Internal and External VA: Human Resources Officer (Emergencies), TA, 6 months, ESARO, Nairobi, Post # 124143

The UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) is looking for an HR Officer who will support the HR in emergency portfolio, and support emergency country offices across the region in implementing their HR preparedness and response plans to various emergencies hitting the region.
If you have the required profile for this exciting opportunity, UNICEF ESARO would like to hear from you!

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, a safe home

For more than four years now, the East and South African Region is continuously subject to several humanitarian emergencies (public health, climate related, armed conflicts related emergencies…) including multi country emergencies affecting in average  40% of countries in the region. The Regional Office (RO) through its HR section plays an instrumental role in ensuring affected and threatened COs have the required level of surge and staffing support and that duty of care measures are in place to support staff responding to these emergencies.

Considering the many competing emergencies across the organisation, sourcing and deployment of qualified internal and external surge capacities become a challenge, causing gap in the settlement of early and efficient emergency responses.

The development of regional rosters is one of the key pillars to improve the HR response to humanitarian emergencies across the region and to deliver high-quality results for children and women.

How can you make a difference?

The HR Officer (Emergency) will support the HR in Emergency portfolio in coordinating the  development of regional emergency and consultant rosters, and in providing HR support to country offices affected by emergencies.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Human Resource Officer, P2, ESARO, the Human Resources Officer (Emergency) will finalize the current development of the external roster, pursue the update of the internal rosters, and launch the update of the consultant rosters.

The incumbent will provide active support to the HR in emergency (HRiE) portfolio through the identification of surge, staffing and consultant needs across the region. S/He will also develop related rosters in collaboration with different stakeholders.

The selected candidate for this assignment may be assigned the contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties:

1. Coordination of rostering process in collaboration with key stakeholders:

• Coordinate communication campaigns to update staff members and different stakeholders across the region and the organization on the rostering process.
• Launch vacancy announcements related to consultant rosters.
• Coordinate the skills assessment process for selected candidates, in collaboration with involved RO sections.
• Agree on lists of recommended candidates.

2. Coordinate the capacity reinforcement process of recommended candidates in collaboration with Agora colleagues and RO sections.

• Identify Agora courses for recommended candidates for the external roster,
• In collaboration with RO sections identify the Agora learning path and other capacity reinforcement activities to be delivered to selected candidates for the internal roster
• Develop and monitor the implementation of a learning plan for recommended candidates for the internal and external emergency rosters.

3. Development of rosters/talent pools in TMS

• Assign successful candidates to respective rosters/talent groups.
• Send appropriate communications on process outcomes and next steps to candidates who participated in the process (successful and unsuccessful candidates).

4. Capacity reinforcement of roster users

• Coordinate with TMS colleagues to grant access rights to identified users for the respective rosters.
• Organize training sessions for roster users at the RO and CO levels.

5. Surge and staffing needs identification:  

• In collaboration with key stakeholders and counterparts at the CO, RO and HQ level, identify emergency personnel and consultant related needs.
• Provide guidance to regional office sections to develop terms of references for identified personnel (surge, staffing and consultants).
• Review and finalize terms of references and create an emergency terms of reference data base for ESAR.

6. Provide support to the RO HR team as needed.

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

• University degree in social sciences, data management or other relevant disciplines (human resources, business administration, international relations, psychology, etc). Additional professional training or certification in Human Resources is an advantage.  

• A minimum of two years of relevant professional experience in Human Resources management, HR Data management or similar field in an international organization is required, and experience in a humanitarian setting is advantageous.

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  Experience in data analysis and database development for a wide variety of audiences is desirable.

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  Planning and organization skills.

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

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 here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. 

Remarks:

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

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

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 subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

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

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