Position description
This position is located in the Executive Office (EO), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in New York. OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies and natural disasters. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. OCHA’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate for the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.
The Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Chief of Evaluation and Oversight Section reports to the Executive Officer.
Responsibilities
Within delegated authority, the Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Chief of Evaluation and Oversight Section will be responsible for the following duties:
- Provides authoritative technical and policy advice to senior management in OCHA and other agencies in the UN system, Member State officials, international and regional organizations on programmes, projects and issues of significant impact on humanitarian, emergency relief and disaster response/management efforts, and particularly as they refer to performance/results monitoring, evaluation and guidance.
- Monitors the performance of the institution’s humanitarian mandate; influences the development and evolution of the UN approach to humanitarian affairs; designs and implements significant policy and programme changes to address country, regional, global humanitarian affairs issues, including gender considerations; conceptualizes the linkages with other entities in the Secretariat.
- Coordinates the engagement and reporting on oversight activities by OIOS, JIU and the BoA; ensures a close follow up on the action plan with the senior management on the implementation of the recommendation, work closely with the OIOS and BoA on the workplan and organizes and supports the country offices with regard to the oversight exercises.
- Provides strategic direction to the undertaking of OCHA and inter-agency humanitarian evaluations, and to the OCHA evaluation and guidance functions.
- Conceptualizes, formulates and manages major projects; leads and directs a multi-agency team in carrying out disaster assessment or other missions; prepares situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries.
- Leads capacity building initiatives; identifies bottlenecks and gaps and develops proposals to improve response systems and mechanisms, to include technical assistance in the design of specific coordination and other systems/mechanisms; organizes and participates as trainer/resource person in national and international training seminars.
- Serves as primary liaison with non-UN entities, including the OCHA donor support group, retreats, senior host government officials, donor representatives, NGO officials, the media, etc., in emergency situations.
- Establishes overall work plan and budget for the Section.
- Leads and directs a team of staff; oversee activities for the section; plans and allocates work assignments; coaches, mentors and evaluates staff; participates in recruitment, selection and training of new staff and in the development of training programs.
- Organizes and/or chairs inter-agency and other international meetings, conferences, task forces; presents views and policies of the unit/institution.
- Initiates, supervises and finalizes position papers and related submissions; prepares diverse reports, papers, policy guidelines, parliamentary documents, statements, presentations, etc. for senior management.
Competencies
- Professionalism: Knowledge of full range of humanitarian and emergency relief assistance and related human rights issues. Ability to advise senior management and other senior officials on approaches and techniques to address highly complex/sensitive issues. Demonstrated capacity for intellectual leadership; conceptual and strategic analytical capacity and ability to thoroughly analyze and evaluate critical matters pertaining to a broad spectrum of humanitarian and emergency relief issues/problems. Demonstrated capacity for original and creative thinking, independent judgment and discretion in advising on and handling major policy, project and other issues/problems. Ability to negotiate and ability to influence others to reach agreement on difficult issues. Ability to work under extreme pressure, on occasion in a highly stressful environment (e.g. civil strife, natural disasters and human misery). Knowledge of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines related to humanitarian affairs and seasoned knowledge of the institutions of the UN system. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
- Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
- Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
- Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.
- Managing Performance: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.
Education
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in political science, social science, public administration, international studies, economics, engineering, earth sciences or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Work Experience
- A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, or other related area is required.
- Experience in programme management and/or evaluation of projects and programmes, including at senior level is required.
- Experience in programme planning, monitoring and reporting, including leading or managing evaluations in the UN common system organizations or comparable international organization is required.
- Experience in leading and managing cross functional teams composed of persons from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds is required.
- Experience in the use of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodologies is required.
- A minimum of four (4) years in the last ten (10) years of international field experience in aid operations is desirable.
Languages
- French and English are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the positions advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.
Application instructions
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