Humanitarian Affairs Specialist (Access and Civil-military Coordination)

The Humanitarian Affairs Specialist (Access and Civil-military Coordination) plays a strategic role in helping UNICEF navigate complex humanitarian environments in Sudan to expand principled humanitarian access. The role involves shaping humanitarian access strategies, strengthening capacity, supporting negotiations and coordination, and ensuring informed operational decision-making to enable timely and equitable delivery of assistance and protection to children in crisis.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice to Country and Area Offices on humanitarian access and civil-military coordination.
• Support the development and implementation of humanitarian access strategies and action plans.
• Strengthen staff and partner capacity on humanitarian access and negotiation.
• Contribute to informed and principled operational decision-making regarding humanitarian access.
• Engage with government and non-State actors, UN agencies, humanitarian partners and other stakeholders to address access constraints.
• Coordinate and build capacity related to humanitarian access and civil-military coordination.
• Conduct analysis and information management on humanitarian access issues.
• Advocate and network to create enabling conditions for delivery of assistance and protection to children in crisis.

Requirements

• Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in international relations, social sciences, public administration, humanitarian studies, peace and conflict studies, political science, law, international development, emergency management or related fields.
• A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• At least 8 years of relevant work experience at the international level in humanitarian action, emergency response, protection, humanitarian access, or related fields is required.
• At least five (5) years of substantive, field-based experience in humanitarian access as a core area of responsibility in complex emergencies, armed conflict environments characterized by significant humanitarian access constraints.
• Progressively increasing responsibilities for the analysis, development, implementation, and oversight of humanitarian access strategies.
• Demonstrated first-hand experience in humanitarian access negotiations including direct engagement with State authorities, de facto authorities, non-State armed actors, communities, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Demonstrated expertise in humanitarian access analysis, planning, strategy development, implementation, and monitoring.
• Expertise in conflict analysis, actor mapping, and analysis of access constraints and operational risks.
• Experience in humanitarian negotiation, civil-military coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, and advocacy in politically sensitive environments.
• Experience in development and implementation of access-related policies, procedures, and risk mitigation measures.
• Provision of strategic and operational advice to senior management on access options, risks, trade-offs, and principled decision-making.
• Capacity building of staff and partners on humanitarian access and negotiation.
• Experience in access monitoring, reporting, and learning, including translating analysis into operational recommendations.
• Strong understanding and demonstrated application of international humanitarian law (IHL), humanitarian and protection principles, children's rights, and the UN humanitarian architecture.
• Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

Skills

• Humanitarian Access
• Humanitarian Access Strategy Development
• Humanitarian Access Implementation
• Humanitarian Access Monitoring
• Civil-Military Coordination
• Humanitarian Diplomacy
• Conflict Analysis
• Actor Mapping
• Access Constraints Analysis
• Operational Risk Analysis
• Humanitarian Negotiation Skills
• Advocacy in Politically Sensitive Environments
• Access Policy Development
• Risk Mitigation
• Strategic Advice on Access
• Operational Advice on Access
• Capacity Building on Humanitarian Access
• International Humanitarian Law
• Humanitarian Protection
• Children's Rights
• UN Humanitarian Architecture

Languages

English, Arabic