Re-advertisement: HR Manager (Emergency Response Team), P4, Fixed Term, DHR, Istanbul #102989

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,

UNICEF is the leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education. UNICEF is also global lead of the Nutrition and WASH Clusters and the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR) within the Global Protection Cluster, and co-lead, with Save the Children, of the Education Cluster. The accountabilities as a Cluster Lead Agency (CLA) for these four sectors is the highest of any agency and a testimony of UNICEF’s global leadership in humanitarian action.  The fulfillment of these responsibilities allows UNICEF to contribute to more effective and efficient humanitarian action and enhances UNICEF’s reputation within the international community.

How can you make a difference?

This role involves serving as an Emergency Response Team Member, swiftly deployed during emergencies or humanitarian crises to address end-to-end HR needs, encompassing scale-up, surge requirements, and comprehensive HR solutions.

Reporting to the Chief Human Resources in Humanitarian Action (Business Partnering and Response) within the Division of Human Resources (DHR), the incumbent will contribute to executing the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. This involves supporting clients in achieving their business objectives and goals within the Humanitarian Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) framework.

Specifically, the role entails offering HR support to Regional/Country Offices during and after deployment. Additionally, it involves actively enhancing the capacity of the UNICEF Human Resources Community by sharing best practices and lessons learned. Operating within complex and demanding environments, the incumbent is anticipated to be deployed between 60-70% of the time to meet urgent and critical needs.

This will include:

When deployed for humanitarian preparedness or response:

• Prepare HR and staffing plans based on the additional human resources needed for the immediate response (relating to short, medium and long-term needs).
• Support COs with HR requirements for short-term, medium-term and long-term sustainability needs, while organizing COs meeting on HR strategy and planning to sustain the response to the emergency.
• Coordinate with relevant stakeholders to ensure smooth and rapid scale up after onset emergencies.
• Develop an an exit strategy and implement it for smooth transition and scale-down.
• Review existing CO staffing and facilitate immediate deployments in the affected areas.
• Assess Human Resources capacity and propose additional capacity to efficiently respond to emergencies.
• Identify staffing gaps and coordinate with the relevant stakeholders to address immediate needs and develop longer-term plans,
• Review the staffing structure of the CO and identify the most suitable sourcing modalities, as well as gaps, including cluster staffing requirements, to implement humanitarian response.
• Provide support to COs throughout the employee-life cycle, with all HR initiatives and programmes, including the preparation of PBR submissions, recruitments, and all aspects of talent management.
• Provide guidance on policy interpretation.
• Promote organizational targets (geographic and gender diversity etc.)
• Conduct workshops, HR clinics to inform senior management and staff of HR-related issues (E.g. career management and staff development, performance management, benefits and entitlements, change management;
• Work with the HR and Management team to promote the value of care and ensure staff wellbeing issues are addressed.
• Ensure proactive recruitments to reduce short-term deployments and ensure business continuity. 
• Develop guidance documents, lessons learnt/best practices and SOPs to support HR operations and the transfer of knowledge and learning.
• Prepare End of mission reports, which include recommendations.
• Prepare information sessions upon return to share knowledge, lessons learnt and good practices.

When not deployed for humanitarian response preparedness:

• Review of the preparedness status of concerned COs (capacity mapping, gap analysis, list of priorities) for reinforcement.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of preparedness strategy; Stay up to date on HR developments and initiatives.
• Contribute to enhance knowledge on the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action and any other tools/initiatives.
• Contribute to HR working groups, taskforces.
• Contribute to the Humanitarian Review’s Thematic Area on Humanitarian Action, with a focus on enhancing staff learning and tools and resources. Contribute to the development of policies and procedures and introduce innovative approaches to emergency response and preparedness. Contribute to the development and enhancement of Emergency Response Team mechanisms.
• Contribute to strategic workforce planning in emergencies.
• Prepare guidance / briefing notes and lessons learnt that will contribute to knowledge sharing and building of HR Capacity.
• Develop tools and materials to capture lessons learnt and build HR capacity.
• Enhance knowledge management to capture good practices and share with HR community.
• Participate / lead briefings and knowledge exchange sessions to share good and best practices among HR practitioners and other stakeholders.
• Participate in strengthening building initiatives to enhance competencies of clients/stakeholders.
• Contribute to the development of talent pipelines.
• Contribute to the development of partnerships to enhance preparedness and response to emergencies.
• Recommend learning solutions to strengthen staff capacity; Participate in relevant HR in Emergencies learning/capacity building activities in partnership with stakeholders across the Organization.
• Be an active contributor to the Emergency Response Team.
• Support the orientation briefings to new staff.
• Undertake other assignments as needed by DHR.
• Support HR community as needed.

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

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in human resource management, business management, international relations or another related field is required.
• A minimum of eight years of increasingly responsible professional experience in human resources management in an international organization and/or large corporation is required.
• Developing country experience is required.
• Extensive experience in HR in emergency context is highly desirable.
• Background/familiarity with human resources in emergencies is required.
• Familiarity with the UN system is an asset.
• Ability and willingness to travel to emergencies countries on short notice is required.
• Facilitation skills and experience in capacity building of individuals and teams is highly desirable. 
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in French, Spanish and/or Arabic is considered a strong 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…

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

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. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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.

Remarks:

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

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

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). 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.