Switzerland: CHIEF OF BRANCH, HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (TJO), D1 (Temporary Job Opening) JOB ID: 109789

Org. Setting and Reporting

This position is located in the Assessment, Planning and Monitoring Branch (APMB), Coordination Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in Geneva.
With delegated authority of the Coordination Division Director, the Chief of Branch will be responsible for leading the strengthening of humanitarian programme cycle management through the development and maintenance of normative guidance, procedures and tools; the training of OCHA and IASC personnel; the documentation and sharing of best practice; and, the provision of technical support to Humanitarian Coordinators, Humanitarian Country Teams and OCHA Country/Regional Offices. The Branch also manages a global, real-time database which records all reported international humanitarian aid reported by donors and recipient organizations, the Financial Tracking Service.

Responsibilities

With delegated authority, the Chief of Branch will be responsible for the following duties:
MANAGEMENT/REPRESENTATION:

• Provides strategic vision and leadership to all sections in the Branch on each area of the humanitarian programme cycle: emergency response preparedness; coordinated needs assessment, analysis and prioritization; joint strategic response planning; resource mobilization and joint response monitoring.
• Guides and coordinates the establishment of a work plan for the Branch, the determination of priorities, and the allocation of resources to ensure timely delivery of agreed outputs.
• Ensures regular and effective supervision of staff, particularly by leading, managing,
  developing and training staff.
• Fosters teamwork and communication among staff, and strengthens the linkages between staff in the field, regional and headquarters offices.
• Undertakes or oversees the programmatic and administrative tasks necessary for the functioning of the Branch, including preparation of budgets, reporting on budget and programme performance, evaluation of staff performance, interviews of candidates for job openings, and evaluation of candidates.
• Promotes OCHA's mandate, objectives and tools in terms of the progamme cycle through contacts with governments, diplomatic missions, UN entities, non-governmental organizations and the media.
• Represents OCHA in the IASC in all matters related to the humanitarian programme cycle and coordinates the development of IASC policies and tools related to the cycle.
• Leads efforts to raise awareness of the humanitarian programme cycle and efforts to strengthen it among Member States, Regional Organisations and other stakeholders.
• Promotes gender and cross-cultural responsiveness.
  GUIDANCE AND FIELD SUPPORT:
• Leads the development and maintenance of normative guidance, procedures and tools that enable Resident/Humanitarian Coordinators and Humanitarian Country teams, with the support of OCHA Country/Regional Offices, to effectively manage all aspects of the humanitarian programme cycle.
• Facilitates the documentation and dissemination of best practice and drives innovation around the humanitarian programme cycle, ensuring processes and tools evolve and are adaptable to different contexts.
• Oversees and ensures coherence of efforts to strengthen the role of humanitarian coordination mechanisms in guiding and managing the cycle.
  CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING:
• Coordinates the development and maintenance of and monitors compliance with OCHA policy on OCHA's roles and responsibilities in coordinating and supporting implementation of the humanitarian programme cycle.
• Works with the Coordination and Response Division and OCHA Heads of Country/Regional Offices to identify and fill technical support requirements in the field through coordinated missions.
• Oversees the development and implementation of a plan for providing comprehensive training to OCHA headquarters and field presences on the humanitarian programme cycle.
• Supports and complements on-going efforts by OCHA Country/Regional Offices, Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator Offices and IASC subsidiary bodies' to reach out to, partner with and build capacities within Governments, national entities, regional organisations and other stakeholders on humanitarian programme cycle components in crisis-prone areas.
  CONTRIBUTION TO CORPORATE LEADERSHIP:
• Contributes, as a member of OCHA's Senior Management Team (SMT), to policy development at corporate level that enhances OCHA's overall effectiveness.
• In support of the Director, Coordination Division, OCHA Geneva, advises the ERC and other SMT members all issues of policy and practice related to the programme cycle.
• Provides leadership and oversight to ensure Assessment, Planning and Monitoring Branch adherence to relevant areas of OCHA's Corporate Strategic Framework.

Competencies

PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of the field of international humanitarian emergency response and humanitarian programme cycle management. Ability to apply UN rules, regulations, policies and guidelines in work situations. 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.
CREATIVITY: Actively seeks to improve programmes or services; offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs; works with others to develop new ideas; takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”; takes an interest in new ideas and new ways of doing things; is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches.
CLIENT ORIENTATION: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; works collaboratively with others to achieve organizational goals and meet clients’ needs; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.
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 decisions. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender and diverse 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

An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in international relations, business or public administration, finance, accounting, law, social sciences or related field 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.

Work Experience

A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian assistance, disaster or crisis management or related fields, including at the international level is required. At least five years of field experience is required. Experience in working with the humanitarian programme cycle and experience with the UN common system are strongly desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat; for this position, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable

Assessment

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

Special Notice

• This Temporary Job Opening (TJO) is opened to internal and external candidates. The duration of the temporary appointment/assignment is until 31 December 2019.
• A staff member holding a temporary appointment shall be regarded as an external candidate when applying for other positions, and may apply for other temporary positions at any level, subject to section 5.7 below and staff rule 4.16 (b) (ii). Therefore, a staff member holding a temporary appointment in the General Service or related categories may only apply to positions within those categories. For full information on eligibility requirements, please refer to section 5 of ST/AI/2010/4Rev.1 on Temporary Appointments. In its resolution 66/234, the General Assembly further "stressed that the Secretary-General should not recur to the practice of temporarily filling posts in the Professional and higher categories with General Service staff members who have not passed the General Service to Professional category examination other than on an exceptional basis, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that temporary occupation of such posts by the General Service staff shall not exceed a period of one year, effective 1 January 2013…" Consequently, eligible candidates in the General Service or related categories for temporary job openings in the Professional category that have not passed the competitive examination may be selected only on an exceptional basis endorsed by the Office of Human Resources Management where no other suitable candidate could be identified.
• Upon separation from service, including, but not limited to, expiration or termination of, or resignation from, a fixed-term, continuing or permanent appointment, a former staff member will be ineligible for re-employment on the basis of a temporary appointment for a period of 31 days following the separation. In the case of separation from service on retirement, a former staff member will be ineligible for re-employment for a period of three months following the separation. This equally applies, mutatis mutandis, with respect to a former or current staff member who has held or holds an appointment in another entity applying the United Nations Staff Regulations and Rules and who applies for a temporary position with the Secretariat.
• 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. An external candidate selected for this position is bound by the prevailing condition of the staff selection system under ST/AI/2010/3, as amended, and ST/AI/2010/4/Rev.1. A staff member holding a temporary appointment who is recruited in the Professional and above categories on a temporary appointment, and placed on a position authorized for one year or longer may not apply for or be reappointed to his/her current position within six months of the end of his/her current service. This provision does not apply to staff members holding temporary appointments and placed on positions authorized for one year or more in duty stations authorized for peacekeeping operations or special political missions.
• The expression "Internal candidates", shall mean staff members who have been recruited after a competitive examination under staff rule 4.16 or after the advice of a central review body under staff rule 4.15.
• For information on special post allowance, please refer to ST/AI/1999/17. For more details on the administration of temporary appointments please refer to ST/AI/2010/4/Rev.1.
• The Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and administrative issuances governing staff appointments can be viewed at: http://www.un.org/hr_handbook/English.

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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