Senior Programme Assistant

Details

Mission and objectives

The primary purpose of UNCR is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, UNHCR works to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. UNHCR also strives to secure lasting solutions.
For over half a century, UNHCR has helped millions of people to restart their lives. They include refugees, returnees, stateless people, the internally displaced and asylum-seekers. Our protection, shelter, health and education has been crucial, healing broken pasts and building brighter futures .

Context

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has an international mandate to protect refugees, persons who have fled their country of origin due to well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or belonging to a particular social group. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950, by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.
The UNHCR (MCO) Multi-Country Office in Panama provides support to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced people in Aruba, Belize, Cuba, Curacao, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. MCO Panama works in close collaboration with Governments, UN agencies, international and national NGOs, civil society as well as host communities, in other to help forcibly displaced people find safety and rebuild their lives. The MCO Panama office covers several humanitarian situations, including but not limited to: the regional Venezuelan refugees and migrants situation in Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao, Guyana; the Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers situation in Panama, the Colombian refugees and asylum seekers situation in Panama, and the refugees and asylum seekers situation in Belize, Cuba, Suriname and Nicaragua.
The programme team coordinates the planning, budgeting and reporting, as well as partnership agreements with international and national organizations, implementation of planned activities. The programme team based in Panama supports all the offices under the Multi-country office supervision in their programme management, providing regular support and guidance.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Programme Officer or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Senior Programme Assistant will:
• Provide administrative assistance and support in routine services and activities of the programme team based in Panama and within the MCO.
• Assist in organizing and documenting the selection of partners in accordance with the policy on selection and retention of partners, ensuring due diligence to meet the requirements of projects.
• Provide support to ensure partnership agreements are established in a timely manner, regularly monitored, and reported on, in compliance with established guidelines and procedures included in the framework for implementing with partners.
• Guided by the Multi-Functional Team approach, support the development and implementation of monitoring plans for activities implemented through partnerships and those under direct implementation in line with Programme Manual and programming instructions.
• Contribute to the review and analysis of operations plans, mid-year and year-end reports, ensuring quality assurance and compliance with established policies, guidelines, procedures and standards. Generate and maintain records of implementation rate (performance progress and expenditures) on a regular basis.
• Assist in ensuring compliance with issuance of audit certificates for partners in line with the Policy on Risk-Based Project Audits.
• Use UNHCR’s corporate tools (e.g. CloudERP, COMPASS, PROMS, etc.) for core activities related to planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting, generating data for evidence-based programmatic decisions and analysis.
• Actively contribute to UNHCRs programming of community of practice and continuously contributing to improvements of programming tools and processes.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• 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.
Results/expected outputs:
• As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
o Maintain regular financial and performance monitoring for UNHCR direct implementation and partners,
o Participate in the Multi-Functional Team monitoring visits and meetings, ensure proper documentation prior and following such exercises,
o Ensure the programme documentation is up to date and complete.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment,
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.