Internal & External Vacancy Announcement : Emergency Specialist, NOC TA -Tombouctou

Contract

This is a NO-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-3 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, hope

The situation in Mali continues to deteriorate with more regions affected by conflicts and the impacts of COVID-19. Forced displacements are still very high and the experiences of RRM in Emergency has shown the relevance of this mechanism and the complexity of the situation.

Global acute malnutrition prevalence exceeds 10 per cent in several areas; more than 275,665 children under 5 years of age are suffering from severe acute malnutrition; and food insecurity affects 3.6 million people. The country faces recurrent disease outbreaks, including measles and polio. In Mali, 4.3 million people need access to basic health services. Increasing constraints on humanitarian access are a major concern, especially in areas lacking basic social services and infrastructure.

Timbuktu and Taoudenni regions are plunged into a severe crisis against a backdrop of various structural and conjunctural problems. These regions are characterized by structural vulnerability and fragility, exacerbated by insecurity, armed clashes and climate chocks. At the end of September, there were 146,145 people affected by the floods in the Timbuktu region and more than 7,000 people in the Taoudenni region. The DT M at the end of January counts 52,153 IDPs in Timbuktu and 330,498 returnees. Most of these displaced people have had multiple displacements. The humanitarian response is underway through humanitarian coordination in connection with the state partners. It needs to be consolidated for the strengthening of community resilience. The areas of Timbuktu and Taoudenni continue to record influxes of displacement, which requires responsiveness and improved response times in a context of difficult humanitarian access

How can you make a difference?

The Emergency Specialist will be expected to perform the following functions

Emergency Preparedness

• Adopts adequate emergency preparedness measures through the development and updating of regional contingency plans and establishment of early warning mechanisms, to ensure effective preparedness and response to specific emergencies.
• Participates in the formulation and development of plans of action in preparation and response to emergencies, monitors compliance of all sectors with emergency plans of action, including financial resources. Ensures coordination of the management of emergency preparedness and response.
• Provides technical advice related to emergency preparedness and response, including on programme management related issues. Provides advice to the office in the implementation of emergency preparedness measures in the field to strengthen preparedness and response mechanisms in the country faced with impending emergencies.
• Develops and maintains databases on regional information and ensure the flow of information and communication crucial for the planning and implementation of emergency preparedness and response management. Identifies availability of resources in emergency prone areas and establish logistics plans to be implemented during an emergency operation, to ensure a timely and effective emergency response.

• Plans, organizes, and conducts training for the office’s staff capacity building in emergencies preparedness and response. Assists in developing and conducting emergency training courses. Provides training and/or briefing, as required. Participates in other emergency training workshops in the region and builds up the emergency preparedness and response capability of UNICEF staff in the field office as well as implementing partners.

  Emergency Response

• In the event of an emergency, takes prompt action to implement the initial operational tasks relating to emergency assistance. Immediately verifies the nature and extent of the emergency with staff, government officials, other UN agencies or local organizations and media.

• Participates and assists with assessment of local emergency and security situation affecting children and mothers in the locality, in conjunction with the Bamako Office.
• Visits the location to conduct an initial rough assessment of the magnitude of the crisis and its implications for children and its impact on the community. Assesses the validity of the office preparedness plan and ability of the office vis-à-vis the current crisis as well as immediate and additional needs. Determines corporate priorities and an appropriate intervention (supply procurement, fund-raising and staff development) by UNICEF. Coordinates with other partners to make a rapid assessment covering priority areas as defined by the Core Commitment for Children in Emergencies. Establishes contact with community groups, government, UN agencies, media, and other partners to keep abreast of emergency situations.
• Applies the emergency preparedness and response plan as necessary and identifies urgent staffing requirements and communicate with Bamako office staff as required. Executes the timely delivery of assistance and procurement of supplies, monitors the appropriate and effective use of UNICEF resources/inputs. Identifies problems and constraints to ensure effective project delivery. Certifies the disbursement of funds, monitors expenditures, and submits financial status reports. Sets up a reporting system and sends daily situation reports to concerned parties.

Emergency Project

• Actively participates in the implementation of plans of action and workplans for emergency projects. Implements and manages project activities. Undertakes field visits to emergency project areas, to assess local conditions and monitor project progress. Makes technical decisions on project administration (e.g., activates, requests for reprogramming allocation of emergency funds). Prepares inputs for appeals and updates related to emergencies. Works with program sections and senior management to mobilize donor response and recovery/rehabilitation-related funding, including annual or multi-annual humanitarian appeals and documents (e.g., pitch documents). Communicates and advocates on the situation and needs of children through local and international media, as appropriate.
• Identifies longer-term requirements of the emergency operation/interventions.
• Identifies implementing/operational partners and establishes implementing arrangements. Ensures that the UNICEF support is effectively provided to the government with respect to sectoral coordination within the framework of the cluster approach and based on the Core Commitment for Children.
• Participates in all humanitarian and recovery related forum and keeps management informed of all humanitarian developments in the country in terms of policies, strategy, situation developments, potential threats, and opportunities/issues in partnership.
• Promotes that disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and response strategies are mainstreamed in the regional office’s workplans. Prepares sectoral input for the country programme documents if needed, plan of action, annual work plans, and all related documents of the office’s Emergency Preparedness and Response. Contributes towards the preparation of the Situation Analysis and the Country Programme Document.

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

EDUCATION

Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: social sciences, public health, nutrition, Wash, international relations, or other related disciplines. Preferably a combination of management, administration, and relevant technical fields.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national or regional level in programme/project development, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and administration.
• At least, 2 years of Field work experience in complex settings and experience in emergency response management is required.

• The context requires working flexibility and competency to adapt to multiple operational constraints in a highly volatile and unpredictable context.

  LANGUAGES

• Fluency in French and English is required

• Knowledge of local languages is highly desirable

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Cores Values: Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability

Cores competencies

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3)Drive to achieve results for impact

(4)Innovates and embraces change

(5)Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6)Thinks and acts strategically

(7)Works collaboratively with others.

Functional Competencies

• Analysing (2)
• Deciding and Initiating Action (3)
• Persuading and Influencing (3)
• Applying Technical Expertise (3)
• Planning and Organizing (2)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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 benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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.

Remarks:

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is:a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

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

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 (or L2) Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.