Operations Associate, Volunteer Deployment at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Duties and Responsibilities

UN Volunteer deployment

• Provide regional deployment services in adherence to established UNV practices, regulations and policies; 
• Engage in deployment activities and coordinate with third parties as needed to support timely volunteer deployment, as per corporate key performance indicators;
• Check documents, obtain relevant clearances and confirm Entry on Duty for selected candidates;
• Issue offers and contracts, as per established standards; 
• Process pre-departure entitlements;
• Implement agreed standard communications and processes related to UN Volunteer deployment;
• Alert supervisor about deficiencies or risks and liaise with Regional Offices and Field Units on exceptional situations and provide guidance on applicable regulations, rules and policies to ensure full compliance with accountability framework;  
• Record actions and data in the volunteer management systems.

Volunteer Deployment Coordination and technical support

• Keep relevant parties updated on status of deployment and negotiate adjustments when required; 
• Facilitate timely resolution of queries related to volunteer deployment;
• Compile deployment specificities of countries in the portfolio to facilitate fast and smooth deployment of UN Volunteers;
• Identify shortfalls (clearances, visas, etc.) in UNV’s deployment for specific countries, regions and profiles and support deployment efforts to satisfy specific partner demand;
• Liaise with other team members in the VSC, the Regional Office and Field Units to keep abreast of evolving demand for UN Volunteer deployment in the region; 
• Represent the organization, collaborate, and advise, as necessary, external parties on deployment-related matters.

Facilitation of knowledge building and sharing

• Provide input to the design of training materials and corporate activities towards building the deployment capacity of UNV personnel;
• Synthetize lessons learned in UN Volunteer deployment with the aim to improve VSC timeliness and quality delivery; 
• Make contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice; 
• Provide input on deployment policies, systems and processes for the purpose of continuous improvement;
• Serve on a rotational basis as a focal point for VSC on various topics;
• Perform other administrative duties as may be required.

Competencies
 
Core 
Achieve Results

• Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

Think Innovatively

• Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements

Learn Continuously

• Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility 

• Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

Act with Determination

• Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner

• Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion

• Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination
   

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Knowledge Generation

• Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.

Digital Awareness and Literacy

• Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed.

Customer satisfaction/ client management

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs;
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy;
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests;
• Ability to anticipate clients' upcoming needs and concerns.

Communication

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience;
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Required Skills and Experience
 
Education:

• Secondary education with technical training in human resources, business administration or related areas; 
• University degree in human resources, business, or public administration, or related areas is desirable but is not a requirement.

Experience:

• 6 years of relevant experience in personnel and/or business management;
• Alternatively, Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field in combination with 3 years of experience in personnel and/or business management may be accepted; 
• Experience in MS Office 365;
• Experience working in web-based management/CRM systems would be an asset;
• Experience working with Salesforce Service Cloud would be an asset;
• Experience in an international or non-profit context would be an asset;
• Experience working with volunteers would be an asset;
• Fluency in English;
• Proficiency in another official UN language and/or other dominant language in the region would be an asset.