Humanitarian Affairs Officer

The Humanitarian Affairs Officer position is a temporary role located in the Evaluation and Oversight Unit of OCHA in New York. The incumbent will monitor, analyze, and report on humanitarian developments and support evaluative and monitoring activities, coordinating with various humanitarian actors to ensure effective response to emergencies.

Responsibilities

• Monitors, analyzes and reports on humanitarian developments, disaster relief/management or emergency situations in assigned country/area, including supporting evaluative and monitoring activities of the unit.
• 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.
• Supports Head of Unit in their role as a Chair of the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation Steering Group (IAHE SG) by developing workplans, annual and monthly reports, monitoring and financial updates as well organizing groups’ events and coordinating information flows.
• Participates in large, complex projects, to include disaster assessment or other missions; assists in the coordination of international humanitarian/emergency assistance for complex emergency/disaster situations and in ensuring the necessary support (e.g. staff, funding, specialized equipment, supplies, etc.); drafts situation reports to the international community, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries.
• Partners with other humanitarian agencies to plan and evaluate humanitarian and emergency assistance programmes and help 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, non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, media, etc.
• Undertakes and provides support to technical assistance and other field missions, e.g. participates in field trips to undertake in-depth reviews of specific country coordination mechanisms.
• Provides technical and management support to OCHA’s internal or inter-agency humanitarian evaluations (IAHEs).
• Prepares various written outputs, e.g., drafts background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.
• Supports the conceptualization, design, implementation and dissemination of OCHA-internal and inter-agency evaluations.
• Serves as the primary focal point on specific topics or policy-related issues; 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.
• Reviews and provides advice on policy issues related to safeguarding humanitarian principles and ensuring the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance.
• Provides substantive support to relevant consultative and other meetings, conferences, to include proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, and consultations with other agencies and partners on humanitarian and emergency relief-related matters.
• Provides day-to-day project coordination and facilitation in support of communication and dissemination of evaluation findings and recommendations.
• Provides guidance to, and may supervise, new/junior staff.
• 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 is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, or other related area is required.
• A minimum of two years of experience within the last five years providing dedicated support to the design, conceptualization and implementation of evaluations and/or monitoring of corporate performance is required.
• Experience working within the UN common system or a comparable organization is desirable.
• A minimum of two (2) years in the past five (5) years of international field experience (actual setting where a mission or project is being implemented) in aid operations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
• Experience managing evaluations involving multiple stakeholders and partners is desirable.
• Experience in formal evaluations of humanitarian programming and/or responses is desirable.
• Experience in qualitative data analysis and/or statistical tools is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
• Either French or Spanish is desirable with specified proficiency levels.

Skills

• Humanitarian Affairs
• Emergency Preparedness
• Crisis Relief Management
• Rehabilitation
• Development
• Evaluation Design
• Performance Monitoring
• Corporate Performance Evaluation
• UN Common System Experience
• International Field Experience
• Aid Operations
• Stakeholder Management
• Humanitarian Programming Evaluation
• Qualitative Analysis
• Statistical Tools
• Report Writing

Languages

English, French, Spanish