Support Desk Research on Ditwah Emergency Response

Volunteering

Overview

Support and conduct desk-based research on Ditwah emergency response.

You have:

• Experience in health, environment, education or WASH related fields.
• Basic understanding of research, education, or information gathering activities.
• Ability to read, understand, and summarize information clearly.
• Familiarity with basic office tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or Google Docs.
• Good attention to detail and ability to organize information accurately.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a diverse and multicultural team.
• Self motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage tasks and meet agreed deadlines.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

The post–Cyclone Ditwah response aims to support recovery efforts. UNRCO plays a central role in ensuring coherent engagement with government counterparts, development partners, and other stakeholders. This online volunteering assignment contributes to SDG 17 by strengthening communication capacity for joint humanitarian response, improving the dissemination of timely information, and supporting inclusive and resilient recovery efforts. Volunteers will support the UNRCO communications team by designing layouts for reports and related documents, following UN branding guidelines.

The Humanitarian Priorities Plan (HPP) is implemented under the overall guidance of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and supported by the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). The HPP will focus on lifesaving and time-critical interventions for vulnerable groups to complement and support national response efforts with the aim of assisting 658,370 people from December 2025 to April 2026. This HPP is implemented under the overall guidance of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) led by the UN Resident Coordinator. The HCT has been re-activated specifically for the Cyclone Ditwah response and is composed of Heads of Agencies or Deputies of humanitarian UN agencies and international and national CSOs.

Online volunteers will support research and analysis activities related to Health, Education, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Environment in the context of post–Cyclone Ditwah recovery and climate resilience in Sri Lanka. The role focuses on collecting, organizing, and analyzing information to support planning, coordination, and informed decision-making across these sectors.

The workload will be fairly distributed amongst the volunteers.

• Conduct desk-based research on Health, Education, WASH, and environmental impacts, needs, and recovery challenges in affected communities.
• Gather and organize information related to service access, disruptions, environmental conditions, vulnerabilities, and priority gaps across the four sectors.
• Support the preparation of research summaries, background notes, briefs, and situation updates in a clear and structured manner.
• Identify and summarize key trends, indicators, and findings relevant to public health, education continuity, WASH conditions, and environmental recovery.
• Present research findings in a concise, well-organized, and easy-to-understand format suitable for coordination and planning use.
• Support data checking and validation to improve accuracy and consistency of research outputs.

• Coordinate remotely with assigned focal points to clarify research tasks and incorporate feedback.

• Experience in health, environment, education or WASH related fields.

• Basic understanding of research, education, or information gathering activities.
• Ability to read, understand, and summarize information clearly.
• Familiarity with basic office tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or Google Docs.
• Good attention to detail and ability to organize information accurately.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a diverse and multicultural team.
• Self motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage tasks and meet agreed deadlines.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 8 months ago - Updated 7 months ago - Source: unv.org