Head of OCHA Field Office

This vacancy is issued for roster purposes. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, through its roster program, will preselect qualified and suitable individuals and deploy them to field assignments at hardship duty stations in Arabic speaking countries across the globe, including non-family duty stations, in accordance with operational requirements. The Head of OCHA Field Offices supports the UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator under the overall leadership of the Director of the Coordination and Response Division of OCHA.

Responsibilities

The OCHA Head of Field Office will discharge and be responsible for the following functions: Humanitarian Policy / Programming / Coordination

• Serve as senior advisor to the UN RC/HC, the UN Country Team (UNCT) and humanitarian partners on humanitarian policy, principles, initiatives, resources and tools; • Prepare substantive, quality information and analysis to support decision-making on humanitarian policy issues; • Guide efforts to ensure that humanitarian coordination mechanisms are effective, inclusive and in line with existing policies/approaches including Humanitarian Reform, relevant lessons learned, etc.; • Support the UN RC/HC in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the county’s humanitarian work plan (usually expressed through the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP)/ Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP)), soliciting and negotiating inputs with relevant authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, etc.; • Support the UN RC / HC in convening regular donor meetings to brief on funding patterns, critical gaps, achievements and other issues regarding the financial support for humanitarian operations; • Participate in / lead joint Government/Donor/UN/NGO assessment missions to build consensus on sector and geographic priorities and recommend necessary action; • Oversee / manage information management systems to effectively map areas of humanitarian needs and response activities in support of coordination efforts; • Foster and reinforce linkages between field monitoring, information management and coordination efforts; • Support advocacy initiatives on issues impacting the humanitarian response through overseeing the development of appropriate strategies, collection of information, liaison with humanitarian partners, government officials, and media, etc.; • Ensure timely and appropriate assistance to the UN RC/HC and (if applicable) the United Nations Disaster Management Teams (UNDMT) in response to natural disasters and new emergencies including monitoring and reporting; leading or participating in the United Nations Disaster Assessment Coordination (UNDAC) missions; preparation, monitoring and reporting on appeals, elaborating costs plans, initiating lessons learned, etc.; • Promote and coordinate inter-agency contingency planning efforts, ensuring linkages between various contingency plans, adequate pre-positioning of stocks as required, etc.; Office Management / OCHA Representation • Manage the day-to-day operations of the OCHA field office, providing oversight for all programmatic and administrative tasks; • Lead work planning and budgeting process, support resource mobilization and ensure sound financial management; • Manage the human resource requirements of the field office including planning and overseeing the selection of appropriate field staff; supervising and supporting the development of staff; fostering teamwork and communication amongst staff; and promoting linkages between field staff and relevant regional and headquarters colleagues; • Ensure the Office produces timely, quality outputs including comprehensive work plans, concise and factual situation reports, analytical papers, comprehensive and fact-based information products, etc.; • Represent OCHA in the County’s Security Management Team (SMT), monitor OCHA’s compliance with Minimum Operational Safety and Security (MOSS) and Minimum Operational Residential Safety and Security (MORSS) and ensure that OCHA staff members are briefed on their security and safety responsibilities; • Represent OCHA and provide leadership on humanitarian issues through regular contacts with the government, donor, UN, NGO and media representatives. • Perform other duties as requested by the UN R/HC and / or Director of CRD.

Competencies

Professionalism: Comprehensive knowledge of and exposure to a wide range of humanitarian affairs issues, ability to provide sound advise the UN RC/HC and OCHA management on tactical approaches and techniques to address humanitarian issues that require a coordinated UN response; conceptual and strategic analytical capacity to thoroughly analyze and evaluate critical matters pertaining to a broad spectrum of humanitarian and emergency relief issues; ability to effectively manage policy and project development and implementation; ability to work under pressure including in insecure environments, while maintaining productivity and effectiveness; very good understanding of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines related to humanitarian affairs and of the institutions of the UN system, in particular, the mandate and core polices of OCHA.

Accountability: -Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments -Delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards -Operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules -Supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments -Takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.

Managerial Competencies:

BuildingTrust: -Provides an environment in which others can talk and act without fear of repercussion -Manages in a deliberate and predictable way -Operates with transparency; has no hidden agenda -Places confidence in colleagues, staff members and clients -Gives proper credit to others -Follows through on agreed upon actions -Treats sensitive or confidential information appropriately

Leadership: -Serves as a role model that other people want to follow -Empowers others to translate vision into results -Is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives -Establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support -Anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions -Drives for change and improvement; does not accept the status quo -Shows the courage to take unpopular stands

Managing Performance: -Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority -Makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member -Accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills -Monitors progress against milestones and deadlines -Regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff -Encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative -Actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff -Appraises performance fairly

Education

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in political science, business or public administration, sociology, law, international relations, economics, management, or related area of studies. A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in combination with relevant qualifying professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional experience in the field of humanitarian affairs, relief coordination, disaster management and response, complex emergencies and natural disasters, rehabilitation and development, inter-agency coordination, resource mobilization and advocacy, or in related area. Professional experience must include, extensive experience at the international level. Extensive field experience in emergency situations (e.g.complex emergency, natural disaster etc) is required. Experience in coordinating relief/humanitarian response is required. Solid management experience at the senior level is required.

Languages

Fluency in English and Arabic (both oral and written) is required; fluency in other UN official languages may be an advantage.

Assessment Method

Competency based interview and/or other form of assessment will be used to evaluate candidates. Language skills may be tested during the interview process, as appropriate.

Special Notice

Staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and to assignment by him or her. In this context, all staff are expected to move periodically to new functions in their careers In accordance with established rules and procedures.

Staff members of the United Nations Secretariat must fulfill the lateral move requirements to be eligible to apply for this vacancy. Staff members are requested to indicate all qualifying lateral moves in their Personal History Profile (PHP) and cover note.

Please indicate the duty station(s) that you would be interested in being considered for. Please indicate in your cover note any duty station(s) that you would not be in a position to serve in, explaining why.

United Nations Considerations

The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. (Charter of the United Nations - Chapter 3, article 8). The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

How to apply:

to apply for this position please go to the following link:

https://inspira.un.org/psc/UNCAREERS/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UN_CUSTOMIZATIONS.U...