Humanitarian Affairs Officer/ Head of Coordination Unit

The Humanitarian Affairs Officer/ Head of Coordination Unit is responsible for managing day-to-day activities of the coordination team in Caracas, monitoring and reporting on humanitarian response and developments, leading complex projects and disaster response coordination, and supporting capacity-building and technical cooperation in humanitarian emergencies. The role involves liaising with government, UN agencies, NGOs, and other partners to ensure effective humanitarian action and adherence to humanitarian principles.

Responsibilities

• Manages day-to-day activities of the team under responsibilities in the field duty station, providing oversight for all substantive/programmatic, logistic, administrative and security issues.
• Monitors, analyzes and reports on humanitarian response and developments, disaster relief/management programmes or emergency situations in the country.
• 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.); prepares situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying gaps and unmet requirements.
• Assists in the production of appeals for international assistance; ensures the proper use and spending of donor contributions channeled through OCHA.
• Organizes and prepares the inter-cluster meetings and ensures that inter-cluster workplan is implemented and aligned to the HCT priorities.
• Assists national government counterparts in capacity-building for handling emergency situations; develops country-specific indicators in collaboration with area experts and ensures the subsequent monitoring of these indicators; recommends actions based on the analysis of pertinent information; collaborates with development actors and international financial institutions to increase their sustained engagement in the country with the aim to reduce risks and vulnerabilities, while safeguarding humanitarian principles.
• Initiates and coordinates activities related to technical cooperation and technical assistance projects in disaster response and disaster response preparedness; formulates project proposals and relevant project documents; provides technical support to field work; reviews and clears project reports for submission to donors.
• Analyzes and assists in introducing new technologies and approaches for disaster warning/management.
• Organizes and prepares studies on humanitarian, emergency relief and related issues; organizes follow-up work, including interagency technical review meetings to support policy development work and decision-making on important issues; and ensures the implementation of recommendations emanating from relevant studies.
• Assists or leads, as appropriate, in the preparation of OCHA reports, studies, background papers, policy guidelines, correspondence, presentations, background papers, policy guidelines, parliamentary documents, etc.
• Partners with other humanitarian agencies to plan and evaluate complex humanitarian and emergency assistance programmes; helps ensure that latest findings, lessons learned, policy guidelines, etc. are incorporated into these activities, including gender-related considerations.
• Establishes and maintains contacts with government officials, other UN agencies, nongovernmental 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, etc.
• Serves as the primary focal point on specific topics or policy-related issues, including in relation to safeguarding humanitarian principles, humanitarian access, and ensuring the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance; keeps abreast of latest developments, liaises with other humanitarian organizations, donors, etc., ensures appropriate monitoring and reporting mechanisms; provides information and advice on a range of related issues.
• Organizes and participates in work groups, meetings, conferences, consultations with other agencies and partners humanitarian and emergency relief-related matters, as well as development organizations.
• Undertakes and provides support to technical assistance and other field missions, e.g. participates in field trips to undertake in-depth reviews of national and sub-national coordination mechanisms.
• Provides leadership and work direction to assigned work team, and/or mentors and supervises the work of new/junior officers.
• Performs other duties as required.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in political science, social science, public administration, international studies, economics, engineering, earth sciences or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, or other related area is required.
• Experience leading teams in a complex operational setting is required.
• Experience in supporting the preparation of Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and/or Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) documents and other humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) related products is required.
• Humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergency situations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
• Experience representing a UN agency, NGO or similar organization at the national level is desirable.
• Experience in a humanitarian or development context within the UN Common System or other comparable international organization is desirable.
• Experience in the Latin America region is desirable.
• English and Spanish language proficiency at UN Level III for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Skills

• Humanitarian Affairs
• Emergency Preparedness
• Crisis Relief Management
• Disaster Risk Management and Response Coordination
• Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO)
• Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP)
• Humanitarian Programme Cycle Management
• Team Leadership
• Humanitarian Experience
• Humanitarian Coordination
• Capacity Building
• Technical Cooperation
• Stakeholder Liaison
• Humanitarian Principles
• Project Management

Languages

English, Spanish