Political Affairs Officer

Position description

The post is located in the Mediation Support Unit (MSU), within the Policy and Mediation Division (PMD), in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (PMD/DPPA). MSU serves as a system-wide resource that assists the mediation and dialogue initiatives of the UN and provides technical and operational support of mediation and dialogue processes; capacity-building; and mediation guidance, lessons learned and comparative analysis. The Political Affairs Officer will report to the Chief and to the Team Leader of the Mediation Support Unit (MSU).

Within delegated authority, the Political Affairs Officer will be responsible for the following duties: (These duties are generic and may not be carried out by all Political Affairs Officers.) • Serves as Coordinator of DPPA’s Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisors, a key resource to ensure the UN is prepared to provide operational support to the mediation, preventive diplomacy and good offices efforts of the United Nations, Member States and regional and sub-regional organizations. • Maintains up-to-date knowledge of events relating to political and mediation-related issues, in general, and in particular as they affect the countries and thematic mandates for Latin America and the Caribbean region. • Keeps abreast of latest trends and developments in the area of assignment and provides inputs on issues to senior officials and colleagues in missions and elsewhere in the Secretariat. • Monitors national and regional level political developments and provides advice to field mission/UN agencies active on the ground in Latin America and the Caribbean. • Provides technical and substantive back up in the implementation of mandates of MSU. • Maintains contacts with other sectors of the UN, other international organizations and governments on coordination and policy matters. • Monitors mediation and dialogue initiatives taken by intergovernmental groups, UN organisations, government and non-governmental organizations. • Selects, classifies and stores in computerised databases information relating to potential disputes, conflicts and mediation and dialogue processes involving assigned countries or region and contributes to lessons learnt studies and the development of guidance and training material on mediation issues. • Participates in fact-finding and other missions to countries within Latin America and the Caribbean region. • Participates in provision of secretariat services to Security Council, General Assembly, subsidiary organizations, negotiating bodies, conferences, meetings, and /or special missions. • Prepares meetings of the SG/DSG/USG with officials from countries under the Organization’s purview. • Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. • Performs other related duties as required.

Application instructions

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