Chief Field Office

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

• Under the guidance of the Chief Field Operations and Emergency, the Chief of Field Office (Northern) is accountable for managing and leading the UNICEF Operation in the Northern Area – River Nile and Northern States – within a country programme. The Chief of Field Office represents UNICEF in his/her Area of Responsibility (AoR), leads and oversees the various program sectors and operational service teams ensuring the delivery of quality results in accordance with UNICEF’s programme of cooperation, country programme management plan, humanitarian response plan and overall vision set forward by the Representative.
• In fragile and humanitarian contexts, UNICEF action is guided by its global Policy and Framework for humanitarian action: the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.

KEY END-RESULTS EXPECTED

• Effective management of UNICEF presence, staff and assets in the Area of Responsibility
• Effective and coordinated humanitarian response in the Area of Responsibility
• Effective knowledge management systems adopted and utilized to strengthen area/country programme management.
• Situation Analysis prepared and updated; critical programme intervention points and measures identified; and programme work plans, recommendations and reports prepared.
• Programme funds optimally used.
• Programme monitoring and evaluations effectively conducted to improve programme performance, and programme status reports timely prepared.  Gender/sex disaggregated data and inputs relevant to the country programme are provided as an integral part of programming.
• Rights based and results based programming approach fully incorporated into all phases of programme and project processes.
• Commitment and institutional capacities of the national and local partners effectively gained and established.
• Rights perspective and advocacy at the national, community and family levels incorporated in policy analysis for establishing and elevating UNICEF’s credibility in national and international policy debates.
• Effective partnerships and collaboration achieved and maintained for advocacy, technical cooperation, programme development/management/coordination, information sharing and networking.

How can you make a difference? 

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS 

Within the delegated authority and the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be responsible for all or most of the following areas of major duties and key end results.

Effective management of UNICEF presence, staff and assets

• Represent UNICEF in the region, by participating in meetings and events, moving forward the agenda for children. This includes field level inter- agency, Humanitarian Country Team and inter-sector meetings on humanitarian issues.
• Facilitate, take and implement measures to ensure safety and security of UNICEF staff and assets.
• Effectively lead the Field Office team and manage the performance and conduct the staff members to deliver results for children.

Effective and coordinated humanitarian response in the Area of responsibility

• Coordinate UNICEF humanitarian response in the Area of Responsibility, including in hard to reach area.
• Ensure adherence to Humanitarian Principles and CCC, aiming to reach all children in need in line with UNICEF mandate.
• Monitor humanitarian and security situation on the ground, analyze humanitarian needs and gaps, and advise the office on critical needs and actions required. Develop intervention and access strategies, and lead delivery of assistance, drawing on capacity from across Country Office as needed.

Knowledge Management for Programmes

• Ensure that area/country programmes are supported by knowledge management through data collection and analysis, complete and accurate reporting as well as participation in the Programme Knowledge Network system of “lessons learned” and other corporate-level databases.
• Participate in information exchange through donor and media visits as well as in the development of training and orientation material.

Programme Development and Management

• Identify critical intervention points and measures by administering a consistent and transparent monitoring system; monitor analyse humanitarian as well as socio-political-economic trends and their implications for ongoing programmes and projects and humanitarian response.
• Draft changes to/or prepare programme work plans as required. Prepare program recommendations for inclusion in formal programme documentation, and new approaches, methods and practices.
• Establishes programme workplans, monitors compliance and provides training, support and guidance to the programme team in order to meet objectives. Identifies human resources requirements and on-going staff development needs.
• Reviews and evaluates the technical, institutional and financial feasibility and constraints of programme/projects in collaboration with Government and other partners.
• Prepares relevant programme reports required for management, donors, budget reviews, programme analysis, annual reports, etc.

Optimum Use of Program Funds

• Establish and supervise programme work plans and monitor progress and compliance.  Monitor the overall allocation and disbursement of programme funds, making sure that funds are properly coordinated, monitored and liquidated. Take appropriate actions to optimize use of programme funds. Ensure programme efficiency and delivery through a rigorous and transparent approach to programme planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Programme Monitoring and Evaluations

• Undertakes field visits and ensures that his/her staff conduct field visits to monitor and assess
• programme implementation and decides on required corrective action.
• Carry out a rigorous and transparent approach to evaluate and participate in the major programme evaluation exercises in consultation with the Representative, the Operations Officer, the Evaluation Officer and others to improve efficiency and quality of programme delivery. Participate in annual sector review meetings with government counterparts.  Ensure the timely preparation of annual program status reports.

Rights-Based and Results-Based Programme Management Approach

• Adopt rights-based programmes approach in the formulation of programme goals and objectives and development of strategies and implementation frameworks. Formulate consistent and effective planning, design, implementation, monitoring and/or evaluation of programmes and projects. Bring coherence, synergy and added value to the programming planning and design processes using a results-based management approach to programme planning and design.
• Prepare and submit viable recommendations on project implementation, alternative approaches, and optimal utilization of resources that contribute effectively to the fulfilment of the rights of children and women, and recommendations on programme, new initiatives and management issues to ensure achievement of stated objectives.

National and Local Capacity Building/Sustainability

• Support national systems and service providers, focusing on local capacities, with technical support and guidance for the purpose of capacity building to sustain service delivery for vulnerable population and sustainability.
• Ensure the building and reinforcing of the commitment and institutional capacities of the national and local partners starting with taking a strategic approach to the identification of these partners and partnerships.

Rights Perspective and Advocacy at the National, Community and Family Levels

• Conduct policy analysis from a children’s and women’s rights perspective and advocacy at the government, community and family levels for elevating credibility in national and international policy debates. Promote the organization goals of UNICEF through active advocacy and communication in line with UNICEF national advocacy guidelines and strategy.

Partnership, Coordination and Collaboration

• Develop partnership and collaboration with internal and external counterparts, including those of the UN and national partners, in order to ensure efficient and coordinated humanitarian action, align positions on common critical issues and challenges, exchange information on programme/project status and implementation and movement/distribution of supplies.
• Oversee UNICEF cluster lead responsibilities in the Area of Responsibility, supervising double-hatting coordinators and/or working closely with CO based coordination team.
• Collaborate with the Operations Section to establish and maintain sound internal controls supportive of programming endeavours and to coordinate financial and supply management requirements and accountability.
• Maintain close collaboration with heads of sectoral programmes in the CO, Regional and HQ advisers for effective overall coordination on programmes and humanitarian interventions.
• Plans, develops and implements sectoral programme(s) by collaborating with the government and other partners. Provide leadership in provision of technical advice, negotiation, advocacy and promotion of area/country level goals, leading to agreement on practicable and priority actions to be supported by UNICEF programme and country level cooperation.

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

QUALIFICATION AND COMPETENCIES

• Education   An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: social sciences, international relations, public administration, government and public relations, public or social policy, sociology, social or community development, or another relevant technical field.

Experience

• A minimum of eight years of professional work experience in programme management, planning, monitoring and evaluation, project administration or another relevant area is required.
• Experience working in a large humanitarian operation is required.
• Extensive experience coordinating humanitarian response in a complex, high-stake context is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as required.
• Familiarity/ background with emergency is considered as an asset.
• Language Requirements   Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/574095