Senior Political Affairs Officer

The position is located in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and Peace Operations (DPO), in the front office that supports the work of the Assistant Secretary General overseeing Europe, Central Asia and the Americas in the United Nations Headquarters, New York. The incumbent will report to the Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas, Europe and Central Asia.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Senior Political Affairs Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Monitors, provides advice and recommendations on the activities within the ASG ‘s area of responsibility.
• Liaises, coordinates and follows up with the Directors, Deputy-Directors and Political Affairs Officers on the planning and implementation of conflict prevention, confidence building and conflict resolution strategies.
• Advises and supports the ASG on policy, personnel and budgetary matters.
• Plans, coordinates and manages projects and activities requiring interdepartmental and/or interagency involvement, promoting cooperation and coordination with other departments
• Contributes to building strong partnerships within the UN system, particularly with UNDP under the Join UNDP-DPA Programme on Building National Capacity for Conflict prevention, with Member States and with regional and sub-regional security organizations and initiatives.
• Manages workplans for the office, gathers information on the workplans from the Divisions and compiles reports on their implementation.
• Coordinates extra-budgetary projects for the office and represents the office and divisions on Committees related to extra-budgetary projects
• Manages the performance and provides leadership for the staff of the front office of the Assistant Secretary

General.

• Provides advice and guidance on staffing matters, in coordination with the Executive Offices of the Departments.
• Provides technical and substantive back up in the implementation of mandates of the office, branch or unit.
• Performs any other front office duties assigned on an ad hoc basis

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in political science, international relations, international economics, law, or related field. A first-level university degree in any of these fields, in combination with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in political analysis and diplomacy in the areas of conflict prevention and crisis management at international level in advisory positions is required.
• Experience in UN inter-agency coordination and partnership building is required. Experience drafting sensitive political analysis and diplomatic correspondence is required. Experience working directly with and assisting senior officials, such as in a front office, is required.
• Experience working in issues related to the Americas, Europe, Central Asia or working on decolonization topics is required.
• Experience in strategic planning, programme design implementation and resource mobilization is desirable. Field experience with a peace operation, UN Country Team or other international organization is desirable. Experience in reviewing or auditing staffing and recruitment processes is desirable. Experience working on programme or project budgets is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this post advertised, fluency in English is required. Fluency in Spanish and/or Russian is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/232946?language=en