Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Pooled Fund

Background This position is located in the Operations and Advocacy Division (OAD), in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA is 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. OCHAs 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 the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.

The Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF) is a country-based pooled fund (CBPF) intended to support coordinated humanitarian action, in line with the Humanitarian Response Plan, and to address some of the most critical needs, which are of strategic priority and which would otherwise would go unfunded.

The UHF allows donors to pool their contributions into single, unearmarked funds to support local humanitarian efforts, which will, in turn, not only enable a coordinated, flexible and inclusive humanitarian response, but also strategically maximise available resources.

The position of Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer/Pooled Fund (PF) is based in Kyiv (the duty station may be subject to change, as the operational situation in the country evolves), Ukraine. Under the overall supervision of the Humanitarian Affairs Officer / Head of Humanitarian Financing Unit, the incumbent will report to the Deputy Fund Manager.

Position Purpose

The Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer/PF will aim to increase the effectiveness of the humanitarian response by ensuring a timely and needs-based allocation of available resources.

Duties and Responsibilities The Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer/ PF will be responsible for the following duties:

• Support and advise the Humanitarian Coordinator on the overall management of the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF) in coherence with the humanitarian context (i.e., priorities and critical needs) and work on all aspects of programming, allocations, and monitoring.
• Support the overall administration of the Fund and liaise as necessary with relevant OCHA HQ sections.
• Support and implement standardized policy in line with HQ guidance and decisions.
• Manage fund allocation processes ensuring necessary coordination with relevant counterparts in line with the Terms of Reference and/or allocation guidelines (i.e., Review Committees and/or Advisory Boards, cluster or sector leads, humanitarian organizations, and OCHA).
• Liaise with the UHF partners as well as clusters and OCHA field offices to follow-up on project progress and overall Fund progress.
• Conduct periodic field visits to promote knowledge and support the appropriate use of Fund in line with its Terms of Reference. Field visits should focus on key actors (i.e., OCHA field colleagues, recipient organizations, local governments, communities).
• Ensure proper communication and support during the allocation process to all stakeholders.
• Liaise with and provide necessary support to recipient organizations of the Fund throughout the life cycle of the projects, promoting coherence between humanitarian needs and response.
• Ensure recipient organizations compliance with financial rules applicable to the Fund.
Ensure coordination and information exchange with humanitarian donors aiming to promote coordinated and complementary use of funds.

Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation:

• Manage the Programme & Monitoring team and work of the UHF.
• Manage the Programme & Monitoring team and its workload;
• Monitor progress and effect of the humanitarian response against the strategic priorities as well as promote and support quality assurance of the UHF funded projects;
• Support the Clusters to monitor the progress and effect of the UHF funded projects and their coherence with the cluster response plans defined in the HRP and other planning documents;
• Facilitate that cross-cutting issues are monitored by all stakeholders at all levels.
• Support in setting up the Third Party Monitoring (TPM) mechanism under the lead of the TPM expert, as needed.
• Ensure the quality and accountability of the UHF project monitoring:
• Develop and update as relevant the monitoring plan for UHF-funded projects, ensuring compliance with monitoring and reporting systems in place for the Fund;
• Ensure the standards, tools and systems used to deliver quality and accountable monitoring and reporting of monitoring findings including information on levels of compliance achieved against standards and indicators;
• Analyse lessons learned and make recommendations to improve the quality and accountability of UHF-funded humanitarian assistance;
• Promote monitoring and evaluation as means of guiding and supporting the partners implementing the UHF funded projects;
• Propose and facilitate external reviews/evaluations as agreed by the clusters and the HLG;
Support the partners and clusters to seek innovative methods for remote management and monitoring to improve accountability.

Building and maintaining strategic partnerships:

• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with key actors in other agencies dealing with the UHF funded projects in areas of responsibilities.
Liaise with other key leads of the team (finance, compliance, information management, communication)

Technical support to the UHF stakeholders:

• Provide guidance to potential partners in project design;
• Ensure a standardized M&E methodology across the clusters;
• Provide technical support to each of the Clusters to monitor and evaluate the defined Cluster objectives and specific CBPF success indicators and targets;
• Provide technical support/guidance to the Clusters in the identification of current monitoring methodologies used by the Clusters and identify good practices;
Provide technical support/guidance to the Clusters in monitoring and reporting responsibilities ensuring coherence with existing reporting requirements.

Other:

• Support the Pooled Fund Manager in the management and secretariat work of the UHF constituencies (Advisory Board, Strategic Review Committee and etc).
• Coordinate with other members of the UHF team, and with other units of OCHA.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Impact of Results:

The key results have an impact on the efficiency of the OCHA/UHF operations in Ukraine, including the success of communication, advocacy and collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the region by the means of efficient coordination, resource mobilization and information sharing.

Accurate analysis and presentation of information, thoroughly researched and fully documented work strengthens the capacity of the office and facilitates subsequent action by the supervisor.

Incumbents own initiative is decisive in results of work and timely finalization.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Thorough knowledge of the programme cycle (planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) of humanitarian projects;
• Knowledge and experience in project log frame and work plan development, proposal writing, quantitative and qualitative surveys and progress report writing;
• Knowledge on humanitarian principles, standards and emergency response;
• Knowledge and application skills of IT tools and management systems;
• Very good analytical skills and results orientation;
• Ability to manage several activities with tight deadlines;
Skills to manage relationships and communicate with diverse partners.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Communicating effectively, facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively with partners demonstrating strong client orientation.

Required Skills and Experience Education:

• Masters degree or equivalent in social science, public administration, economics, statistics, project management or a related field or related field is required. Bachelor`s degree with 2 additional years of relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of Masters degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, project management, budget management or other related area is required.
• Experience in direct project management, budgeting and proposal writing, project supervision, monitoring/evaluation and administration is desirable.
• Experience in a CBPF is desirable.
• Experience in a humanitarian context within the UN Common System or other comparable international organization is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluent written and spoken English, Ukrainian is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.

Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period. Disclaimer Applicant information about UNOCHA rosters Note: UNOCHA reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements. Non-discrimination UNOCHA has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. UNOCHA is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status. Scam warning The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.