management support to needs assessments within UNHCR-led clusters while participating in joint/harmonized needs assessments with other partners/clusters. Support operational leads in making methodological decisions about how to conduct needs assessments.
• Provide Information Management services to support monitoring activities within Sectors in a refugee emergency and to UNHCR led Clusters in IDP related emergencies; in areas of information flows, dissemination, processing, analysis, standard setting and dissemination.
• Leverage Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for map production and geographic data management while promoting data standards and harmonized management of geographic data/information.
• Provide Information Management services to support population data management activities including population estimation, information flows from established systems, movement tracking, standard-setting/promotion and dissemination.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Authority

• Prepare and implement country information management strategy, to be approved by Representative.Prepare structure and content for country pages on the web portal for endorsement by FICSS and approval by the Representative.
• Exercise functional and technical supervision of Information Management Officers based in the country operation.
• Chair Information Management coordination for organizations involved in refugee humanitarian response.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Advanced University degree in information technology, demography, statistics, social sciences or any related area.
• At least 10 years of relevant work experience including at least 5 years of combined field and/or headquarters experience in international organizations (e.g. UN agencies, INGOs, IOs, bi-lateral cooperation agencies, etc.), gradually assuming more responsibility.
• Knowledge of the UN system and the international humanitarian community.
• Knowledge of protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators.
• Advanced Excel skills (e.g. pivot tables, functions, etc.).
• Ability to formulate IM-related technical requirements and Operating Procedures.
• Ability to translate planning-specifications into technical briefs for data capture and analysis, and vice versa.
• Ability to compile and holistically analyze diverse datasets.
• Demonstrated ability for leadership in the context of partnership building and consensual decision-making.
• Demonstrated information management skills.
• Demonstrated understanding of different data collection methodologies.
• Understanding of relational data theory.
• Excellent written and oral presentation skills.
• Excellent knowledge of English and working knowledge of another UN language.(In offices where the working language is not English, excellent knowledge of UN working language of duty station and working knowledge of English.)

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

• Proficiency in other official UN languages.
• Successful participation in the Operational Data Management Learning Programme is desirable.
• Experience in web design and software development and programming is an asset.
• Experience with relevant software such as ArcGIS, Mapinfo, SPSS, EpiInfo6, SQL Server, and/or proGres.
• Experience with HTML, PHP, ASP and/or Java is an asset.