Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Deputy Head Of Office), P5

Posting Period: 30 September 2022 - 29 October 2022
Responsibilities
Within delegated authority, the Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Deputy Head of Office will be responsible for the following duties:

• Provides authoritative technical and policy advice to senior management in OCHA and other agencies in the UN system, Member State officials, international and regional organizations on programmes, projects and issues of significant impact on humanitarian, emergency relief and disaster response/management efforts.
• Monitors the performance of the institution's humanitarian mandate; influences the development and evolution of the UN approach to humanitarian affairs; designs and implements significant policy and programme changes to address country, regional, global humanitarian affairs issues, including gender considerations; conceptualizes the linkages with the political and peacekeeping functions in the Secretariat.
• Develops/ensures implementation of coherent humanitarian/disaster response strategies and procedures.
• Conceptualizes, formulates and manages major projects; leads and directs a multi-agency team in carrying out disaster assessment or other missions; initiates, mobilizes and coordinates international humanitarian/emergency assistance for exceptionally complex situations or major disasters; ensures necessary support (e.g., staff, funding, specialized equipment, supplies, etc.); prepares situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries.
• Manages the production of humanitarian response plans for international assistance; ensures the proper use and spending of donor contributions channeled through OCHA.
• Leads capacity-building initiatives; identifies bottlenecks and gaps and develops proposals to improve response systems and mechanisms, to include technical assistance in the design of specific coordination and other systems/mechanisms; organizes and participates as trainer/resource person in national and international training seminars.
• Serves as primary liaison with non-UN entities, including senior host government officials, donor representatives, NGO officials, the media, etc., in emergency situations.
• Establishes overall workplan and budget.
• Leads and directs a team of staff; may oversee activities for a discrete work section or equivalent; plans and allocates work assignments; coaches, mentors and evaluates staff; participates in recruitment, selection and training of new staff and in the development of training programmes.
• Organizes and/or chairs inter-agency and other international meetings, conferences, task forces; presents views and policies of the unit/institution as appropriate.
• Initiates, supervises and finalizes position papers and related submissions; prepares diverse reports, papers, policy guidelines, parliamentary documents, statements, presentations, etc., for senior management.
• Performs other duties as requested by OCHA Head of Office, the UN RC/HC and/or the Deputy Director for West and Central Africa and/or Director of Operations and Advocacy Division.

Education

• An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent degree) in political science, social science, public administration, international studies, economics, engineering, earth sciences, or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, or other related area is required.
• A minimum of four (4) years of relevant experience at the international level is required.
• A minimum of two (2) years of humanitarian experience in an emergency field setting (where a mission and/or project is being implemented in a setting impacted by a complex emergency or natural disaster) is required.
• Experience at the management level is required.
• Experience leading and coordinating humanitarian relief operations in complex emergency situations is desirable.
• Experience in a humanitarian context within the UN Common System or other comparable international organization is desirable.
• Experience in a humanitarian context in the West and Central Africa region is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English and French are required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.