Turkey: Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Civil-Military Coordination), P4 (Temporary Job Opening) JOB ID: 109631

Org. Setting and Reporting

This position is located in the Operations and Advocacy Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response efforts. OCHA’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principles humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.
This Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Civil-Military Coordination (HAO/UN-CMCoord) position is located in Turkey working cross-border for Syria office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). The incumbent reports to the Deputy Head of Office or to the OCHA Head of Office.

Responsibilities

UN-CMCoord is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military actors in humanitarian emergencies necessary to protect and promote the humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimize inconsistency and, when appropriate, pursue common goals; the key elements of UN-CMCoord are information sharing, task division and joint planning; basic strategies range from Cooperation to Co-existence. Within the delegated authority, the HAO/UN-CMCoord will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Gives overall guidance and leadership to the assigned team and provides work priorities and direction;
2. Functionally leads the development and implementation of a UN-CMCoord strategy in liaison with relevant colleagues;
3. Establishing and managing the Humanitarian Notification System for Deconfliction, including maintaining a data base of sites deconflicted;
4. As adviser to the Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator and the Head of OCHA office on civil-military relations and related operational issues, the HAO/UN-CMCoord establishes the necessary links with international and national military forces, personnel in UN agencies, including relevant civilian mission staff, appropriate governmental authorities, and civil-military coordination focal points of NGOs;
5. Monitors, analyzes and reports on major accomplishments and progress as well as identify and follow up potential or actual friction points in relations between humanitarian and military actors, including support on humanitarian access issues and follow up;
6. Serves as the primary focal point for all matters related to civil-military coordination, including policy and guidelines, in close consultation with the Head of Office and/or the Humanitarian Coordinator;
7. Prepares, or provides substantive input in the preparation of policy, position papers and reports on civil-military coordination issues for presentation to various agencies and the Humanitarian Country Team and contributes to the office regular reporting on civil-military coordination issues;
8. Provides situation updates on ongoing civil-military activities and the overall civil-military relations situation in agreed formats and timeframes to the Head of OCHA office, Operations and Advocacy Division (OAD) desk and Response Services Section (RSS) desk;
9. Conducts an assessment and analysis of the civil-military operating environment in order to formulate and implement a UN-CMCoord strategy and action plan, which should be fully integrated with the activities of the OCHA office and include specific UN-CMCoord outputs in the OCHA Office workplan. Continually evaluate the implementation and effect of the plan and revises as appropriate;
10. When relevant to the civil-military operating environment, leads the development of country- specific guidelines on civil-military relations, based on the current global guidelines;
11. Ensures that applicable civil-military coordination guidelines, country-specific guidance or generic guidelines are properly disseminated and understood by both the humanitarian actors and the military and/or police forces present as well as by local actors, as appropriate;
12. Promotes and advocates for adherence to the applicable Guidelines within the entire humanitarian community and advises on potential consequences if the guidelines are compromised; 13. When the context allows it, organizes, with relevant and balanced humanitarian and military representation, workshops on civil-military relations;
13. Advocates for UN-CMCoord concepts, principles and activities, the promotion and protection of humanitarian principles and the dissemination of UN-CMCoord related guidelines;
14. Establishes and maintains dialogue and coordination with the military and security forces in the area of responsibility. Identifies, establishes and maintains contact with the appropriate military counterparts, especially international military force deployed, and ensures, when the context allows it, mutual exchange of information about ongoing humanitarian activities and operational issues;
15. Advises and sensitizes the military forces and military commanders in the area of responsibility on international humanitarian coordination mechanisms;
16. In parallel, establishes and maintains contact with humanitarian actors in the area of responsibility and serves as an information channel and advocates for their issues with relevant military/paramilitary organizations;
17. Leads or participates in work groups, meetings and consultations with other UN agencies and humanitarian partners; organizes meetings with Heads of Agencies on UN-CMCoord matters;
18. Leads and/or participates in large, complex projects, to include disaster assessment or other missions; coordinates international humanitarian/emergency assistance for complex emergency/disaster situations; ensures necessary support (e.g. staff, funding, specialized equipment, supplies, etc.); provides inputs to situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries;
19. Partners with other humanitarian agencies to plan and evaluate complex humanitarian and emergency assistance programs; helps ensure that latest findings, lessons learned and policy guidelines are incorporated into these activities, including gender-related considerations;
20. Establishes and maintains contacts with government officials, other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, media, etc.; ensures appropriate mechanisms to facilitate collaboration and exchange of information both in and outside the UN system, including on early warning and contingency planning;
21. Identifies UN-CMCoord training needs of humanitarian actors and military forces in the area of responsibility, and recommends/designs a training strategy and materials to support identified requirements. Arranges and conducts such training events as required;
22. Performs other duties as may be requested by the OCHA Head of Office and/or the Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of a range of humanitarian assistance, emergency relief and related human rights issues, including approaches and techniques to address difficult problems. Knowledge and understanding of Civil Military Coordination issues. Knowledge and understanding of the UN Security Management System. Ability to analyse and articulate the humanitarian dimension of issues which require a coordinated UN response. Ability to identify issues and judgment in applying technical expertise to resolve a wide range of problems. Ability to conduct research, including ability to evaluate and integrate information from a variety of sources and assess impact on the humanitarian rights situation in assigned country/area. Ability to work under extreme pressure, on occasion in a highly stressful environment (e.g. civil strife, natural disasters and human misery); ability to provide guidance to new/junior staff. 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. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• 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.
• PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
JUDGEMENT/DECISION-MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in political science, international relations or related area is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree is required.

Work Experience

A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible professional field and/or headquarters experience in humanitarian or military affairs is required, of which at least 3 years should have been in the field of civil-military coordination and/or crisis/emergency relief management. Previous experience in humanitarian civil-military coordination is desirable. Previous experience in the military with relevant experience in major humanitarian operations is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

• This position is temporarily available for six months, and may be extended. If the selected candidate is a staff member from the United Nations Secretariat, the selection will be administered as a temporary assignment.
• While this temporary assignment may provide the successful applicant with an opportunity to gain new work experience, the selection for this position is for a limited period and has no bearing on the future incumbency of the post.
• Subject to the funding source of the position, the eligibility for this temporary job opening may be limited to candidates based at the duty station.
• This temporary job opening may be limited to “internal candidates,” who have been recruited through a competitive examination administered according to staff rule 4.16 or staff selection process including the review of a central review body established according to staff rule 4.15.
• Staff members of the United Nations common system organizations who will reach the mandatory age of separation or retirement within the duration of the current temporary need period are not eligible to apply.Submitting an application or selection for the current temporary job opening does not delay or increase the mandatory age of separation.
• Retirees above the mandatory age of separation who wish to be considered for the current temporary job opening must indicate the reason for their last separation as "retirement." Such retirees shall not be employed by the Organization, unless (a) the operational requirements of the Organization cannot be met by staff members who are qualified and available to perform the required functions; and (b) the proposed employment would not adversely affect the career development or redeployment opportunities of other staff members and represents both a cost-effective and operationally sound solution to meet the needs of the service.
IMPORTANT: Candidates found suitable and not selected for the announced duty station, may be selected for deployment to other duty stations. The selection will be for similar functions with similar requirements at the same level.

United Nations Considerations

According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation or sexual abuse, or crimes other than minor traffic offences, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions.
Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.
Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage.
The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.
Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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