Officer -IM Officer Grievances Redressal Mechanism, NOB, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Entry Programme & Policy

Contract

This is a NO-2 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-2 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, h****ow can you make a difference?

Sri Lanka is amid an acute crisis that is expected to continue throughout 2022 and beyond. In a context of soaring inflation, heightened income insecurity and scarce availability of essential products, such as food, fuel, fertilizers and medicines, more and more families are unable to meet their basic needs. According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change of the Colombo Consumer Price Index, continues to rise, most recently from 60.8 per cent in July to 64.3 per cent in August 2022.1 Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to as high as 93.7 per cent in August 2022 – from 90.9 per cent in July and 80.1 per cent in June. Most recent assessments by the United Nations reveal that at this point of the crisis, 28 per cent of households are food insecure. In addition, it is expected that Sri Lanka’s food production and harvest will drop by at least 40 to 50 per cent in the coming months, resulting in a further deterioration of the situation.

Sri Lanka’s social protection system – characterized by high levels of fragmentation, weak coordination, low coverage, and large exclusion errors, as well as limited adequacy – is not prepared to respond to a shock of this magnitude and to provide reliable protection to all vulnerable population groups.

In June 2022, the United Nations launched a humanitarian appeal to provide life-saving assistance to around 5.7 million people in urgent need, including 2.3 million children. In line with this inter-agency Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan for Sri Lanka and the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, UNICEF launched a Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal, calling for US$25.3 million to meet critical needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized children and their families by ensuring continued access to essential services and support, including cash transfers for lactating women. In this context, UNICEF aims to reach around 100’000 households with lactating mothers and young children through technical and financial assistance to support their access to nutritious food and ensure linkages to related services.

More specifically, the objective is to: (1) Address a critical gap in the national social protection system by providing nutrition-sensitive cash transfers to lactating women and children up to the age of 24 months in the most vulnerable districts, in line with previous government commitments and in alignment with other development partners, most notably the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that plans to support the current pregnancy voucher programme; (2) Contribute to strengthening the system, by enhancing linkages between the cash transfer and complementary services (‘plus’) and exploring new delivery mechanisms.

SLCO (Sri Lanka Country Office) is currently implementing a pilot in Colombo, providing cash transfers and additional nutritional information to around 3’000 mothers with babies aged 0 to 6 months for a project period of 3 months. UNICEF is also seeking to secure additional funding to expand the intervention to around 110’000 beneficiaries.

Activities and Tasks:

1. Provide direct support to the implementing partner

• Ensure that UNICEF’s implementing partner is trained based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) developed in collaboration with the Humanitarian Cash Transfer Specialist, the Beneficiary Data Specialist and Beneficiary Data Officer.

• Guide the implementing partner when conducting their daily functions of assessing the individual requests for support; identifying the protocol(s) to be applied to each specific case; and implementing the protocols as defined in the Grievances Redressal SOPs.

• Plan the grievances redressal work to guarantee that all cases are dealt with within the shortest timeframe possible.

• Train implementing partners users in entering and processing received grievances and feedback in UNICEF digital solution HOPE.

• Facilitate grievances and feedback data entry in UNICEF Digital Solution (HOPE), monitor implementing partner performance and escalate grievances accordingly.

.Consult with the Beneficiary Data Specialist and Officer if required.

2. Monitor the performance of the implementing partner in dealing with the assigned grievances

• Keep daily track of the number of beneficiaries in need of support and those effectively supported, disaggregated as relevant.

• Identify bottlenecks and propose solutions for these to be addressed in a timely manner.

• Establish a robust, secure referral system for complaints related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), Gender-based Violence (GBV)and fraud, including by maintaining and up-to-date list of local service providers, including services for both child and adult survivors of SEA.

• Ensure final action to close the feedback/grievance loop by assigning and following up on the grievance process according to SOP. Beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries who have provided feedback/grievances should be informed about the actions that have been taken to improve things.

3. Assist in identifying lessons to inform necessary adjustments

• Coordinate with existing mechanism and communication channels to expand the available grievance submission channel of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries (for example RapidPro or Bulk SMS communication channels).

• Liaise with other partners (UN agencies/NGOs) on their grievance and redressal processes to ensure good alignment where possible

• Analyse grievances data to identify risks, challenges, and areas in need of improvement and good practices.

• Integrate grievances and feedback with regular monitoring and evaluation activities, so that they inform programme design and implementation.

• Develop FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) documents to address recurrent grievances that can be solved by enhancing UNICEF’s external communication.

• Help revisit the grievances protocols as required to ensure an effective and timely response to beneficiaries while maintaining effective risk mitigation measures.

• Assist in revising the grievances management SOPs and related training materials as needed.

• Prepare reports for the supervisor and senior management as required.

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

Education:

Bachelors’ Degree in social sciences or a related science relevant to the work of UNICEF.

Experience:

Minimum two years of relevant professional experience in social policy, cash transfer programmes, case management or a related field.

Ability to work with a team as well as independently in a multi-ethnic and gender-sensitive environment

Knowledge and skills:

• Experience in grievances redressal mechanism oversight

• Experience in Accountability to Affected Populations and Risk Communication and Community Engagement

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English, Sinhala and Tamil is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core competencies skills

• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)

• Drives to Achieve Impactful Results (2)

• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)

• Works Collaboratively with Others (2)

• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)

• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

Functional competencies

• Leading and Supervising (2)

• Formulating Strategies and Concepts (2)

• Analyzing (2)

• Relating and Networking (2)

• Deciding and Initiating Action (2)

• Applying Technical Expertise (2)

• Communicating (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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

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

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

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

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 be 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, medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

If you think this position might be for you, please take the time to review our Country Office Mutual Agreements before you apply.

If you believe you can team member that can uphold these everyday, then we look forward to receiving and reviewing your application.

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Apply now

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org