Partnership Officer

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the organization that contributes to peace & development through volunteerism worldwide. The mission of the UNV programme to promote volunteerism through advocacy, programming & mobilization of volunteers.

Executive Board decision 2006/18 confirmed UNV’s business model, leading to UNV being operational in three domains:

* mobilizing volunteers to enable more people to be directly involved in humanitarian, peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery, as well as sustainable development and poverty eradication work of the UN;
* advocating for volunteerism and civic engagement in peace and development; and
* pursuing the integration of volunteerism across policy, legislation and programming as well as delivering on internationally agreed development goals.

Timor-Leste is one of the UNV programme countries under Asia and the Pacific region. There is a UNV field unit in Timor-Leste based in UNDP office in Dili, Timor-Leste. In 2024 (as of October), 57 UN Volunteers (international and national) served across the country with various UN agencies. There is also increase trend of mobilising UN Volunteers in the country. UNV contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through engaging UNV volunteers and promoting volunteerism at national and subnational level.

The position is envisaged to strengthen the partnerships with UN agencies for increasing UN Volunteer mobilization focused on peace, development and humanitarian needs, support the volunteer recruitment and management along with increasing talent pool efforts in the country. The position is expected to increase diverse partnerships with the UN agencies, deliver smooth processes of UN Volunteer recruitments, wellbeing of the volunteers with close coordination with UNV Regional Office and HQ.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Portfolio Specialist, the Partnership Officer will deliver the following tasks:

• She/he is responsible for effective strategic planning, leading to mobilization and placement of UN Volunteers, select administrative/operational support to volunteers, and advocacy and positioning
of UNV interests in the country, in line with UNV’s Strategic Framework.
• The Partnership Officer builds and maintains relationships with main partners, and effectively coordinates with the Regional Office and HQ organizational units, on volunteer mobilization,
• Liaise with UN agencies in the country to ensure an understanding of UNV’s mandate, key offers and the added value that UN Volunteer assignments bring in support to the achievement of their
respective mandates
• Maintain business intelligence on UN agencies, identifying specific entry points to diversify partnerships with the key result of increased volunteer assignments, including the assessment and
reporting on the forecast demand for UN Volunteers in the country;
• Support national and local talent outreach efforts by identifying and consolidating partnerships with various entities at national and local levels (universities, NGOs, research centres, professional
associations, HR companies, etc) to disseminate UN Volunteer opportunities and ensure a wide variety of UN Volunteer profiles reflective of client demands;
• Monitor the well-being and performance of serving UN Volunteers through routine field visits to their duty stations and discussions with their supervisors and counterparts;
• Participate in UN thematic forces, UN-led assessments, Programme Management Team (PMT) meetings, to identify opportunities for volunteerism and volunteer placement;
• Conduct induction for the new UN Volunteers, providing support to necessary administrative and operational support to the new UN Volunteers i.e., introducing buddy system, liaising with VSS/VSC,
and other pertinent issues
• Provide all relevant support to the serving UN Volunteers and respond to their queries and maintain excellent coordination with UN Volunteers and host entities for their wellbeing
• Support to UNV mobilization by close coordination and follow-up with the agencies and partners following the guidance of Regional Portfolio Specialist
• Provide necessary support to FU personnel with travel, visa arrangements, procurement and payment issues
• Maintain the files on UNV assets, repairing of ICT stuff and keep tracking on UNV furniture and other goods, if any
• Perform quantum and UVP role as guided by UNV
• Perform any other duties as guided by the Regional Portfolio Specialist

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

• Strengthen knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities.
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible;