Humanitarian Affairs Officer at UNDP

Duties and Responsibilities

Coordination

• Provide frontline surge in response to new emergencies, the escalation of existing emergencies and/or to fill critical gaps in Southern and Eastern Africa;
• Support coordinated humanitarian operational preparedness for, and response to, emergencies in Southern and Eastern Africa, including through frontline surge, and support (remote and in-person) for relevant processes and products such as contingency plans, the Humanitarian Programme Cycle, flash updates, humanitarian financing (e.g., CERF) etc.;

Information Management

• Follow developments in countries assigned by the supervisor, keep relevant country profiles up to date, interact with the Resident Coordinator's Office coordination specialist for assigned countries, and highlight any issues of concern to feed into the daily operational update;
• Prepare or contribute to the preparation of various written reports, response monitoring and gap analysis, including gender-related considerations;
• Track information required for early warning of potential humanitarian emergencies in assigned areas and as appropriate promote preparedness measures, including inter-agency contingency planning;
• Prepare briefing materials and presentations providing up-to-date analysis on trends and developments on the humanitarian situation in assigned areas;

Advocacy

• Review and provide advice on policy issues related to safeguarding humanitarian principles and ensuring the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance;
• Assist in the production of appeals for international assistance - including Humanitarian Needs Overviews, Humanitarian Response Plans and Flash Appeals - in the region;
• Support the preparation of relevant Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) applications and reports in countries under ROSEA's coverage without OCHA country offices;
• Organize and/or participate in coordinated assessment missions to build consensus on humanitarian needs and priorities in assigned areas;
• Prepare daily and weekly updates, humanitarian overviews, and context analyses in the provinces of Western Region areas of responsibility.
• Support advocacy efforts concerning humanitarian issues based on analysis of the humanitarian situation. Keep abreast of latest developments, help liaise with other humanitarian organizations, donors, government counterparts

Humanitarian Financing

• Provide expert advice on the implementation of collective community engagement mechanisms, to a standard that meets OCHA and donor requirements, and incorporating the community engagement elements of PSEA. This may include: deployment or facilitation of expert capacity on mission to undertake relevant discussions and actions; and/or remote support to colleagues working on these issues in-country;
• Support the development of HCT Community Engagement/Accountability to Affected People (AAP) Strategies in the region, either through in-country missions and/or remote support to focal points in-country;
• Facilitate in-country trainings (incl. ToT), webinars (incl. remotely), and local workshops to increase collective community engagement awareness among humanitarian responders - including governments, the RCRC Movement, national NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies - and increase understanding of the importance of involving, listening to and communicating with disaster affected communities in a coordinated manner during all stages of the Humanitarian Program Cycle (HPC), to achieve Accountability to Affected People (AAP);
• Monitor the implementation of the humanitarian projects in the Region
• Perform other duties as required.

Required Skills and Experience

• Provide expert advice on the implementation of collective community engagement mechanisms, to a standard that meets OCHA and donor requirements, and incorporating the community engagement elements of PSEA. This may include: deployment or facilitation of expert capacity on mission to undertake relevant discussions and actions; and/or remote support to colleagues working on these issues in-country;
• Support the development of HCT Community Engagement/Accountability to Affected People (AAP) Strategies in the region, either through in-country missions and/or remote support to focal points in-country;
• Facilitate in-country trainings (incl. ToT), webinars (incl. remotely), and local workshops to increase collective community engagement awareness among humanitarian responders - including governments, the RCRC Movement, national NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies - and increase understanding of the importance of involving, listening to and communicating with disaster affected communities in a coordinated manner during all stages of the Humanitarian Program Cycle (HPC), to achieve Accountability to Affected People (AAP);
• Perform other duties as required.

Education

• Master' s Degree preferably in Political or Social Science, Law, International studies or other relevant science is required;
• Bachelor's degree in combination with 2 additional years of relevant and qualifying experience in the field of humanitarian affairs may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills​​​​​​​

• Minimum of 2 years with advanced Degree and 4 years with bachelor' s degree of relevant progressively professional responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness , crisis/emergency relief management or other related areas is required;
• First-hand experience carrying out humanitarian coordination in disaster response or complex emergency settings is required, including knowledge of humanitarian principles and delivery of assistance using a principled approach is required;
• Relevant experience working on Community Engagement and/or Accountability to Affected People is highly desirable;
• Relevant experience working within a humanitarian organization in the UN system in Southern and/m Eastern Africa is highly desirable;
• Good knowledge of OCHA's institutional mandates, policies and guideline related to humanitarian affair s and humanitarian reform would be an asset
• Familiarity and good knowledge of social, political and economic condition in Eastern and/or Southern Africa is desirable;
• Proven abilities in data collection, compilation, analysis and reporting witl1 ability to write in a clear and concise manner and effective oral communication;
• Proven skills in facilitating meetings and reporting Language requirements (Required / Desired)
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language (especially French and/or Arabic) is highly desirable.