The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to provide protection, assistance and seek durable solutions for refugees and stateless persons. UNHCR has also been involved under certain circumstances in enhancing protection and providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons.

The Call Centre Assistant normally reports to a more senior Protection colleague. The incumbent will provide counselling to individuals by telephone. The incumbent may conduct initial protection interviews. The role involves drafting comments and documents about the interview.

The incumbent ensures the Call Centre functions effectively, producing daily, weekly, and monthly reports on the implementation of the Call Centre, ensuring the team is fully up to date on available services and assistance, scheduling appointments, providing general information to Persons of Concern (PoCs) on assistance and services available, answering questions of PoCs on the status of their cases, and referring cases with protection emergencies to the relevant staff member/unit. S/he may also assist occasionally in face to face counselling with refugees at the UNHCR Reception Centre.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

Help Call Centre staff responding to the calls in a kind, helpful, and professional manner.
Remain abreast of all information and updates on assistance and services to refugees. Liaise with relevant units – protection, registration, field, mass information, etc. to receive updates, organize briefings for Helpline staff, and ensure information being provided by the Call Centre is accurate and up-to-date.
Support compiling and report on trends emerging from the Call Centre – including concerns, frustrations, and information coming from refugees.
Support in generating daily, weekly and monthly reports on the number of calls received, average waiting time, number of referrals made, etc.
Observe and listen to Call Centre staff for quality control purposes.
Liaise closely with colleagues to ensure the most effective operation of the Call Centre.
Utilize UNHCR tools to enable refugees to make appointments at the reception centre, update bio-data, etc.
Refer cases to protection colleagues for assistance, as needed.
Answer and respond immediately to emergency calls received on the Call Centre, including collecting relevant information and forwarding to the appropriate colleague for assistance.
Provide basic counselling to refugees.
Make outbound calls to refugees as needed to schedule appointments, collect information, participate in emerging exercises, etc.
Provide face to face counselling and information dissemination periodically at the UNHCR reception centre.
Compile and enter the statistical data into the protection database.
Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level

For G4 - 1 year relevant experience with High School Diploma; or Bachelor or equivalent or higher

Field(s) of Education

Not applicable.

Certificates and/or Licenses

International Protection

(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential

Relevant professional job experience. Ability to work with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Desirable

Work experience with UNHCR is an advantage. Completion of UNHCR's related learning activities is an advantage.

Functional Skills

IT-Computer Literacy,

CO-Drafting, Documentation,

CO-Cross-cultural communication,

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.

For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.

For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

Competency Requirements

All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below.

Core Competencies

Accountability

Communication

Organizational Awareness

Teamwork & Collaboration

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies

Not applicable.

Cross-Functional Competencies

Technological Awareness

Planning and Organizing

Analytical Thinking

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.