Humanitarian Affairs Specialist, (P3), TA, 6 months, Farchana, Chad

Mid Senior Crisis & Emergency Response

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about P-3 contracts and their salaries.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, access

Background

UNICEF’s mission is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. If any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions.

— their rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential and will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. The focus on equity is vital to accelerate progress towards realizing the human rights of all children. This is the universal mandate of UNICEF as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Strategic office context:

The post is based in Farchana, Chad to support cross border operations, with possibility to travel to Darfur states as per operational needs. It reports to the Humanitarian Affairs Specialist, P4 in the Sudan CO and works closely with Darfur CFOs and the Field Operations and Emergency Unit. The post requires travel to different field offices in Darfur with frequent extended working hours. The post also requires close collaboration and coordination with other access focal points in other UN and humanitarian agencies covering Darfur and engagement with state and non-state actors at various levels.

Purpose of the job

• To provide direct support to the UNICEF West Area Office and its partners, with the aim to establish, sustain and improve the quality of humanitarian access in Darfur.
• To lead engagement with state and non-state actors, and relevant civil and emerging structures in Darfur, and advise the CFO of West Area Office on access, civil-military and engagement matters.
• To lead the UNICEF’s coordination on access issues with other UN agencies, INGO and IGOs including Humanitarian Affairs and Humanitarian Affairs Specialist.
• To provide technical assistance, implementation support, and capacity building to the West Area Office across sections and functional profiles on humanitarian access/Civil-military and related issues, in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs), UNICEF Emergency Procedures, and other UNICEF and interagency policy and guidance, and in collaboration with the UNICEF regional and headquarters team.
• To lead the development of the UNICEF West Area Office Access Action Plan, in line with the Sudan CO Access Strategy and Engagement Plan of Action.

How can you make a difference?

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS

Engagement and networking

• Under the guidance of the UNICEF Access and CMCoord Specialist, lead and participate in negotiations with relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, state and non-state armed groups, and other key actors on access and protection.
• In consultation with the Humanitarian Affairs Specialist, develop negotiation strategies that prioritize principled humanitarian action and improve acceptance of UNICEF’s mandate amongst various stakeholders.
• Provide expert guidance on negotiation tactics and techniques to UNICEF West Area Office staff in negotiations on access and protection of children.
• Monitor and analyze the progress of negotiations, identifying potential obstacles or opportunities for improving access.
• In support of the West Area CFO, maintain clear and open lines of communication with all armed actors in the area of responsibility.
• Raise issues related to the denial of access to vulnerable children, attacks on critical civilian infrastructure, attempts at operational interference with the relevant actors.
• Sensitize external actors on humanitarian principles, access and international law, UNICEF’s mandate and way of operating, and core humanitarian standards, in line with the CCCs.
• Coordinate implementation of humanitarian agreements by ensuring internal conformity and serving as focal point to trouble-shoot issues as they arise.
• Support and advise the West Area Office CFO on access negotiation efforts, as required.

Access documentation, analysis and strategy development

• Support the UNICEF West Area Office in developing and implementing an Access Action Plan, in line with the Sudan CO Access Strategy and Engagement Action Plan.
• Build UNICEF’s network with local authorities, State and non-State actors, in Chad and the Darfur region to enable UNICEF’s response to vulnerable children.
• Support the UNICEF West Area office with the mapping, analysis, and reporting of access constraints as relevant to UNICEF’s Darfur operations.
• Document and report on the outcomes of negotiations, ensuring that agreements reached align with the humanitarian principles and UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children.
• Ensure UNICEF Sudan country office contribution to the intrt-agency access incidents reporting tool AMRF, and UNICEF has its own record of reported incidents to enable better in-house analysis.
• Capture and document field experience, field practice, and lessons learned in the domain of humanitarian access & Civil-military coordination for its incorporation into corporate guidance.

Inter-agency coordination and capacity-building

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships and dialogue with humanitarian actors, UN agencies, and other actors involved in humanitarian access negotiations.
• Represent UNICEF in sub-national inter-agency coordination platforms on access and civil-military coordination (AWG, CMCoord Cell).
• Encourage, plan and implement common inter-agency access initiatives responding to common access gaps in hard-to-reach areas.
• Support the delivery of in-person and remote capacity building initiatives on humanitarian access, including but not limited to Area Office-specific webinars, and UNICEF-tailored humanitarian access and CMCoord trainings.

The incumbent must be able to give expert technical advice on issues pertaining to humanitarian access & Civil-military coordination to the West Area Office and its operations staff across functional profiles, as well as advice to Sudan CO/FO leadership through clear, realistic, and actionable recommendations on strategic humanitarian access issues. The incumbent must be able to support the West Area Office in setting up sustainable and inclusive humanitarian access environment, while both leveraging and contributing to inter-agency coordinated access efforts. Increased, sustained, and coordinated humanitarian access towards timely and coordinated response, ensuring cost-effective and rapid delivery of assistance and protection with a strategy based on equity, will have a direct impact on the survival of those in crisis – especially women and children.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: TOR - Humanitarian Affairs Specialist P3 TA_Chad (002).docx

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

VI. Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

• An advance university degree in any of the following: International Relations, Social Sciences, Public Administration, or other relevant fields related to the work of UNICEF. (Demonstrated relevant work experience will be considered as a priority over educational qualifications).

Experience:

• A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience at international level in the field of humanitarian assistance and protection, of which at least 5 years at the field level in humanitarian settings, especially complex and high threat environments.
• Demonstrated and progressive knowledge, skills, and experience on humanitarian access & civil-military coordination and related technical competencies, including: conflict analysis and actor mapping; humanitarian negotiations; engagement with State and non-State parties to conflict; humanitarian civil-military coordination; humanitarian access planning, strategy development, and implementation; capacity building/training on humanitarian access; or other access relevant topics.
• Strong understanding of the practical application of the humanitarian normative framework, including but not limited to international humanitarian law, the humanitarian principles, and children’s rights, as well as the UN and humanitarian architecture, is required.
• Prior field experience in UNICEF, a UN humanitarian agency or similar humanitarian organization is an advantage.
• Overall experience in humanitarian response in settings of armed conflict and/or natural disaster, and technical expertise including for instance: emergency preparedness, humanitarian logistics and supply, security risk management, emergency programs, and interagency or cluster coordination, is an asset.
• Willingness and readiness to undertake deep field missions is required.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required.
• Working level knowledge of a third language (French, Spanish or Russian) is an asset.

For ev****ery Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

V. Competencies and level of proficiency required

i) Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

ii)****Core Competencies (For Staff without Supervisory Responsibilities) *

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)

• Works Collaboratively with others (1)

• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

In this role, you will collaborate with colleagues across multiple locations. For effective collaboration, we encourage flexible working hours that accommodate different time zones while prioritizing staff wellbeing.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Apply now

Added 14 hours ago - Updated 5 hours ago - Source: unicef.org