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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home. Since 1950, we...
Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
UNHCR's mandated responsibility for finding solutions to refugee situations has long required stronger cooperation with development partners and the inclusion of persons of concern within development planning and programming instruments, including national development programmes. Due to a variety of factors, the proportion of refugees and internally displaced persons in protracted displacement situations remains high. Moreover, the diminishing number of forcibly displaced people who have access to so-called durable solutions constitutes a worrying trend that has persisted in recent years. The increasing scale of irregular migration, large scale refugee movements, internal displacement and the costs of responding to humanitarian situations have placed forced displacement high on the global agenda. Given the complexity and protractedness of many of today¿s forced displacement situations, often occurring in fragile contexts, awareness is growing that the humanitarian model of care and maintenance is unsustainable in the longer term and that forced displacement requires a development response to complement humanitarian assistance, address poverty and other development challenges in a sustainable and inclusive manner. The SDGs provide a yardstick for inclusive development based on the principles of Leaving No One Behind and Reaching the Furthest Behind First. It is also acknowledged that extreme poverty and human suffering associated with refugees and other forcibly displaced people need to be systematically taken into account existing when addressing development challenges and development prospects of host communities, countries, and regions.
The Global Compact for Refugees frames this new approach towards a more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing, recognizing that more sustainable approaches to refugee situations cannot be achieved without the systematic engagement of a broader set of stakeholders, including development partners.
Among the most significant humanitarian-development cooperation partnerships strengthened in recent years has been between the World Bank and UNHCR on forced displacement. In the eighteenth replenishment (2017-2020) of the World Bank¿s International Development Association (IDA), which provides financing for low-income countries, an amount of US$ 2.2 billion has been included for those states receiving large numbers of refugees (Sub-Window for Refugees and Host-Communities). The IDA 18 allocation follows the operationalization of a Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) for Middle-Income Countries (MICs) affected by large numbers of refugees. In addition, UNHCR has enhanced cooperation with the private sector wing of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and bilateral development donors.
Within the context outlined above, the role of the Senior Development Officer is to support UNHCR's engagement and cooperation with development agencies¿ medium-term programmes assisting local communities and UNHCR¿s population of concern and the ability to leverage development partnerships to influence policy dialogue to enact institutional reforms toward improved protection environments, socio-economic inclusion, and self-reliance; taking into account and reducing the vulnerabilities of forcibly displaced persons. As such, the incumbent needs to have practical experience working with and an understanding of the interplay of different aspects of economic growth, governance, fragility and conflict, the main factors that influence the environment for inclusion and resilience for UNHCR¿s population of concern. Depending on the operating environments in the area of responsibility (AoR), the incumbent might need to have specific expertise in areas such as social protection, governance in fragile contexts, local governance and community development. It is anticipated that development responses to forced displacement will grow in significance in future years due to the greater importance attached to fragility and addressing protracted displacement situations. The incumbent will assist in identifying potential opportunities and ensure complementarity between UNHCR's protection work and the economic and social development objectives pursued by development partners and their government counterparts. It will, therefore, be important that the Assistant Development Officer supports relevant UNHCR staff within the AoR to contribute to the Operation¿s efforts to (i) align policy, operational and programme priorities between humanitarian and development agencies, (ii) establish and maintain reporting and knowledge, and information exchanges on key developments among all interested stakeholders, (iii) assist relevant UNHCR staff to engage in development planning, programming and coordination processes with Government entities and development partners; and (iv) assist relevant UNHCR staff in developing, contributing to and coordinating multi-year and multi-partner transition strategies for protracted forced displacement situations.
In Country Operations, the Senior Development Officer will normally work under the overall supervision of the UNHCR Representative or his/her Deputy. In the Regional Bureaux, the Senior Development Officer will normally work under the overall supervision of the Bureau Director, Deputy Director, Head of External Engagement Service or Chief of External Engagement
All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.
Duties
For positions in Country Operations only:
For positions in Regional Bureaux only:
Identify, commission and/or contribute to studies and analytical activities from a situational or regional perspective that build the conceptual framework and evidence base for comprehensive, development-oriented responses, including preparedness work, to forced displacement.
Perform other related duties as required.
Minimum Qualifications
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P4/NOD - 9 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 8 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 7 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Certificates and/or Licenses
n/a
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Relevant Job Experience
Essential:
At least six (6) years of direct working experience with an international agency/organisation implementing development programmes, of which at least two (2) years in field operations, preferably with knowledge of, or experience in, local or area based economic development.
Experience in primary data collection, quantitative research methods and results-based management.
Desirable:
n/a
Functional Skills
Partnership Development
CL- Strategy Development and Monitoring
MG-Project Analysis/Development/Implementation/Management/Coordination
SO-Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
MS-Networking
PO-Policy Advocacy in UNHCR
Knowledge Management
SO-Negotiation Skills
PG-Results-Based Management
CM-Strategic Communication
MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
PR-Refugee Protection Principles and Framework
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